Motor Ombudsman search begins for customer service and garage stars

The Motor Ombudsman has opened customer nominations for its 2023 Star Awards to recognise individuals and businesses in the automotive sector.

The annual competition was introduced by the Ombudsman for the automotive sector in 2020 to recognise individual team members and businesses accredited to one or more of its four Motor Industry Codes of  Practice, that have gone the extra mile in the eyes of consumers.

This could be for example, during the  repair or purchase of a new or used vehicle, or when submitting a warranty claim or enquiry.

Since the Star Awards were launched, around 3,500 nominations have been submitted to date.

More than 7,000 Motor Ombudsman-accredited franchise dealerships, independent garages and body  repair centres across the UK are eligible to be put forward by motorists for one of the eight Garage Star  trophies representing different regions of the UK.

Entries can be submitted by consumers at TheMotorOmbudsman.org/Awards up until October 15.

From the  nominations received over the coming months, a shortlist of three names will then be compiled by The  Motor Ombudsman for each of the 11 awards available in the contest.

This will be based on a predefined set of criteria which looks at how a team member or organisation went above and beyond to assist a customer, as opposed to the quantity of submissions received for a specific person or business. 

The finalists will then be passed to a panel of judges to collectively decide the respective trophy winners for this year’s Garage Star and Customer Service Star Awards, as well as the two highly commended  entries for each of the categories.

Judges will equally be tasked with naming the recipient of the coveted National Garage Star Award, which will be jointly chosen by the panel from this year’s eight regional Garage Star Award winners.

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Furthermore, in another first for the Star Awards, The Motor Ombudsman has partnered with the  Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI)’s Hero Awards.

With the 2023 awards themed around  ‘partnerships’, the National Garage Star Award will be presented in-person to this year’s winner at the ceremony taking place at the Houses of Parliament in London’s Westminster.

In recognition of  claiming the top award in the competition, the business or team member will receive an enhanced prize of £2,000 worth of vouchers, as well as marketing exposure, including a bespoke video filmed at their premises to highlight their achievement.  

Bill Fennell, chief ombudsman and managing director of The Motor Ombudsman, said: “Based on the high calibre of last year’s entries, we expect this year’s accolades to be another closely fought contest, and we look forward to reading more  great nominations from across the motor industry.”