Carvana & CarMax Lose Footing as Ford Drops Its Used Cars Into Amazon’s Prime Checkout Lane

Ford is putting part of the used-car business on autopilot… and handing Amazon the controls.

The automaker said Monday that its franchised dealers will start selling certified preowned Ford vehicles directly through Amazon’s automotive storefront, giving shoppers the ability to browse, line up financing, review inspection reports, and schedule a pickup without ever stepping onto a traditional lot. It’s one of the first times a major U.S. automaker has plugged its dealer network into Amazon’s platform.

The rollout is small for now. A dozen Ford dealers in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Dallas are already live, and more than 160 have begun the onboarding process out of roughly 2,900 nationwide. Ford expects that number to climb as dealers get comfortable with the idea of Amazon handling everything up until the final signature.

Amazon, which began allowing Hyundai to list new cars last year, sees Ford’s used vehicles as a natural extension of what people already buy on its site. “Giving customers access to thousands of quality vehicles backed by Ford’s inspection and warranty programs is a big step for us,” said Fan Jin, who oversees Amazon’s automotive business.

Ford is choosing to start with used cars for one reason… customers are increasingly looking there. New vehicles now average more than $50,000, and many buyers are unwilling to stretch that far. The typical three-year-old used car went for just over $31,000 in the third quarter, according to Edmunds, which helps explain why online-first sellers like Carvana and CarMax keep pulling in traffic.

Ford’s certified used cars come with fixed pricing, warranty coverage, detailed inspection reports, and even a 14-day or 1,000-mile return window… all things that play nicely with Amazon’s “click and go” style of shopping.

For Ford, it’s obvious their goal isn’t to bypass dealers but to feed them customers who would otherwise drift to online competitors. State franchise laws largely prevent traditional automakers from selling new cars directly, but used vehicles operate with fewer restrictions, giving Ford more room to experiment.

“Everyone has an Amazon account,” said Wendy Lane, who leads Ford’s Blue Advantage used-car division. “If that’s where people are already shopping, we want them to see Ford there too.”

The used-car partnership also gives Ford a chance to test whether Amazon’s model might eventually work for new vehicles… something the company isn’t committing to yet but hasn’t ruled out either.

Investors didn’t react much to the news. Ford’s stock slipped less than 1% in early trading Monday, while Carvana and CarMax also traded slightly lower as the market considered what a Ford-Amazon team-up might mean for their online edge.

We’ll find out soon enough whether people are actually willing to toss a used F-150 or Escape into their Amazon cart. But Ford’s thinking that if shoppers already trust Amazon with big-ticket stuff like appliances and $2,000 TVs, a car isn’t that far of a stretch.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Ford and Amazon as mentioned in the article.