While sales continue to rebound, consumers are borrowing more to get into a new vehicle.

U.S. auto buyers are paying more than ever and stretching out their loans to record lengths in order to make their monthly payments, according to a new study.

Consumers are also turning to leases in record levels to help cut their costs, reveals the latest State of the Automotive Finance Market, from the data tracking firm Experian Automotive.

“Consumers are really relying on financing as the price of new vehicles continues to move higher,” said Melinda Zabritski, Experian’s senior director of automotive credit. “As the cost of purchasing a new vehicle continues to rise, consumers clearly are stretching the loan term to help lower monthly payments, keeping them at a manageable level.”

New vehicle costs have been on the rise over the last few years, and several recent studies have shown that the Average Transaction Price – what buyers actually pay after rolling in incentives and options – have surged to record levels. At the same time, new vehicle sales have rebounded from the worst recession in decades and are expected to top 16 million this year.

According to the new Experian study, buyers are compensating for higher prices by financing more of the purchase price.  The study averaged out approximately 4.7 million loans written during the first quarter of this year and found the typical loan worked out to $27,612, a record that was up $964 from just the year before.

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The average monthly payment was also a record, at $474, a $15-a-month increase from the first quarter of 2013.

The figure might have been even higher were it not for the fact that the industry has been holding down finance rates since the end of the Great Recession – though rates did rise very slightly during the first quarter, to 4.54% on new vehicles.  On top of that, buyers have been spreading out payments by stretching their loans.

The average new vehicle loan increased by a month to a record five-and-a-half years, reported Experian. Meanwhile, more buyers than ever resorted to extended loans running six to seven years. A full 24.9% signed up for contracts of 73 to 84 months, noted the new study.

“The benefit of a longer-term loan is the lower monthly payment; however, the flip side of that is consumers can find themselves paying more in interest or being upside-down on their loan if they seek to trade their vehicle in early,” noted Zabritski. “It is definitely a choice that consumers will want to weigh carefully before making a final purchasing decision.”

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During the depths of the recession, financing became increasingly difficult to obtain, even for the most affluent car buyers. Loans have been loosening up, and that’s reflected in the modest year-over-year decline in credit scores: the average for a new car buyer dropped to 714 during the first quarter of 2014, down from 722 the year before. For leases, it dropped from 731 to 721.

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General Motors and several other makers all but stopped offering leases during the recession, but that option has come back strong, according to Experian, which reported that “a staggering” 25.6% of all new vehicles were leased during the first quarter, a sharp jump from 22.9% a year earlier.

“Whether they are interested in getting the latest and greatest models or simply do not want to commit to a long-term purchase, consumers are leasing new vehicles in greater numbers than ever before,” noted Zabritski. “However, what they need to remember is that without good credit, it may be more difficult to get a lease, and that leases have mileage caps so they need to make sure their lifestyle fits the leasing requirements.”