Ford Motor Co.’s sales of certified pre-owned vehicles are surging in 2026, bucking an industrywide trend to give dealers a lifeline as new-vehicle deliveries weaken and customers seek more affordable options.
CPO sales at Ford rose 44 percent in the third quarter to 130,112, beating volume leader Toyota for the first time. Ford is on pace for a record 450,000 CPO sales this year, executives said.
Ford’s gains come in a year when industrywide CPO sales have declined 2.5 percent through August, according to the Automotive News Research & Data Center.
The company attributes its growth to the dealer-led CPO program, Ford Blue Advantage, which started in 2021 and has expanded since. About 70 percent of Ford’s 2,800 U.S. dealers participate in the program. It launched a similar initiative for commercial vehicles this month.
Ford expects to sell more than half a million certified used vehicles in 2027 and unseat Toyota for the industry’s top spot.
“We’re loving the trajectory that we’re seeing in the program,” Rob Kaffl, Ford’s director of U.S. sales and dealer relations, told Automotive News.
Ford’s total CPO figures include vehicles from non-Ford brands, a spokesperson said, though it still surpassed Toyota in the third quarter even without counting those sales.
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Ford’s CPO sales are growing as its new-vehicle volume slides. Its U.S. sales fell 9 percent through September. Some of that decline is tied to a shortage of F-150 pickups since 2025 fires at an aluminum supplier plant pinched production.
Ford also has had fewer entry-level options for shoppers since discontinuing the Escape and Lincoln Corsair last year, though its Bronco Sport crossover and Maverick pickup both start around $30,000.
Certified used vehicles are an additional reason for budget-conscious buyers to consider Ford and another way for dealers to retain customers, Kaffl said.
The automaker’s data shows that shoppers who buy noncertified used vehicles return to the same brand and dealer only 30 percent of the time, while more than half of certified buyers remain loyal.
“The biggest part that I press on our dealers of why it’s important to certify the vehicles is that connectivity back to the brand,” Kaffl said. “You have an audience that we can now market to moving forward for a new vehicle or any of our other services.”
Why Ford’s CPO sales are growing
Ford recently made some tweaks to its CPO program that have helped fuel its growth.
The automaker in the second quarter created a package that adds two oil changes in addition to the warranty coverage, rewards points and other perks, in a bid to entice more shoppers. The offer isn’t designed to make money directly, Kaffl said.
“The loyalty play long-term is more important than making a couple bucks on the price of an oil change,” he said.
In October, the company started giving dealers certificates toward new-vehicle sales for each vehicle sold through Ford Blue Advantage. The certificates essentially function as incentives that reduce the price of a new vehicle.
The new promotions partly stem from an internal restructuring that moved the CPO program out of an isolated group in the U.S. sales strategy division and into retail marketing, giving it more advertising and website support.
“We took a team that was competing in the used car market with a slingshot and armed them with a bazooka,” Kaffl said.
Ford ‘very confident’ its CPO sales can beat Toyota in 2027
Ford Blue Advantage primarily classifies vehicles into two tiers, Blue and Gold, with different levels of warranty coverage. All come with a company-backed limited warranty, roadside assistance and a money-back guarantee good for two weeks or 1,000 miles.
Ford created a third tier for electric vehicles in 2023, and last year it began allowing dealers to sell CPO vehicles through Amazon Autos, joining Hyundai. The company likely will keep modifying the program in the future based on dealer feedback, Kaffl said.
For 2026, its CPO sales are on pace for as much as a 35 percent increase, though Kaffl said Ford is likely to remain No. 2 in the U.S. this year.
But the company’s 2027 goals are clear, Kaffl said: sell “well over 500,000″ CPO vehicles and beat Toyota.
“It’s an amazing brand to go after. They do a great job on their new vehicles and certified,” Kaffl said. “I’m very confident next year we will catch them as we bring on more dealers.”
