Starting in June, a Chevrolet, Buick, or GMC dealer who wants to sell a used vehicle with a factory-backed warranty won’t have a choice about how to do it. GM is dissolving its traditional certified pre-owned program and routing that business through a single platform: CarBravo.
What’s Actually Changing
GM confirmed it’s shutting down the dealer-focused program that let retailers certify and sell used vehicles under GM-backed warranties on their own terms. In its place, Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC dealers will be required to route those sales through CarBravo, the national online marketplace GM launched in 2023. Cadillac is the one exception — GM’s luxury brand keeps its existing certified pre-owned structure untouched.
Why This Is a Bigger Deal Than a Platform Switch
The mandate isn’t just about moving sales online — it’s expanding what actually qualifies for a factory-backed warranty in the first place. GM’s previous certified pre-owned coverage typically capped out at vehicles no more than five years old. Under CarBravo, vehicles as old as 15 years could qualify for warranty-backed sales, and the platform isn’t limited to GM products either — dealers can list other brands and older models well outside what the old program ever allowed.
The Adoption Problem GM Is Solving By Force
CarBravo has already sold roughly 216,000 vehicles since launch and, according to GM, is currently moving vehicles faster than the traditional certified pre-owned program ever did. The catch: fewer than a quarter of GM’s roughly 3,500 U.S. dealerships have actually adopted it. Mandating its use for warranty-backed sales is GM’s way of forcing that adoption curve rather than waiting for it to happen organically.
Dealers who’ve already made the switch report real results — one upstate New York dealership said its pre-owned sales climbed more than 50 percent over two years after integrating the platform, largely by reaching buyers who’d never have walked into the physical showroom otherwise.
The Competitive Pressure Behind the Decision
This shift is happening against a backdrop where used vehicles now outsell new ones by a massive margin — roughly 40 million used vehicles change hands annually in the U.S. compared to about 16 million new ones, a gap that’s widened as vehicle prices have outpaced inflation throughout the decade. Online-first sellers like Carvana, which moved nearly 597,000 vehicles last year since launching in 2013, have shown there’s real demand for a fully digital used-car buying experience, and CarBravo is GM’s answer: a national marketplace where buyers can browse, compare, and complete much of the purchase online before ever visiting a dealership.
What Doesn’t Change
Dealers still handle vehicle prep, inventory management, and delivery — CarBravo doesn’t remove the dealership from the transaction, it just centralizes the digital storefront and the warranty-eligibility rules around a single system. Whether GM’s forced-adoption approach actually accelerates used-vehicle volume the way the company hopes will become clearer once Chevrolet, Buick, and GMC dealerships fully transition onto the platform in June.