Bestselling Car Prices Trend Down Thanks to Higher Incentives

World events are pushing oil and gas prices higher but as we look at this month’s CDK Affordability Tracker, the bestselling cars in the country are holding steady. This comes despite 2026 model-year changes taking hold across the board and an expensive redesign to the most popular passenger vehicle in the country. 

The Results

The top 10 bestselling cars saw prices drop from last month while ticking slightly higher from last year. The average transaction price of $35,533 in February is down $109 from January but up $136 from February 2025 due to higher sales prices outpacing increasing incentives.

The country’s top trucks saw a similar drop of $262 month over month, bringing the average transaction price to $56,376. This recent relief is welcome but prices are still tracking Three-point-four percent higher than February 2025 at a not insubstantial $1,875 in additional cost.

Discounts

Similarly to last month, the lower transaction prices for cars are due to larger incentives negating higher sale prices. That means car prices are indeed increasing per sale but automakers are funding larger discounts. The average incentive spend for the top 10 bestsellers was $1,611, up a substantial 34% from January, and 76% from February 2025 when the average incentive spend was just $698.

Trucks, on the other hand, are moving in reverse when it comes to incentives. February’s $4,361 was down 3% from January and down 5% from February 2025. Ford reported a 16% drop in overall F-Series sales (the automaker doesn’t break out F-150 sales) in February and has considerably smaller incentives than the other three models we track each month. The biggest gap is between the F-150 and the Silverado, with Ford buyers seeing 45% less in incentive money in February. 

New Toyota RAV4 Swings Sharply Higher

This month, the arrival of an all-new RAV4 made a significant impact on pricing for what’s the most popular passenger vehicle in the country. While we don't typically highlight single models in the Affordability Tracker, this change warranted a spotlight. 

The average transaction price of RAV4s in February was $40,096, a whopping $3,353 more than in January and far more than the $2,100 change to the MSRP of the base model as now all RAV4 trims are hybrids. 

It seems much of that added $1,000 gap is due to Toyota building and shipping more high-level trim models to dealers early in the 2026’s lifespan. An informal survey of Toyota dealership websites in the Midwest, Southeast, Northeast and West Coast show the majority of models in stock or in transit are top trim levels while those in “build phase” are lower trim levels. All three Toyota models in the top 10 also hold the smallest incentives of the group. 

The significant price increase for this one model further proves just how much downward price pressure is on the other bestsellers if the average transaction price for the group is lower than last month.

It’ll be interesting to see when this one model hits a normal trim level mix if we see even larger drops in the group average. The market overall might also see incentives start ticking upward for both cars and trucks as we move deeper into the calendar year. 

How It Works

CDK selected the top 10 bestselling passenger vehicles* of 2025 sold at franchised dealerships (so no Tesla Model Y) according to automaker end-of-year sales results. Each month we take the average sale price and then subtract the average incentive amount (both dealer and automaker incentives) for the month and that leads to the average price paid, or transaction price, before taxes. All three are listed in our graphics. 

The top 10 bestsellers in 2025 were:

1. Toyota RAV4
2. Honda CR-V
3. Toyota Camry
4. Toyota Tacoma*
5. Chevy Equinox
6. Toyota Corolla
7. Honda Civic
8. Hyundai Tucson
9. Ford Explorer
10. Nissan Rogue

We’ve also taken the top four bestselling light-duty pickup trucks in the country to show the difference in one of the most popular segments and one that customers generally don’t cross-shop with passenger vehicles. These include: 

• Ford F-150
• Chevrolet Silverado
• GMC Sierra
• Ram 1500

There are over 250 distinct models for sale in the U.S. These 14** made up 26% of all cars sold in the U.S. in 2025.

*While the Tacoma is a truck, because of its massive popularity, it seemed appropriate to include it as consumer trends are skewing toward rugged options across the board.  

**Passenger cars listed included their hybrid counterparts, some sport trims, etc. Trucks were done similarly. Only electric versions were excluded. For example, the Chevy Equinox EV and the Ford F-150 Lightning aren’t included. But Toyota Corolla Hybrids and Ford F-150 Raptors are included.