Auto Trader names the best car dealers of the year at 17th Retailer Awards

Auto Trader has named the top car dealers of the year at a glittering awards do in central London.

The Auto Trader Retailer Awards, now in their 17th year, honoured car dealers for exceptional customer service, digital excellence, innovation, commitment to sustainability.

Some 150 dealers attended the ceremony at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, but only 30 walked away with gongs – and one of those was Car Dealer founder James Baggott and his business partner Joe Wallington, who scooped the Innovation of the Year award for their AI-powered Clever Car Collection business.

The top accolade, the Retailer of the Year, was awarded to nine businesses in total, representing the very ‘best of the best’ across the car, van and bike markets.

JMC Used Cars (under 50 cars), Alexanders Prestige (50-100 cars), and Group 1 (over 100 cars) won in the car category, while Agnew Volkswagen Van Centre (under 20 vans), Clark Commercials (20-50 vans), and Van National (over 50 vans) lifted trophies in the van category.

Bennetts Motorcycles (under 20 bikes), Hastings Motorcycle Centre (20-50 bikes), and Edinburgh Harley-Davidson (over 50) were crowned the UK’s very best bike retailers.

The 2024 awards also recognised the top performing car dealers in the UK across nine different categories, including the Customer Experience Award, which was based on one of the largest mystery shopping exercises of its type.

The category saw 1,500 of Auto Trader’s best performing retailers gradually whittled down to just nine deserving winners across car, bike and van, determined through three mystery shopping phases: email (1,500 retailers), telephone (700 retailers) and then a full digital audit (250 retailers).

Of the nine categories, five were self-nomination, including, the Innovation Award, the People & Culture Award, the Sustainability Initiative Award, and the Rising Star Award. The latter was won by PMB Automotive Enthusiasts.

Auto Trader said 2024 saw the highest number of self-nominations ever to enter the awards, which were judged by an independent panel made up of experts from Mony Group (MoneySuperMarket), LinkedIn, Ocado Intelligent Automation, John Lewis, The Automotive 30% Club, and The Carbon Literacy Project.

This year also included the brand-new Woman of the Year Award. It was introduced to support the Automotive 30% Club’s ‘Moonshot’ initiative. The self-nomination award celebrated inspiring women working within an operational management role in a retail organisation who is delivering results and destined to be a future leader.

Speaking at this year’s awards, Julia Muir, founder of the Automotive 30% Club, said: ‘More needs to be done to increase female representation in all operational management roles, which serve as a vital springboard to future senior leadership. That’s exactly what this award is designed to do, and this year’s shortlist showcases some of the brilliant trailblazing women already in an operational management role within a retail business; it’s key we give them the recognition they deserve to inspire more women to follow them.’

The winner of the first ever Auto Trader Woman of the Year was Kate Carter, head of truck sales, at eStar Truck and Van, who Muir described as ‘truly inspirational’. This year’s finalists were Verity Cornelius, general manager, Bristol Street Motors Sunderland, and Samantha Platt, aftersales director, Acorn Motor Group.

Commenting on all of this year’s winners, Auto Trader’s CEO, Nathan Coe, said: ‘The Retailer Awards are a genuine highlight for us in the calendar as it’s an opportunity to celebrate the very best in automotive retailing.

‘Winning these awards is tough, it’s independent, its data and fact based, and it’s unbiased, so even to be among this year’s shortlist is a huge achievement, particularly in a market that’s not been easy this year.

‘The only constant in our industry is change and so it’s a privilege to come together and celebrate the retailers who continuously evolve and adapt and who take every challenge as an invitation to innovate.

‘I’m especially proud that this year we’ve introduced the Woman of the Year category, recognising the many exceptional women who are so integral to the success of our industry. We believe all businesses are better for having high levels of diversity which is why we believe it’s so important to recognise women and other groups that are currently underrepresented, so that they might inspire others to join what is a massive and important industry in the UK.’

The full list of winners was as follows:

Auto Trader Retailer of the Year 2024 awards:

• Car:
  • JMC Used Cars (1-50 cars)
  • Alexander Prestige (50-100 cars)
  • Group 1 Automotive (100+ cars)
• Bike:
  • Bennetts Motorcycles (1-20 bikes)
  • Hastings Motorcycle Centre (20-50 bikes)
  • Edinburgh Harley-Davidson (50+ bikes)
• Van:
  • Agnew Volkswagen Van Centre (1-20 vans)
  • Clark Commercials (20-50 vans)
  • Van National (50+ vans)

Customer Experience Award (mystery shopping):

• Car:
  • Draytons (1-50 cars)
  • G C Motors (50-100 cars)
  • JCT 600 (100+ cars)
• Bike:
  • Ducati Bournemouth (1-20 bikes)
  • Lloyd BMW Motorrad Carlisle (20-50 bikes)
  • North-West Honda Super Centre (50+ bikes)
• Van:
  • Roy Woods Transits (1-20 vans)
  • AM Philip Trucktech (20-50 vans)
  • Vindis Van Centre (50+ vans)

Customer Choice Award:

• Thame Cars (1-50 cars)
• Mount Vernon Motors (1-50 cars)
• Redgate Lodge (100+ cars)

The Innovation Award:

• Clever Car Collection (1-50 cars)
• Saltmarine Cars (1-50 cars)
• Redgate Lodge (100+ cars)

Rising Star of the Year:

• PMB Automotive Enthusiasts

Sustainability Initiative:

• Erl’s Vehicles

New Car Retailer of the Year:

• Norton Way

Woman of the Year:

• Kate Carter, head of sales, eStar Truck and Vans

People & Culture Award:

• Under 200 cars: eStar Truck & Van
• Over 200 cars: TrustFord