Bridgecrest Auto Funding LLC Annual Report - How They Did This Year

I’ve put together this guide to help you understand how Bridgecrest Auto Funding LLC performed this year. My goal is to turn complex financial filings into plain English so you can decide if this investment fits your goals.

1. What does this company do?

Bridgecrest Auto Funding LLC acts as a financial middleman using a process called "securitization."

They take a large group of auto loans—mostly subprime contracts from DriveTime—and bundle them together to sell as investments to large institutions. This report covers the "2024-2 Trust," which holds about $450 million in loans. By moving these loans into a trust, Bridgecrest turns long-term payments into immediate cash, which they use to fund new loans.

2. Financial Performance & Health

Because this is a specialized trust, we look at how well the loans are being paid and how cash flows to investors.

The trust uses a "waterfall" payment system. Monthly payments from car buyers first pay interest to bondholders, then pay down the loan balance, and finally cover service fees. The trust keeps a cash cushion, usually 1% to 2% of the total loan pool, to cover any missed payments. Independent accountants confirmed that the trust followed all rules, ensuring that cash payments to investors remained on track.

3. Major Wins and Challenges

• The Win: Operations remain stable. Bridgecrest Credit Company, LLC manages the collections, and they have kept a steady pace of payments. Auditors confirmed the $450 million pool followed all service agreements with no issues reported this year.
• The Challenge: There is a legal issue involving Wilmington Trust, the entity acting as the trustee. While Wilmington Trust states that current legal proceedings are unrelated to the Bridgecrest 2024-2 Trust, legal uncertainty can sometimes impact the liquidity of these bonds in the secondary market.

4. Key Risks

The biggest risk is "credit migration," or the chance that borrowers will stop making payments. If the annual loss rate on these loans hits 8% to 12%, the trust may trigger an "Early Amortization Event," forcing the trust to pay back investors immediately. While no single borrower makes up more than 0.05% of the pool, the risk is concentrated in states like Texas, Florida, and Arizona, where local economic shifts could affect many borrowers at once.

5. Future Outlook

Bridgecrest is focused on managing these loan pools over the next three to four years. This investment is designed to provide steady, fixed income rather than capital growth. Your returns depend entirely on whether the car buyers continue to make their monthly payments.

Decision Checklist:

• Are you looking for steady income? This structure is built for predictable, fixed payments rather than high-growth potential.
• Are you comfortable with subprime risk? Your investment is tied to the repayment habits of subprime auto borrowers.
• Do you understand the trigger? Be aware that if default rates climb to the 8%–12% range, your investment could be returned to you sooner than expected.