For the past three years nearly 98% of Arnold Clark’s used car customers said they would buy from the Scottish dealer group again.

The drive to provide the best customer experience in searching and selecting from the dealer group’s average 25,000 unit stock means monitoring a range of review platforms, including Trustpilot (120,000 customer reviews, with a 93% ‘great’ rating), Reputation and, with a focus on employee satisfaction, Indeed and Glassdoor, to identify excellence and areas for improvement.

With the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars coming in 2030, Arnold Clark has set out to be a frontrunner in the transition to electric vehicles (EVs). It has the largest used electric stock in the UK – more than 1,000 vehicles – with more than 500 staff trained on supporting customers on their transition. The company is working on every dealership to become EV approved.

Arnold Clark is also in partnership with Bumblebee to provide customers with home charging. The group has announced it will invest £23 million in 500 ultra-rapid chargers at 100 UK sites.

With the aim of offering the leading digital environment for car search and selection, the business has digitised many physical processes – the number of signatures needed has reduced from 17 to three.

Read this full article, and more about other AM Awards winners, here in our free digital report on the 2023 AM Awards.

Last year, in an industry first, Arnold Clark enabled customers to retrieve their motor finance settlement figures online. In the past year its mobile app has been improved to allow customers to book a service and MOT. The app has been downloaded 680,000 times.

A new offer, exclusive to its users, gives five customers the chance to win the cost of their car, up to £30,000.

Sponsor's comment

Stewart Grant, commercial director of Santander Consumer Finance, said: "As the sponsors of the Used Car Dealer of the Year 2023 category, Santander Consumer Finance would like to congratulate the winners of this award, Arnold Clark, on their well-deserved recognition. 

"Arnold Clark’s values and approach to delivering high quality customer service, as well as their ongoing commitment to innovation are truly commendable.

"Striving for good customer outcomes and delivering the right offerings is at the core of everything we do at Santander Consumer Finance, and it is an honour to work alongside businesses and individuals whose principles and goals align with our own. We would also like to extend our congratulations to all those nominated for this award on all their achievements over the past year."

Our AM Awards 2023 sponsors