Car repossessions are rising fast, with nearly new luxury vehicles flooding bank auctions — bad news for car owners, lenders, and anyone counting on strong used-car values.

• Auction lots are filling with repossessed cars that are practically brand new: Dodge Chargers, Mercedes, Genesis, Range Rovers, and Teslas.
• Buyers who took on big loans for expensive cars are falling behind on payments, and banks are taking the vehicles back and dumping them at auction.
• Tesla owners have been hit hardest, since Elon Musk's steep price cuts a couple of years ago wiped out the resale value of cars people had already bought.
• Those price cuts look in hindsight like Tesla getting ahead of a broader car-market slump that most people were not watching, while attention stayed on the stock market bubble and record gas prices.

Outlook: Repossessions are expected to accelerate sharply around December, pushing used-car prices lower and squeezing lenders further.