CBSL says vehicle loans hit 12.9% of all lending — worried about falling collateral?

The Central Bank's 2026 Financial Stability Review says motor vehicle credit alone has grown to 12.9% of all bank and finance company lending, up from 9.8% in 2024, and vehicle plus gold loans combined now make up almost a quarter of total credit in the country. The report specifically warns that this concentration leaves lenders exposed if collateral values fall, and that comes right when used and unregistered vehicle prices here have been sliding for months as importers sit on stock nobody's buying. One side says this is normal: vehicles are one of the few assets ordinary people can actually borrow against, leasing kept the car market moving through the worst years, and regulators have already tightened loan-to-value limits in response. The other side says it's a slow-motion risk — if your vehicle is worth less than your outstanding lease balance, you're effectively paying off more than the car is worth, and if that unwinds across enough borrowers at once it hits finance companies, not just you. If you've leased a vehicle in the last couple of years, has its resale value kept pace with what you still owe, or are you underwater on it? ලීසිං ගත්ත වාහනයේ දැන් තියෙන වටිනාකම, ඔයා තවම ගෙවන්න ඇති ලීසිං ශේෂයට වඩා අඩුද?