SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -

Buyers of certified pre-owned cars are fairly loyal customers, but some brands are off the charts when it comes to repeat business. 

That's according to a recent automotive loyalty study from Experian. To determine which consumers were most loyal, Experian analyzed close to 12.6 million return-to-market events involving owners of new, certified pre-owned and non-CPO used vehicles.

The group with the most loyalty to brand?

Owners of CPO cars going to a certified vehicle from the same OEM (75 percent).

Next were owners of new vehicles buying another new vehicle (60.9 percent), followed by CPO owners buying a new vehicle (54.1 percent).

Meanwhile, owners of new vehicles moving into a CPO ride had the fourth highest loyalty (49.1 percent), with the fifth-highest being non-CPO used-car owners buying certified (47.1 percent).

“Over the last few quarters, our analysis shows that pre-owned vehicle purchases are on the rise, and becoming more and more popular among consumers across all credit risk tiers,” Brad Smith, Experian’s director of automotive data and analytics, said in a news release.

“Auto manufacturers continue to increase sales through higher rates of lease penetration, then channel these off-lease vehicles into certified pre-owned fleets. In essence, they are controlling both supply and demand of their off-lease used vehicles and building an amazingly loyal customer base,” he said. “By understanding these loyalty rates, manufacturers, dealers and resellers are able to make smarter decisions that create more opportunities for themselves and in-market consumers.”

The study indicates that 75 percent of CPO owners buy another CPO vehicle.

Among CPO owners who buy another certified vehicle, Ford had the highest brand loyalty at 84.6 percent, followed by Mercedes-Benz (82.8 percent), Honda (81.9 percent), Toyota (81.6 percent) and Lincoln (78.1 percent), respectively.

Meanwhile, for drivers of certified cars who turn to new cars for their next ride, Kia had the strongest brand loyalty at 65 percent. Ford was next at 63.5 percent, followed by Toyota (63.1 percent,) Honda (60.5 percent) and Chevrolet (58.4 percent).