When the lockdowns shut showrooms nationwide, dealers turned to their websites as the only way to continue doing business.
Carbase had been forging ahead with digital before the pandemic, so it was well placed to benefit commercially from the ‘new normal’.
Our mystery shoppers said its website worked brilliantly in walking people through the process of buying a car – something even more important at the moment with not being able to have a physical interaction.
This category – sponsored by CarGurus – was a tough one to win and we had a great many nominations to look through, examining their websites at length, but Carbase’s sprang to the top.
Steve Winter, the firm’s director, attributed the website’s winning qualities to the team who look after it.
He said: ‘We try to look at everybody else’s sites and see what they do well and come up with innovations ourselves, and credit to the team that have put everything together.
‘It’s great to get this recognition, so hats off to all the team behind it. It’s fabulous to win as always.’
Winter emphasised the importance of doing what the customer wanted, and said the pandemic had accelerated change at Carbase, which was also highly commended in the Used Car Supermarket category.
He added that those who fought their way through the crisis rather than battening down the hatches were the ones who would come through on top.
Looking ahead, he said: ‘We’ve just got to hope that the highs are far higher than the downs, and that’s what we’re going to work towards happening.
‘What we’re not going to do is just sit back and expect it to happen. We’re going to roll our sleeves up and do everything to make sure that we have as big a piece of the pie as we possibly can.’
Thanking everyone for Carbase being nominated and for receiving the award, he joked: ‘I’m in civvies, so it proves there was no way that I knew this was going to happen, otherwise I’d have put on a suit or something!
‘It’s fabulous to win. But it’s a reflection of the effort that lots and lots of people behind the scenes put in, and this is just nice for everybody to see when we are winning awards that the effort is well worth doing.’
Alex Jones, head of marketing and digital, said: ‘We are thrilled Carbase has been recognised for such a prestigious award.
‘It’s been a labour of love to build what we hope is a helpful way for our customers to shop online. It would not be possible without the support and clever widgets from our development partners.
‘I am proud to shout out the Flex Team from eBay Motors Group for powering the whole site and in-store app, iVendi for powering the online finance journey, Cap HPI for powering the trade-in and customer home appraisal app, Judge Service for powering the customer feedback, and UKT360 for our 360 Turntable vehicle imagery.
‘Thank you everyone – you are real digital legends.’
Big Motoring World and Croyland Car Megastore took the Highly Commended spots.
- W: carbase.co.uk
- T: 0330 433 2575
To find out who else won awards in the Car Dealer Used Car Awards 2020 click here.
