Triple win for Autotrader at Car Dealer Power Awards
Autotrader triumphed at the 2026 Car Dealer Power awards picking up three trophies, as voted for by around 2,000 car retailers from across the UK.
Taking home the titles for Consumer Lead Generation Provider of the Year, Online Advertiser for Used Cars 2026, and Used Car Valuations Provider of the Year, the hat-trick of wins highlights Autotrader’s ongoing commitment to delivering quality results and placing its partners at the forefront of everything the company does. Autotrader was also delighted to receive a Highly Commended nod for Online Advertiser for New Cars.
Launched in 2018, the Car Dealer Power Awards were created to celebrate the best suppliers across the motor trade industry, as well as shine a light on the best to represent – as voted exclusively by retailers. Their feedback is collated annually and is sorted into a broad range of categories, from the best provider of digital marketing tools to the best cleaning products.
Chosen by retailers, these awards showcase Autotrader’s commitment to providing quality results and demonstrates how the customer is placed at the forefront of everything the company does.
Driving results: Consumer Lead Generation Provider of the Year
Generating quality leads is more important than ever in the automotive industry and strong, consistent consumer enquiries are key. Winning this category highlights Autotrader’s ability to consistently connect dealers with highly motivated, in-market buyers at scale.
We are really honoured. With some challenging business conditions to deal with just now – and you could say in automotive retail that happens just about every day – lead generation is more important than ever. So, knowing that many of our retailer partners voted for us really means that they genuinely feel we’re helping them sell cars faster, smarter and protect their bottom lines. That is really something we take a lot of pride in.
The ultimate digital storefront: Online Advertiser for Used Cars
For an incredible fifth year in a row, Autotrader has claimed the accolade for Online Advertiser for Used Cars. As Car Dealer Editor-in-Chief James Baggott noted, retailers care above all else about platforms delivering quality enquiries that turn into sales—and Autotrader continues to deliver both in traffic and dealer satisfaction.
The past 12 months have seen Autotrader launch several new platform tools, including Buying Signals, which gives dealers greater insight into rich behavioural data, so they can prioritise the most engaged buyers and respond more effectively.
When we think about the tech and data that we have at our disposal, we’re combining that with customer feedback and really making sure that what we continue to build helps customers with the real-world, day-to-day running of their business and their operations. Many of our independent customers and some smaller franchise customers use our dealer portal, so it’s about how we continue to evolve that, make it better and make it more intuitive. As always, there’s lots going on in used cars - and equally everything we’re doing in new cars as well. Never a dull moment for sure. It’s what makes automotive the industry that it is that we all love. I feel really proud to accept this award on behalf of so many people at Autotrader.
The industry standard: Used Car Valuations Provider of the Year
In today’s market, knowing exactly what a car is worth can make all the difference between a profitable deal and a costly mistake. Taking the crown as Valuations Provider of the Year proves that Autotrader's live, real-time market data has become an essential part of daily dealer operations.
In fact, the company's retail valuations are increasingly being recognised as the undisputed industry standard—so much so that this valuation data is now being integrated into other major automotive platforms to help retailers make smarter, margin-protecting pricing decisions right at the point of sourcing vehicle stock.
We talk quite a lot about the amount of change there is in the industry. We talk about how important it is to use data to understand that and help make smarter decisions. Autotrader’s valuations product gets better all the time. That is a big shout, really, to the investment we’ve made in data science and in AI for over 10 years. We’ve paid close attention to having brilliant vehicle taxonomy and great vehicle data, which is the foundation of good AI input. For that work to be recognised in this way by customers is brilliant.
A year of recognition
This follows Autotrader’s recent victory as the Best used car advertising platform as revealed by Car Dealer Recommends 2026. Ranked on the percentage of sales the platform in used car marketing achieved in 2025/26 financial year. As James Baggot wrote, “[Autotrader] is by far and away the biggest source of deals for our business. It wins Car Dealer Recommends for the first year.”
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