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In its latest study on certified pre-owned released this fall, AutoTrader.com posed this question to respondents: “Why would you consider purchasing a CPO vehicle?”

What the company discovered is that for new-car shoppers, used-car shoppers and CPO shoppers alike, the same two reasons came in at Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.

And what were they, you ask? Peace-of-mind (first for all three groups) and warranty (second for all three).

Another fun fact: the top five reasons cited by new shoppers were in exactly the same order as those mentioned by CPO shoppers.

Here’s how the top five for each group shakes out, as reported in AutoTrader’s study:

New Shoppers
1. Peace-of-mind
2. Warranty
3. Can afford new vehicle, but don’t want to pay that much
4. Less immediate depreciation
5. Economy (new vehicle no longer an option)

Used Shoppers
1. Peace-of-mind
2. Warranty
3. Can’t afford new vehicle
4. Economy (new vehicle no longer an option)
5. Can afford new vehicle, but don’t want to pay that much

CPO Shoppers
1. Peace-of-mind
2. Warranty
3. Can afford new vehicle, but don’t want to pay that much
4. Less immediate depreciation
5. Economy (new vehicle no longer an option)

More on Peace-of-Mind

The CPO study was released as part of a November presentation in Detroit. Auto Remarketing caught up with AutoTrader’s Michelle Krebs and Rick Wainschel — who led the presentation, along with Manheim’s Tom Webb — by phone later that day to talk about the study.

And here’s something that might surprise you about what CPO shoppers are really after:

In the portion of the study dealing with owners of certified cars, AutoTrader discovered that all of the intricate details of a given manufacturer’s CPO program were not as pertinent to the consumer as the details of the specific car.

“The way that I was thinking about this was, people are buying a car with the reassurance of the program; they’re not buying a program with the details of the car,” said Wainschel. “I think that, sometimes, some of the communications that are associated with CPO get into the nitty-gritty details … when really what consumers are looking for is, ‘I want to find a car that I really like, at a price that I can afford, with features and benefits that I want in it.  And then I’ll make a decision about whether doing a CPO version of that makes sense for me.’

“And for many of them, it does, because it provides that peace-of-mind and reassurance, and (knowing that) if it breaks down, they’ll fix it, and if it breaks down, they’ll come get me or give me a rental car and whatever else,” he continued. “And people are satisfied with those aspects of the programs, but they’re not really swayed in making the purchase decision by the details of the program. They’re swayed by the details of the car, with the reassurance of the program helping them to make the CPO portion of that decision come into focus.”

Krebs added: “I could envision an advertising campaign that focuses on the car, just as every bit as the new car, but blanketed in this peace-of-mind aspect.”

The complete story from November on what CPO shoppers find important sheds more light on these trends.