9:25 am, June 5, 2026
Bosses at Car Quay are aiming for Used Car Awards glory later in the year, following one of the business’s busiest ever periods.
The Derby-based used car dealership has been a serial winner at the motor trade’s answer to the Oscars over the years and is now encouraging other firms to put themselves forward.
At last year’s ceremony, Car Quay scooped our Used Car Sales Team gong, while operations manager Megan Vladimirovs came out on top in our Future Star category.
Following the awards, the firm enjoyed one of its strongest three month windows ever between January and March, potentially putting in good stead for more honours this year.
‘Business has been strong since last year’s ceremony,’ said boss Jamie Caple. ‘December is never massive but the following quarter from January to March was as strong a three mouth period as we’ve ever had at Car Quay.
‘The awards mean a lot to us, we try really hard as a business to be recognised for our efforts and to get some industry recognition in front of friends and industry colleagues is genuinely a great experience.
‘This industry can be very challenging at times so the event itself is a fabulous opportunity to get together and have fun recognising success in the motor trade.’
Voting is now open for the Car Dealer Used Car Awards 2026, sponsored by Black Horse and dealers can put themselves forward here.
The 2026 ceremony will also be returning to The Brewery in central London, hosted by Mr Wheeler Dealer himself, Mike Brewer, on November 30.
The black-tie event will also feature pre-dinner drinks and a post-awards fun casino, both sponsored by Cazoo. There will also be a special After Party, courtesy of RAC and Vehicles in Video.
We have also divided our RAC Customer Care Award into five distinct sub-categories, for the very first time, giving dealers an even greater chance of glory.
For Caple, the Used Car Awards represents the best that the motor trade has to offer, offering dealers the chance to catch up and kick off the festive season in style.
Car Quay will once again be putting itself forward for gongs – and you can too!
‘The ceremony itself always feels special, the venue always delivers,’ Caple added. ‘The food and drinks are always top notch and having an industry giant like Mike Brewer hosting is the cherry on top.
‘We would love to end up winning something again this year and will certainly be there.’
With voting now underway, here are the other key dates for your diary:
- Nominations close: Monday, September 28
- Nominations (long list) revealed: Monday, October 5
- Shortlist revealed: Monday, October 19
- Awards night: Monday, November 30
To be in with a chance of a trophy, our nominations form needs to be completed and the process couldn’t be any more straightforward!
All you need to do is select the category that you’d like to nominate yourself or someone else for on the form and supply the requested details.
From there, all entries will be judged by our Car Dealer experts, who will whittle them down to a nominations list.
The nominees will then be subjected to further judging before a final five go through to the big night, when the winners and highly commendeds will be announced.
The judging process includes our rigorous mystery shopping, which secretly checks how dealers handle inquiries – meaning that anyone hoping to make the shortlist will have to stay on the ball all the time.
A full list of the categories in which dealers can vote can be found below. For suppliers and companies wishing to sponsor categories there are still a handful of opportunities available – but don’t hang around. Contact us now to discuss.
- Dealers’ Dealer — Dealerkit
- Service & Repair Outlet — Autoglym
- Used EV Dealer of the Year — Warranty Wise
- Social Media User — sponsorship available
- Use of Video — Autoglym
- Used Car Website — Visitor Chat
- Used Car Online Sales Experience — Central Car Auctions
- Specialist Used Car Dealership — Autoglym
- Used Car Sales Team — sponsorship available
- Used Car Dealer Principal — sponsorship available
- Future Star — Northridge Finance
- Used Car Customer Care and sub categories — RAC Dealer Network
- Used Car Supermarket — Cazoo
- Newcomer Dealership — Jigsaw Finance
- Used Commercial Vehicle Dealer — Close Brothers Motor Finance
- Days To Turn Award — Autotrader
- Diversity & Inclusion — sponsorship available
- Headline Sponsorship — Black Horse
- Used Car Dealership: Up To 50 Cars — Black Horse
- Used Car Dealership: 51–100 Cars — Black Horse
- Used Car Dealership: Over 100 Cars — Black Horse
- Used Car Dealership Group — Black Horse
- Outstanding Achievement — AA Cars
- Lifetime Achievement — Gardx
We’ll also be naming the best used cars in six categories, plus the overall Used Car of the Year from those six, along with Manufacturer Used Car Scheme:
- Small Car – Autoglym
- Mid-Sized Car – Autoglym
- Executive Car – Autoglym
- SUV – Autoglym
- AFV (Alternatively Fuelled Vehicle) – Autoglym
- Manufacturer Used Car Scheme of the Year – Autoglym
