New data on the auto finance market show that credit unions closed out the third quarter of 2016 with the highest percentage of growth among all lender types. For the first time ever, credit unions have surpassed captive auto lenders to become the second largest lender type in the market. Credit unions came in with $269 billion in open loans in Q3, with captive auto lenders at $250 billion. However, banks still lead the market with $358 billion on the books.

In addition to total dollar volume gains, credit unions made a significant jump in market share for both new and used vehicle loans. Total share went from 17.6% in Q3 2015 to 19.6% in Q3 2016. Credit unions gained share in both new vehicle loans (9.9% to 12%) and used vehicle loans (24.9% to 26.4%).

The market share gains follow a two-year run that saw credit unions grow their total dollar volume in auto loans from $201 billion in Q3 2014 to last year's $269 billion. That's a 33.8% jump in total loan dollar volume, compared to a 21.2% jump for the overall market. During that time, credit unions zoomed past captive finance companies for total dollar volume.