Stock awards boost compensation 23% in 2025 (Under the Hood)

Higher stock awards propelled executive compensation to a combined $211.1 million for 26 executives at publicly traded auto finance companies last year, an increase of 23% year over year, according to an Auto Finance News analysis of SEC filings. By comparison, compensation for the 28 SEC-designated “named executive officers” (NEOs) whose pay packages were disclosed in 2024 totaled $171.6 million . For the purposes of this analysis, total compensation consisted of base salary, bonus — which included non-equity incentives and a catchall category often labeled in SEC filings as “other compensation” — and stock awards. Last year, stock awards accounted for 76% of total compensation, up from 61% in 2024. Multimillion-dollar stock packages drove equity-based pay to $161.1 million from $105.6 million. More than half of last year’s equity compensation was allocated to a pair of Credit Acceptance Corp. executives: Chief Executive Vinayak Hegde and retiring CEO Kenneth Booth . The bulk of Hegde’s compensation stemmed from 140,000 stock shares — valued at $61.6 million — which are part of a 10-year restricted stock unit compensation program. Aside from the stock awards, Hegde received a one-time $500,000 signing bonus. His million-dollar base pay was pro-rated for his Nov. 13 start date, totaling $147,671. In all, Hegde scored a $62.6 million compensation package, topping the list of auto finance execs. Similarly, Booth’s pay package last year consisted of $1 million in base salary plus $26.4 million in stock awards. Though CACC’s stock lost 5% of its value in 2025, shares this year are up 22%, trading at $555 each on May 18. Another three NEOs had total compensation packages exceeding $10 million last year: Vroom CEO Thomas Shortt , OneMain Financial CEO Douglas Shulman and Ally Financial CEO Michael Rhodes . Compensation for Vroom’s Shortt more than tripled last year, driven by $7.1 million in stock awards and $2.7 million in option awards. Though Shortt’s bonus fell to $200,000 from $2 million in 2024, his overall compensation totaled $10.7 million. Vroom’s stock price last year increased 56% to $31 per share. Executive pay for OneMain’s Shulman rose 33% last year, to $15.1 million. Of the total, $8.2 million stemmed from stock awards, and another $4.6 million from non-equity incentives. And Shulman’s base pay inched up to $1.1 million, making him the highest paid executive by base salary alone. Meanwhile, Ally’s Rhodes was the only $10 million-plus earner whose total compensation declined year over year. Rhodes, who topped the ranking in 2024 with $20.9 million in total compensation, ended last year with $12.8 million in salary, bonus and stock. While Rhodes’ salary and bonus increased, his equity awards dropped 56% to $7.2 million. The higher stock award designated in 2024 was a one-time event meant to offset compensation forfeited when Rhodes left Discover Financial Services to join Ally. Despite the YoY decline in pay, Rhodes’ compensation was 106 times greater than Ally’s median employee compensation of $120,425, according to the company’s annual shareholder meeting notice. All five of the Carvana executives whose 2025 pay packages were disclosed in SEC filings also reported YoY declines in total compensation. Carvana noted in its DEF 14A filed with the SEC that it opted to forego issuing performance stock units (PSUs) last year linked to net income or other financial metrics to incentivize long-term growth. By comparison, Carvana had awarded executives $3 million to $5 million in PSUs in 2024. Still, the Carvana execs received higher base salaries and stock options — totaling $5 million to $8 million each — as a result of a 57% boost in the company’s adjusted EBIDTA and 43% bump in retail units sold . CEO Ernest Garcia III was the highest paid Carvana executive, with total compensation of $8.4 million. Garcia’s pay package was 194 times greater than Carvana’s median employee compensation of $43,236, according to the DEF 14A filing. Consumer Portfolio Services CEO Charles Bradley Jr. and a pair of Ally executives — Chief Financial Officer Russell Hutchinson and President of Dealer Financial Services Douglas Timmerman — were the only other executives whose compensation topped $5 million last year. YoY average compensation for the NEO group increased to $8.1 million from $6.1 million in 2024. Overall, base salaries accounted for 9% of total compensation, down from 11% in 2024 and 19% in 2023. Bonuses, meanwhile, comprised 15% of total compensation, down from 28% in 2024 and 29% in 2023.

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Stock awards boost compensation 23% in 2025 (Under the Hood)

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