Ford’s Certified Pre-Owned Sales Hit a Record as Shoppers Hunt for Bargains

Car shoppers are hunting for bargains, and Ford’s certified pre-owned program is the beneficiary. Ford’s October certified pre-owned sales jumped 58% year over year to an all-time record, spokesman Said Deep said, and from January through October CPO sales are now up 33%.

The shift fits the wider market. In the 2026 Cox Automotive Certified Pre-Owned Vehicle Study, released November 2, only 76% of car shoppers said they find new vehicles appealing, down from 85% in 2023. With the average new-car payment at a record $823 a month in October, according to J.D. Power, a manufacturer-backed used car with a warranty looks increasingly sensible.

Ford’s new-vehicle sales told a split story in October. Total sales slid 0.8% to 174,123 vehicles, and electric vehicle sales plummeted 71% to 1,355 as the post-tax-credit market settled — the F-150 Lightning sold zero in the month. But the F-Series had a blinding bright spot: 73,482 pickups sold, up 8.2% on October 2025 and the truck’s best October since 2019. For the year so far, F-Series sales are 634,990, down 7.8%, still enough to keep it America’s best-selling vehicle.

Ford Credit, the company’s financing arm, is also doing well: it reported third-quarter earnings before taxes of $631 million, up 16% on a year ago. The message from October is that Ford’s profit engine is now the truck and the used-car lot as much as the showroom.