A double win for eStar as Kate Carter crowned Woman of the Year, along with retaining top People & Culture honour for second year at Auto Trader Retailer Awards 2024

eStar Truck and Van’s Head of Truck Sales, Kate Carter, has been presented the Woman of The Year Award, along with the business retaining the title of People & Culture at the national Auto Trader Retailer Awards 2024, which were held last week in London.

Kate has beaten competition from a host of inspiring women in the automotive retailer sector to receive the Woman of the Year Award at the annual Auto Trader Retailer Awards. The Woman of The Year Award recognises the female in an operational management role having a clear positive impact on their retail organisation, as well as the wider automotive retail industry, either directly or indirectly.

To retain the People & Culture (Under 200) accolade for a second consecutive year, eStar, which has dealerships in Deeside (North Wales), Knowsley, Stoke, and Trafford Park (Manchester), has beaten competition from circa 13,500 UK automotive retailers. The People and Culture Award recognises retailers that put their people first and have made significant efforts to create a dynamic, open, and diverse workplace.

Now in its 17th year, the Auto Trader Retailer Awards celebrate the very best in automotive retailing; those brands that are pushing the standard of all aspects of the industry.

This year, around 1,500 of Auto Trader’s top performing retailer partners were shortlisted to just 88 finalists split across 11 different award categories, of which just 30 were crowned winners, determined by a combination of in-depth analysis of millions of data points, independent judging by a panel of experts, and the results from the UK’s largest consumer mystery shopping programme among auto retailers. Accordingly, the winners are among the top 1% of Auto Trader’s retailer partners and are rightly considered the best of the best.

This year’s ceremony took place at premier London venue 8 Northumberland Avenue, just off Trafalgar Square. The event was hosted by Auto Trader CEO Nathan Coe, COO Catherine Faiers and Sales Director, Rebecca Clark, alongside Auto Trader’s YouTube Director and former Top Gear presenter, Rory Reid.

Speaking about the double honours, Kate Clay, HR Director at eStar said: “Our people are what makes eStar what it is – the feedback we get about how friendly, knowledgeable, and supportive colleagues are, both to each other and to the commercial vehicle community we serve, is testament to the culture we have.

“Therefore to win the Auto Trader People & Culture Award for a second year, which is independently judged, further cements the power of supporting our teams to be the best version of themselves at eStar.

“And to see Kate Carter crowned in the inaugural Woman of the Year category is a very proud moment. Kate is an exceptional example of a female leader standing strong in a male-dominated sector, and she continues to inspire so many of us at eStar.”

Auto Trader’s Sales Director Rebecca Clark, added: “It was a pleasure to once again welcome many of our brilliant automotive retail partners for the latest edition of the Auto Trader Retail awards and celebrate the very best in the industry who are truly driving the industry forward for all including their customers. All of this year’s finalists and winners really do represent some of the most innovative, forward-looking retailers in the UK today and we were delighted to be able to recognise every single one of them across all retailer sizes from the automotive industry.”

For a full list of winners, please visit the Auto Trader Retailer Awards website: https://www.autotraderretailerawards.co.uk/.

Ends

About eStar:

eStar, established in 2020, is owned by industry leaders, Sid Sadique, and Ali Sharifi, with locations across, Deeside, Knowsley, Stoke-on-Trent, and Trafford Park.

As a Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle dealer, eStar is well-placed to serve the business and lifestyle community across all aspects of owning and maintaining trucks, vans, coaches, and buses.

With extensive experience across electric and alternative fuels, the team at eStar is committed to supporting customers every step of the way along their journey to delivering greener products, services, and people.

For more information about eStar Truck and Van, please visit www.estar.ltd.

For press enquiries, please contact Caroline Burnell, Head of Marketing and Communications at eStar, via 07876 217056 or caroline.burnell@estar.ltd.

About Auto Trader

Auto Trader Group plc is the UK’s largest automotive platform. It listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2015 and is a member of the FTSE 100 Index.

Auto Trader’s purpose is Driving Change Together. Responsibly. Auto Trader is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture, it aims to build stronger partnerships with its customers and use its voice and influence to drive more environmentally friendly vehicle choices.

With the largest number of car buyers and the largest choice of trusted stock, Auto Trader’s platform sits at the heart of the UK car buying process. That platform is built on an industry-leading technology and data platform, which is increasingly used across the automotive industry. Auto Trader is continuing to bring more of the car buying journey online, creating an improved buying experience, whilst enabling all its retailer partners to sell vehicles online.

Auto Trader publishes a monthly used car Retail Price Index which is based on pricing analysis of circa 800,000 unique vehicles. The same data that powers the Index is used by the Office for National Statistics to make the UK’s official measures of inflation more robust, as well as the Bank of England to feed the broader UK economic indicators.

For more information, please visit: https://plc.autotrader.co.uk/

For all media enquiries, please contact: press@autotrader.co.uk