Events News

WINNER M&A Coachworks The standard in this category is always high so M&A Coachworks first time victory is particularly noteworthy. This is a family-owned company, which has been trading for nearly half a century, and repairs some of the most expensive and exclusive cars on Britain’s roads. It found a way to increase profitability while reducing throughput by concentrating on ...

Sponsored by Santander WINNER Ron Brooks Toyota This business, now run by the second and third generations of the founding family, has operated from the same site in Ilkeston, Derbyshire since it was awarded a Toyota franchise in 1973. Before that it sold French-built Simca. It has redeveloped and expanded the facility several times since then, opening a new showroom ...

WINNER Progress Recruitment Progress Recruitment was selected as the Recruitment Agency of the Year for introducing new products and services to improve the performance of car dealers. In 2018 it collaborated with a Top 20 dealer group to launch a recruitment campaign to boost the number of women working in the group. With the national average at only 16% of ...

Sponsored by CarGurus WINNER SERE The Dealer Website of the year award is open to franchised and independent retailers.  It identified the best customer facing dealer website in the motor retail sector. Given the increased use of mobile devices to access websites, the judging panel paid particular attention to the visual aspects, responsiveness, and functionality of websites when accessed by ...

WINNER Carbase Sponsored by the WMS Group A small family-run dealership founded in 2003 in a Somerset backwater has morphed into Carbase, a West Country phenomenon challenging earlier definitions of what is a ‘car supermarket’. Experienced motor trade operator and Carbase MD Steve Winter has formed a young and ambitious team to build this fast-moving used car business, but insists ...

WINNER Marshall Motor Group Sponsored by Mann Island Marshall Motor Group is one of the UK’s largest motor retail groups with 106 retail sites representing 23 brands across the UK. Marshall achieved a reach of almost 60 million on Facebook and 11 million on Twitter in 2018, as well as 94,904 referrals back to its website from social channels. Marshall’s ...

WINNER ACC UK Independent Garage of the Year Simon Cook launched ACC UK in 2003, growing the business and moving from his rented site to a bigger purpose-built freehold location nearby. ACC has invested heavily in the latest fault-finding tech, meaning that other local dealers and garages often use him to fault find and repair problematic vehicles. Its Customer Referral ...

WINNER Andrew Lee Rygor Sponsored by Secure Trust Bank The Business Manager of the Year Award acknowledges and rewards the pivotal role played by business managers in the sales process. Nominations were invited from business managers, or their line managers, working in franchised and independent dealerships. The winner, Andrew Lee, is a Business Manager at Rygor, a franchised Mercedes-Benz van ...

WINNER HPL Motors The initials of this steadily expanding used car supermarket in Greater Manchester stood for Heaton Park Limited when managing director Jonathan Herman set it up in 1992. Today they are spelt out as Honesty Produces Loyalty, a motto that expresses the approach it takes to customer care. Herman says 50% of its sales come from repeat customers. ...

WINNER Aston Barclay Aston Barclay operates from six auction centres in Chelmsford, Prees Heath and Westbury, an LCV centre in Leeds and new ‘mega’ centres at Donington Park and Wakefield. Key developments in 2018 included the construction of an advanced auction facility,the 18-acre Wakefield centre. Wakefield was developed as a modern and technologically advanced auction facility with interactive screens, Apps, ...