IntelliChoice, a provider of automotive cost and value analysis, announced the winners of the 15^th annual IntelliChoice Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) Car Awards. Volvo took the Best Premium Program Award for the seventh straight year, while Hyundai took the Best Popular Program Award for the third straight year.

The winners were announced at the 2013 Certified Pre-Owned Forum and National Remarketing Conference in San Diego, California.

When evaluating vehicles for the CPO Car Awards, IntelliChoice evaluates a total of 26 manufacturer backed programs, and segments the cars into two different categories – Premium and Popular – which reflect the overall market position and price range of their vehicles. There were 12 Premium Brands, and 14 Popular Brands included in this year’s study.  Key components analyzed include: extended manufacturer warranties, used car ownership costs, inspection process comprehensiveness, dealer compliance, and special financing incentives. Overall, nine areas are assessed.

IntelliChoice continues to help consumers by providing broad visibility into each manufacturer’s program details–cutting through the marketing hype, in order to help simplify what would otherwise be a formidable task. Through this analysis and the useful information and tools on our website, we’re able to arm shoppers with the information they require to find their next–and best–pre-owned vehicle.  IntelliChoice now tracks and publishes CPO incentives on nearly all programs and incorporated the on-going availability of these offers into our analysis for this year.  Information on current CPO incentives can be found on intellichoice.com

Variations in programs year over year can cause shifts in how a manufacturer stands up compared to other brands in the segment.  Major program changes that helped Volvo secure the top Premium spot include their extending the warranty to a no-deductible 7-year/100,000-mile comprehensive plan; while another premium brand dropped lower in the rankings due to a reduction in the mileage coverage for their warranty.  “Benefits beyond the new car warranty so significantly enhance consumers’ peace of mind, says Eric Anderson, “that it is weighted very heavily in our study.  Both the Volvo and the Hyundai programs exemplify the totality of what is important to shoppers; that is how to reduce their risk when buying a used vehicle.

Warranty improvements were also noted in the popular segment, with Kia adding a 12-month/12,000-mile comprehensive warranty from the date of purchase.  This along with improvements to dealer compliance and strong financing incentives pushed Kia from 5^th to 2^nd place just behind their sister brand, Hyundai.

The 2014 CPO Award Winners: