8:54 am, September 17, 2026
Winning a Car Dealer Used Car Award can give retailers a powerful sales boost by building credibility with customers.
That is the verdict of one former winner, who says victory can become a valuable part of the sales process and give dealers another way to set themselves them apart.
Watford-based used car supermarket group Car Planet won our Used Car Website of the Year award at last year’s ceremony and co-founder Faheem Miah has been talking about the impact the win had on the business.
Car dealers are rapidly running out of time to put themselves forward for this year’s ceremony, with nominations closing on September 28.
Miah has now encouraged firms to throw their hats in the ring and join Car Planet at the 2026 ceremony on November 30.
‘It meant a lot that we got rewarded for it,’ he said.
‘We won that award, and our team, especially the development team, the owners, they were rewarded for their hard work.’
Miah said the award was particularly meaningful because Car Planet had taken its website development in-house after previously working with Click Dealer.
Earlier this week, Car Dealer published an exclusive interview with the 28-year-old, in which he spoke about how Car Planet has been developing its own AI tools to use in the business.
As well as bringing its website in-house, Car Planet has also developed its own dealer management software, transport management system and Audiofy platform to analyse calls.
Reflecting on why it was so special to win the Used Car Website of the Year award, Miah said: ‘About a year ago we decided to build our website in house.
‘We transitioned over from Click Dealer, who we worked with for the first sort of two or three years and I would recommend them to other people.
‘But we decided: “You know what? We’re at a scale where we need to build everything in house, including the website”.
‘We’ve built our dealer management software in house. We’ve built our transport management system in house. It was time to bring the website in house, and it meant a lot that we got rewarded for it.’
While the recognition was great on the night, for Car Planet, the benefits of winning have continued well into the year.
Miah says the win is now something the business actively promotes to customers and uses during its sales process.
‘It’s something we boast about on our website. It’s something that we pride ourselves,’ he said.
‘We let customers know. Any single customer, we let them know in the presentation room because we must stand for our awards.
‘We let them know we’ve been awarded this because we’ve delivered X, Y, and Z – because we’ve shown that we’ve got best website in the country.
‘We’re the best used car supermarket in the UK, and this really builds the value of our position and helps us sell cars to customers and make them happy.’
Nominations still open
With time running out to put yourself forward, 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 – Sponsorship available
- Used EV Dealer of the Year — Warrantywise
- Social Media User – CMe Automotive
- Use of Video — Carwow
- Used Car Website — Visitor Chat
- Used Car Online Sales Experience — Central Car Auctions
- Specialist Used Car Dealership — Warranty First
- Used Car Sales Team — Diamondbrite
- Used Car Dealer Principal — Warranty First
- Future Star — Northridge Finance
- Used Car Customer Care (and sub-categories) — RAC Dealer Network
- Used Car Supermarket — Cazoo
- Newcomer Dealership — Jigsaw Finance (T2T)
- Used Commercial Vehicle Dealer — Close Brothers Motor Finance
- Days To Turn Award — Autotrader
- Diversity and 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 – Nichibo
- 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 – Sponsorship available
Car Dealer wants everyone to enjoy themselves at the Used Car Awards and wishes to emphasise that all its events are inclusive. Any kind of offensive behaviour – verbal or physical – will not be tolerated. Those booking tickets assume full responsibility for the behaviour of their attendees.