CAT AWARD WINNER NAMED GARAGE OF THE YEAR

Three-time CAT award winner ABP Motorsport is also now the Motor Codes Garage of the Year.

The Crewe-based workshop in Cheshire took the top prize in the small business category, while Reynolds of Selby in North Yorkshire was judged the best large businesses.

The two garages fought off 6800 other Motor Codes subscribing businesses and 18 regional finalists in the competition which attracted record levels of votes from consumers.

Founded in 1964, ABP is now owned by Chris Meredith who joined the company 22 years ago at the age of 17: “I was beginning to think it was never meant to be – we’d been North West finalists two years on the trot, which is great, but never made it to the top until now.

“The best thing about winning is that it’s because of the good feedback we got from satisfied customers.

“It’s great to learn from the feedback. Generally we’re very good, but we did have one horrendous one about not answering the phone quickly enough or calling back with a price. We learnt a lot from that, more than we do from the positive feedback.

“We changed things and improved. Multiply that by the number of years we’ve been in business and the result is that we now have third generation customers coming back to us.”

The customer votes and feedback used to highlight the best garages is updated live on the Motor Codes website so garages have an effective way of reassuring consumers and bringing business to their doors. CAT Editor Peter Lawton joined Chris Mason, What Car? Consumer Editor Emma Butcher, Sun Motors Editor Ken Gibson and Halvoline’s John Jackson to decide the overall winner. Both garages were also independently assessed by the RAC.

Stephen Reynolds of Reynolds of Selby said: “We’re a family-run business and treat all of our staff and customers as an extended part of that family. We’re so pleased to be named Garage of the Year because it show recognition from the community and reflects the long-standing relationships that we enjoy with many of our customers. I would very much like to thank all of our customers for their continued support and for voting for us to win this prestigious award.”

Motor Codes Managing Director and competition judge Chris Mason said: “Congratulations to two exceptional businesses. The judges certainly had a tough time picking the winners from the shortlist of regional champions and this is indicative of the quality of customer service that motorists across the UK regularly experience, particular from garages committed to our Government-backed codes of practice.”