6:16 pm, February 5, 2021
Pulling together as a team helped Auto Trader enormously during 2020, ensuring that it delivered enhanced value to consumers and dealers to get them through the crisis.
There are a huge number of top motor trade suppliers that dug deep during 2020 to help their car dealer partners out.
From cutting bills when they needed it most to launching innovative new products and services to help dealers do business better, 2020 was a year when long-term partnerships were forged.
For this award, sponsored by Händler Protect, our judges were looking for companies that dealers said had helped them in their hour of need, and Auto Trader consistently offered exactly that when dealers were down.
It shared data to give them the very best insight on the effects of the pandemic, and provided help and support when they needed it most.
Sales director Rebecca Clark said they were ‘hugely proud’ to win the award.
She said: ‘It very much feels like brilliant recognition for the hard work and efforts by many people at Auto Trader to support our customers throughout the year.’
She told of the ‘fantastic’ and ‘humbling’ feedback that Auto Trader had been getting from its customers throughout the pandemic – some had even said that it had prevented them from closing.
Clark added: ‘We feel fortunate that we’re in a position to support in the way that we do.’
Auto Trader’s customers are both consumers and dealers, so it has to tread the line between them very carefully, but it’s managed to satisfy everyone.
Clark said it was all about teamwork.
She said: ‘We’ve got a strong team at Auto Trader and we always pull together.
‘Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do and that has helped us enormously over the last 12 months – we’re proud, for sure.’
And she added how Auto Trader had become even better and fit for purpose as it reacted to the crisis.
‘It helped develop our product strategy,’ she said. ‘We developed more products last year faster than ever to be able to support retailers.’
That meant that it delivered more value when the pent-up demand came through.
Clark said that it saw 1.7m more leads, 1.5m more calls and nearly 300m more advert views versus the previous year.
And it strived to help customers make the most of that, such as them being able to offer click-and-collect and getting that online, home delivery, plus Covid-safe selling features so its customers could give people the confidence to buy.
Transparency from the retailer perspective also played a big part.
She added: ‘So it was bringing all that together from a product perspective that’s massively helped consumers and retailers.
‘And our customers have thanked us for doing that as quickly as we have because it’s helped them maximise and capitalise on those car buyers that have been there
‘It was a tough year, but many customers out there managed to deliver some far stronger numbers than perhaps they would have anticipated earlier in 2020.’
Autoglym Lifeshine and Motorway took the highly commended spots.
- W: autotrader.co.uk
- T: 0345 111 0003
To find out who else won awards in the Car Dealer Used Car Awards 2020 click here.
