Truck Prices Drop as Incentives Spike in July

Increased incentives brought some relief to the price of the country’s bestselling vehicles in July. Each month CDK tracks the 10 bestselling cars and four bestselling trucks to gauge what the bulk of car shoppers are experiencing on lots. And this month there was some significant movement.

Most of the gains came from increased incentive spend as well as the end of Ford’s Employee Pricing program, which shifted discounts from the incentives column to the sale price. Now over, incentive spend is more in line with the rest of the field.

The overall numbers suggest that high prices of the past few months may not be sustainable even though we're tracking above 2025 levels. We may also be tracking ahead of last year’s seasonal fall in prices, which started in August for trucks and September for cars, not July.

The Results

Trucks saw one of the biggest shifts we’ve seen since beginning the Affordability Tracker series in January. 

The average transaction price fell 1.8% from last month, cutting $1,035 from truck buyers’ totals. 

The bestselling trucks have seen prices decline since April, but this is the largest they’ve fallen in 2026 signaling some potential weakness in the segment as high gas prices linger. Prices are still up slightly from last year at 0.8%. There was also an unusual spike in truck prices in August of 2025 but that didn’t seem to align with the previous year, so we don’t expect to see a seasonal bump next month.

There was finally some relief on the overall prices of the bestselling cars, falling for the first time since February. We’ve mentioned the increased transaction prices for the redesigned RAV4 moving so much of the needle in 2026 but in July those prices finally ebbed, even if slightly, $78 versus last month. That’s more than the $50 average drop versus June. Price changes were split evenly in terms of models — five gaining and five falling — with no single trend to account for the changes.

Discounts

Incentives boomed for both bestselling cars and trucks, but they boomed bigger for trucks. Trucks received an additional $1,152 in incentives tacked on from last month, a 30% gain. They were also up 29% compared to July 2025 but sale prices before incentives were much higher compared to this time last year. These incentives had a direct impact on the final transaction price, which fell nearly the same amount ($1,035) from last month.

The average incentive for the bestselling cars was the highest since April at $1,228, up 17% from last month and 14% from July 2025. Much of this change came from the shift in the Ford Explorer as that brand’s Employee Pricing program ended, shifting incentive spend up 31%, far more than any other model. In fact, only two other passenger vehicles we tracked saw incentives increase in July, the Hyundai Tucson at 22% and Nissan Rogue at 4.2%.

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.

Read last month's report HERE