Lincoln certified pre-owned warranty

Lincoln’s certified pre-owned program explained

Certified pre-owned programs let automakers offer you a third choice between new and used vehicles. In order to qualify as CPO, a gently used vehicle must pass inspection at the dealer. In return, they include some sort of added warranty for reassurance. CPO vehicles often come with extra benefits beyond the warranty, such as 24/7 roadside assistance or free loaner vehicles while your car is in the shop for warranty work.

In a nutshell, you can think of CPO vehicles as “like new” — cheaper than your average new vehicle but with more perks than your average used vehicle.

» MORE: What is a certified pre-owned car?

Now, let’s talk about Lincoln’s CPO program.

CPO Lincolns must be under five model years old (i.e., a 2020 or newer in 2025) and have fewer than 60,000 miles on their odometers. They must also pass a 200-point quality inspection at the dealership, which includes a detailed look at their interior, exterior, engine, electronics and more.

Lincoln claims to offer a six-year/100,000-mile CPO warranty, but that’s measured from when the car was new.

In return, CPO Lincoln vehicles come with a six-year/100,000-mile warranty. However, that clock starts from the vehicle’s original sale date — not when you buy it. This means it essentially adds two years or 50,000 miles to the original four-year/50,000-mile factory warranty.

For example, if you buy a certified Lincoln that’s three years old with 40,000 miles, you’d have about three years or 60,000 miles of coverage remaining, whichever comes first.

Finally, CPO Lincolns include benefits like free roadside assistance for the length of the warranty period, a money-back guarantee and 20,000 Lincoln Access Rewards Points, which you can put toward your vehicle's service.

We’ll break all that down further to determine whether it’s worth paying extra for a certified pre-owned Lincoln.

» LEARN: What does a car warranty cover?

How good is Lincoln’s CPO warranty?

Lincoln claims that its CPO warranty covers “more than 1,000 components.” Maybe we were overthinking, but that gave us pause since a typical bumper-to-bumper warranty covers between 1,500 and 5,000 components. Is Lincoln’s CPO warranty not truly bumper-to-bumper?

To find out, we called large-volume Lincoln dealers in multiple states to ask.

“No, it’s bumper-to-bumper,” said one in Houston. “It covers everything but wear-and-tear parts for six years/100,000 miles from new.”

“It’s the same as the factory Lincoln warranty, just longer,” said another in Atlanta. “You’re getting bumper-to-bumper coverage, we’re not sure why they say it like that.”

So there you have it.

One hidden drawback to Lincoln’s CPO warranty, however, is that it doesn’t include much coverage for CPO Lincolns that are already five years old. You’re only getting six years of coverage total, meaning a 5-year-old Lincoln will only have one year of coverage left at the time of purchase.

The older your Lincoln is, the less CPO warranty you’ll get.

In contrast, Lexus’ CPO warranty offers six years/unlimited miles of coverage or two years/unlimited miles if your factory warranty has already expired. Basically, if you purchase a five-year-old Lexus, you’re still getting the full two years of CPO coverage.

How does Lincoln’s CPO warranty compare?

Overall, Lincoln’s CPO warranty is still excellent, though. Any CPO warranty that offers an additional two years of bumper-to-bumper coverage is near the top of the leaderboard with Acura, Lexus and Porsche.

Lincoln trails all three of those brands because it doesn’t add a full two years for vehicles that are already 5 years old, but if you’re looking at a newer CPO vehicle, it won’t make much difference.

We also included Mercedes-Benz in the chart above to point out why having true bumper-to-bumper coverage makes a big difference. In contrast to Lincoln/Lexus/Porsche, Mercedes’ CPO warranty only covers around 250 parts. That’s roughly 10% of the coverage you’d get from those other brands, meaning the likelihood that a part will be repaired under warranty is 90% lower.

So, when you’re shopping for a CPO or extended auto warranty, always be sure you read the fine print to see if it offers the coverage you expect.

» MORE: Best CPO warranties

CPO Lincoln benefits

CPO Lincolns also come with the following additional benefits that last for as long as your CPO warranty remains active:

• 24/7 roadside assistance, including towing assistance (up to $100 per visit), transmission services, flat tire changes, fuel deliveries (up to two gallons), jump-starts and lockout assistance (up to $50 per visit)
• Travel expense reimbursement for up to three days ($500 total) to help cover meals, lodging and a rental vehicle if your CPO Lincoln breaks down more than 100 miles from home
• Destination expense assistance of up to $75 to help with emergency transportation to your immediate destination if your CPO Lincoln breaks down
• Rental car reimbursements of up to $45 per day to help cover the cost of a rental while your Lincoln is in the shop for a warranty-covered repair (not available in Hawaii)
• A 14-day/1,000-mile money-back guarantee, allowing you to return the CPO Lincoln you purchased for a refund or a different vehicle
• 20,000 Lincoln Access Rewards Points, which are good for $200 towards Lincoln parts or service at the dealer

Overall, these are excellent benefits for a CPO program. All of that trip protection and roadside assistance could collectively be worth $1,000 or more if your CPO Lincoln breaks down, and the 20,000 bonus points add $200 of value to the program as a whole.

But is all that enough?

Is a CPO Lincoln worth it?

Now that you know the ins and outs of the Lincoln CPO program, let’s get down to brass tacks: Is paying extra for a CPO Lincoln worth it?

Well, that depends on how much Lincoln dealers are charging for CPO status these days and how reliable Lincoln vehicles are in the first place.

Let’s analyze both factors, starting with reliability.

How reliable are Lincolns?

Generally speaking, certified pre-owned status is actually more valuable with less reliable brands. That’s because you’re far more likely to use your CPO benefits (like warranty coverage and roadside assistance) if your car breaks down a lot.

Lincolns aren’t known for being reliable, which actually makes buying CPO more valuable.

Lincoln generally ranks well below the industry average for reliability. J.D. Power ranked the brand 19th out of 31 brands.

Lincoln reviews on our site are mixed, with multiple consumers mentioning suspension and vibration problems. “It's a shame, because other than this one majorly irritating issue (Imagine going on a cross country trip and enduring this constant vibration the whole trip) the vehicle is a pleasure to drive,” wrote a reviewer from Ohio.

RepairPal data from 2025 showed that, on average, Lincoln vehicles cost $879 per year to maintain and repair.

This all points to a similar conclusion: If your heart is set on a used Lincoln, you should strongly consider buying CPO to get that extra warranty protection and roadside assistance.

Now let’s see how much it might cost you.

» MORE: Lincoln maintenance: cost, plans and service schedule

How much does a certified pre-owned Lincoln cost?

To find out how much extra you’ll spend for a CPO Lincoln, we went to Edmunds to compare the cost of used and CPO 2022 Lincoln Aviators. We then did the same with a 2022 Lincoln Corsair.

On average, there was about one CPO listing for every five used listings, and dealers were charging about $1,300 more for CPO vehicles. That’s a significant change from last year, when CPO Lincolns cost an extra $3,000.

The average upcharge for a CPO Lincoln is around $1,300 at the time of publishing.

This added cost on a used Lincoln was about 3.49% of those vehicles’ values, which is not a bad upcharge for CPO status. An iSeeCars study from 2018 found that, on average, dealers across all brands only charged around 3.6% extra.

The extra cost is not a lot to pay for a two-year extended warranty and some added benefits.

As for the included CPO warranty, two years of additional coverage for $1,300 is good — but before committing, it might be worth getting quotes from third-party extended warranty companies, even if you're only comparing against other used cars that come with CPO coverage.

CPO vs. extended warranties for Lincolns

Lincoln’s CPO pricing has gone down quite a bit, making it a better option than an extended warranty. Buying a CPO allows you to get two years of coverage for less than $2,000 — the average price of a comprehensive extended warranty.

That being said, it’s never a bad idea to shop around. You might find a third-party company that offers the same coverage at a low cost. Just don’t forget to factor in the cost of a prepurchase inspection — about $200 — since it is an important step to get the most out of an extended warranty.

» FIND WARRANTY COMPANIES: Best Extended Car Warranty Companies