ATLANTA, Jan. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) vehicles are a great option for shoppers looking for many of the benefits of a new vehicle without the new car price tag. Experts at Autotrader have rounded up 10 CPO luxury and 10 CPO non-luxury vehicles that savvy car shoppers should consider. For the list of "Must-Shop CPO Cars," experts at Autotrader identified CPO luxury and CPO non-luxury vehicles that are "almost good as new" by offering a similar look to their brand-new counterparts while enabling shoppers to get used-car pricing and a manufacturer-backed warranty.

"New cars can be expensive, particularly if the desired features are only included in higher trim packages," said Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader. "In addition, used vehicles can sometimes fuel uncertainty about reliability. Cost-conscious shoppers will find that Certified Pre-Owned vehicles are a great bridge between used and new cars – offering the peace of mind they want with a price tag they can afford."

Autotrader's "Must-Shop CPO Vehicles" are based on criteria encompassing price, safety rating and warranty details. "We realized that the criteria for our luxury list was naturally going to differ slightly from that of our non-luxury list," said Tara Trompeter, managing editor at Autotrader. "Luxury and non-luxury consumers want and expect different things, and we took that into consideration when coming up with these benchmarks."

Criteria used for CPO luxury vehicles: a retail price of approximately $50,000 or less; a manufacturer-backed certified warranty; similar look to a current new car; a minimum of 5 years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage included in the purchase price; and an overall federal government safety rating of 5 stars.

Criteria used for CPO non-luxury vehicles: a retail price of approximately $35,000 or less; a manufacturer-backed certified warranty; similar look to a current new car; a minimum of 5 years or 100,000 miles of powertrain coverage included in the purchase price; an overall federal government safety rating of at least 4 out of 5 stars; and a warranty deductible of $50 or less (based on results from a recent Autotrader poll that showed a CPO warranty deductible of $50 or less is favored by two‑thirds of the respondents).

Autotrader experts selected 20 CPO cars that are standouts:

To learn more about the top CPO vehicles selected by Autotrader experts, read the "Good as New:  10 Must-Shop CPO Luxury Cars" and "Good as New:  10 Must-Shop CPO Cars" articles on the Autotrader site.

For more information on CPO programs or to search for your next CPO car, visit Autotrader's hub for CPO information at http://www.autotrader.com/research/certified-cars/index.jsp.

About the Autotrader Quick Poll
Between Oct. 23 and Nov. 2, 2015, 739 Autotrader site visitors completed a Quick Poll survey displayed on the Autotrader home page regarding the amount they would be willing to pay for a CPO warranty deductible.

About Autotrader
Autotrader is the most visited third-party car shopping site, with the most engaged audience of in-market shoppers. As the foremost authority on automotive consumer insights and expert in online and mobile marketing, Autotrader makes the car shopping experience easy and fun for today's empowered consumer looking to find or sell the perfect new, used or Certified Pre-Owned car. Using technology, shopper insights and local market guidance, Autotrader's comprehensive marketing solutions guide dealers to personalized digital marketing strategies that grow brand, drive traffic and connect the online and in-store shopping experience.

Autotrader is wholly owned by Cox Automotive which owns Kelley Blue Book (KBB.com^®), Manheim Auctions, Dealertrack^® and a portfolio of software companies that optimize inventory and advertising online. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. For more information, please visit http://press.autotrader.com.

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SOURCE Autotrader