Like the new- and used-vehicle markets, the CPO market struggled last month as mandated stay-at-home orders and dealership closings severely hampered vehicle sales. Sales of certified pre-owned (CPO) vehicles decreased 40% year over year in March. CPO sales were on a record-setting pace for the year before COVID-19 and ended down 33% month over month compared to February. For March, only 158,582 CPO units were sold.

This year CPO sales are down 9.5% in Q1 versus Q1 2019, with 612,770 CPO units sold through March. This means that the CPO market is more than 60,000 units below last year for the first three months of 2020.Toyota, Honda and Chevy continue to be the biggest players in the CPO market, collectively representing a third of all CPO sales. Those three plus Ford, Nissan and Jeep account for 45% of CPO sales so far in 2020. Last year, Toyota, Honda and Chevy accounted for 32% of the total industry CPO sales reflecting that brands are maintaining consistent CPO sales share this year compared to 2019.