CarGurus launches UK Best Used Car Awards

SEAT Ateca has won the overall prize in the CarGurus UK Best Used Car Awards
Awards combine unique data insights with expert judging to highlight the best used cars in the market
13 categories up for grabs including city car, supermini and small family car
Judging panel made up of highly respected motoring journalists including Chris Knapman, Vicky Parrott and Dan Prosser

CarGurus, a leading online automotive marketplace, has revealed the winners of its inaugural UK Best Used Car Awards – with the SEAT Ateca coming out as the overall victor.

The CarGurus UK Best Used Car Awards, which can be seen here, have been launched to recognise the best buys in the used car market across 13 categories including city cars, superminis, small family cars, crossovers, SUVs, performance cars and more. The awards follow on from the success of a similar programme run by CarGurus in the US, where the company is now established as the country’s most visited automotive shopping site*.

An expert judging panel made up of some of the UK’s most well-respected motoring journalists and road testers selected the winners. Chris Knapman, CarGurus UK Editor, was joined by Dan Prosser, Vicky Parrott, Alex Robbins, Lewis Kingston and Nic Cackett, Editor of CarGurus’ sister site, PistonHeads to carry out the judging. In addition to drawing on their extensive experience, the judges used unique CarGurus data insights around areas including stock availability and projected depreciation to pick 2019’s best used cars.

Summing up SEAT’s victory, Knapman said: “The Ateca is a truly worthy overall winner of the inaugural CarGurus UK Best Used Car Awards. While all of our category winners are easy to recommend as used buys, the judging panel felt the SEAT particularly stood out for the way it excels not only in areas that you’d expect a crossover to, such as practicality and low running costs, but also ones where you might not. For example, it offers a genuinely enjoyable driving experience and equipment levels are generous compared with some of its rivals.”

Richard Harrison, Director of SEAT UK, said: “We are thrilled that the SEAT Ateca has been recognised by CarGurus in its UK Best Used Car Awards. The Ateca has spearheaded significant growth for SEAT in the UK since its launch in 2016, leading the way for an SUV line-up that includes Arona and Tarraco. We know that our models are already highly recommended as new purchases, so it’s great to see the SEAT Ateca performing just as strongly as a used buy, too.”

Elsewhere, first place in the City Car category was awarded to the Hyundai i10, while in the Supermini class the Ford Fiesta took top honours.

As well as achieving overall winner status, the Crossover category was also given to the SEAT Ateca, ahead of the Renault Kadjar and BMW X1.

The Small Family Car category found another win for SEAT, this time the SEAT Leon.

The BMW M2 secured pole position in the Performance Car category and best SUV went to the Audi Q7.

In the Green Car category the BMW i3 won over the judges with its innovative design and construction, brilliant driving manners and what CarGurus data indicates are strong residual values for the class.

View the full 2019 CarGurus UK Best Used Car Awards here.

Created by TripAdvisor co-founder Langley Steinert, CarGurus, the fastest growing automotive shopping site in the UK among its nearest competitors**, combines dealer reviews with comprehensive car valuation analytics to bring trust and transparency to the automotive marketplace, allowing buyers to quickly and easily find great deals from top-rated dealers.

Visit CarGurus at www.cargurus.co.uk, read the latest reviews, tips and advice on the UK blog and on the UK YouTube channel.

-ENDS-

For further information, please contact:
James Drake at CarGurus – UKPR@CarGurus.com / 0208 541 3434 / +44 07809 657178

*CarGurus is the most visited automotive shopping site in the U.S. (source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Automotive – Information/Resources, Total Audience, Q2 2019, U.S. (Competitive set: CarGurus.com, Autotrader.com, Cars.com, TrueCar.com))

**CarGurus is the fastest growing auto shopping site in the UK among its nearest competitors based on the percent change in average unique monthly visitors from Q2 2018 to Q2 2019 (Source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform®, Custom-defined list includes Cargurus.CO.UK, Motors.CO.UK, AutorTrader.CO.UK, Pistonheads.com, Gumtree.com)

CarGurus UK Best Used Car Awards Methodology:
CarGurus UK Best Used Car Award nominees were selected from car models that are at least two years old and originally for sale in the UK. Nominees were shortlisted on criteria including availability and search interest on CarGurus UK, and a projected 12-year value retention, which was carried out using CarGurus data. Our expert judging panel then weighed up the pros and cons of each shortlisted model in the class to determine the winners.

Overall Winner:
1. SEAT Ateca

City Car:
1. Hyundai i10 (2013 – 2019)
2. Volkswagen Up (2011 – present)
3. Smart ForFour (2014 – present)

Supermini:
1. Ford Fiesta (2009 – 2019)
2. Skoda Fabia (2014 – present)
3. Renault Clio (2012 – 2019)

Small Family Car:
1. SEAT Leon (2012 – present)
2. Kia Ceed (2012 – 2018)
3. Audi A3 (2012 – present)

Large Family Car:
1. Ford S-Max (2015 – present)
2. Skoda Superb (2015 – present)
3. Vauxhall Zafira Tourer (2011 – present)

Small Crossover:
1. Suzuki Vitara (2015 – present)
2. Skoda Yeti (2009 – 2017)
3. Renault Captur (2013 – present)

Crossover:
1. SEAT Ateca (2016 – present)
2. BMW X1 (2015 – present)
3. Renault Kadjar (2015 – present)

SUV:
1. Audi Q7 (2015 – present)
2. Peugeot 5008 (2017 – present)
3. Jaguar F-Pace (2016 – present)

Performance Car:
1. BMW M2 (2015 – present)
2. Porsche 911 (2012 – 2019)
3. Ford Fiesta ST (2013 – 2017)

Convertible:
1. Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet (2017 – present)
2. Mazda MX-5 (2015 – present)
3. MINI Convertible (2016 – present)

Coupé:
1. BMW 4 Series (2013 – 2019)
2. Audi TT (2014 – present)
3. Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupé (2016-present)

Green Car:
1. BMW i3 (2013 – present)
2. Hyundai Ioniq (2016 – present)
3. Renault Zoe (2012 – present)

Executive Car:
1. Audi A6 (2011 – 2018)
2. BMW 3 Series (2011 – 2019)
3. Volvo S90 (2017 – present)

Luxury Car:
1. Range Rover (2012 – present)
2. Mercedes-Benz CLS (2011 – 2018)
3. Porsche Panamera (2010 – 2016)

Judging panel:

Chris Knapman. Having previously worked at The Daily Telegraph, as well as writing for a wide range of outlets including What Car? and Auto Express, Chris now oversees editorial content at CarGurus in the UK.

Dan Prosser. As one of the country’s leading authorities on performance cars, Dan has worked for both Evo and Autocar. He is now a contributing editor to CarGurus UK and its sister brand, PistonHeads.

Vicky Parrott. Vicky is a regular CarGurus UK contributor, an expert in green motoring, and has extensive experience in road testing cars for publications including What Car?, Autocar and Driving Electric.

Alex Robbins. As former Used Car Editor for What Car? and Consumer Editor for The Daily Telegraph, Alex has a wealth of knowledge about the used car market.

Lewis Kingston. A background in engineering, a distinctive writing style, and a passion for all things automotive have helped Lewis to secure positions at some of the country’s best-known automotive publications, including CAR, What Car? and DriveTribe.

Nic Cackett. Nic is Editor of CarGurus sister website PistonHeads, and an expert in the world of fast cars. He was the perfect candidate to help judge the Performance Car category.

How CarGurus Works:

CarGurus helps car shoppers search local car listings and quickly find great deals from top-rated dealers. Every day, the company analyses millions of data points on hundreds of thousands of UK car listings to calculate each car’s Instant Market Value (IMV) or fair retail price. This data is used in combination with dealership ratings from other shoppers to rank and rate available cars results based on the quality of the deal: Great, Good, Fair, High or Overpriced. The site also provides transparency on how long the car has been on the forecourt and if it’s had a price drop. Consumers can contact dealers directly.

About CarGurus:

Founded in 2006 by Langley Steinert (also a co-founder of TripAdvisor), CarGurus (Nasdaq: CARG) is a global, online automotive marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of cars. The company uses proprietary technology, search algorithms and data analytics to bring trust and transparency to the automotive search experience and help users find great deals from top-rated dealers. CarGurus is the most visited automotive shopping site in the U.S. (source: Comscore Media Metrix® Multi-Platform, Automotive – Information/Resources, Total Audience, Q2 2019, U.S. (Competitive set: CarGurus.com, Autotrader.com, Cars.com, TrueCar.com)). CarGurus launched in the UK in 2015 and is the fastest growing auto shopping site in the UK among its nearest competitors based on the percent change in average unique monthly visitors from Q2 2018 to Q2 2019 (source: Comscore MMX Multi-Platform®, Custom-defined list includes Cargurus.CO.UK, Motors.CO.UK, AutorTrader.CO.UK, Pistonheads.com, and Gumtree.com). In 2019, CarGurus acquired UK-based PistonHeads.com, which it operates as an independent brand. In addition to the United Kingdom and the United States, CarGurus operates online marketplaces in Canada, Germany, Italy and Spain.

CarGurus® is a registered trademark of CarGurus, Inc. All product names, trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

James Drake
CarGurus
pr@cargurus.com

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