CARY, N.C. -

The fastest growing auto loan balances in nearly a decade and record loan dollar volumes? Check.

The lowest second-quarter 30-day delinquency rate in five years? Check.

Strong auto sales? Check.

Oh, and there’s balanced portfolio distribution amongst the credit tiers.

“The automotive loan market is working the way it’s supposed to, with loans being made, vehicles purchased and payments made on time,” said Melinda Zabritski, Experian’s senior director of automotive finance.

“The automotive loan market is gaining momentum while maintaining remarkable stability,” Zabritski added. “It’s a good sign for the economy overall.”

Experian Automotive lays out those signs in its latest State of the Automotive Finance Market report released Wednesday.

At the top of Experian’s list: the second-quarter’s $92 million year-over-year growth in total dollar volume for outstanding car loan balances  This represented the steepest climb in dollar volume since 2006, the company said.

Total loan balances were at $932 billion Q2, an all-time high, Experian said. A year ago, they were at $840 billion.

Meanwhile, the National Consumer Credit Trends Report from Equifax released Monday said the total outstanding balance on car loans and leases combined as of June was at $1.021 trillion, which beats the year-ago sum by 10.5 percent.  It says there are 73.7 million outstanding accounts, which is up 8 percent.

“Strong sales numbers in both the new-car and used-car markets, coupled with the availability of quality financing for consumers are a few of the main reasons the industry has reached the one trillion dollar mark," said Dennis Carlson, deputy chief economist at Equifax. “It clearly reflects that the improving economy has provided the impetus for consumers to replace their aging vehicles and begin to satisfy their pent-up auto demand.

Payments made on time

Looking at Experian's data, here’s another thing that make the current environment all the more impressive: the market has great stability these days when it comes to borrowers making payments.

In fact, the 30-day delinquency rate for the period was 2.32 percent, which was the best Q2 reading in five years, Experian said. A year ago, it was at 2.37 percent.

The 60-day level nudged up slightly, reaching 0.607 percent after coming in at 0.603 percent a year ago.

Not to mention, there appears to be a great deal of balance when it comes to the credit-tier distribution, Experian found.

Granted, the combined Q2 market share for subprime and deep-subprime loans climbed from 19.92 percent to 20.02 percent in the past year, but super prime’s share was up as well, growing from 20.68 percent to 20.99 percent.

“Overall, lenders are taking a balanced approach to their portfolios, with slight growth in subprime and deep subprime balanced by the uptick in loans to the super-prime risk tier,” Zabritski continued. “There really is nothing alarming about the growth seen in subprime loans, provided consumers continue to make timely payments.”

More on auto loan growth

Going back to Equifax’s data, the company said banks were seeing 10.1 percent growth in auto loan balances through June, with finance companies seeing similar patterns at 10.2-percent growth.

However, when it comes to the leasing segment, finance companies are way ahead; in fact, their leasing portfolios are seven times as big as those from the banks, Equifax found.

What’s more, the company notes that, “Finance companies are also growing originations faster than banks with 54.2 percent of all new auto accounts and 51.8 percent of dollar originations through April 2015 coming through finance companies.”

Offering additional context, Carlson noted: “The captive auto finance companies are supporting sales for the manufacturers, and dealers continue to work with independent auto finance companies to find the right loans for their customers, particularly in the non-prime space.

“This combination has led to finance companies growing slightly faster than the commercial bank segment.”