Celebrations All Round as the Curtain Falls On Fix Auto UK’s 20 Year Anniversary National Conference

Fix Auto Lichfield was crowned Fix Auto UK’s Bodyshop of the Year during the organisation’s highly anticipated ‘Evolve’ themed 2025 National Conference held at The Vox in Birmingham last night.

Presented in front of a record number of sponsors, delegates, insurer guests and suppliers, the Staffordshire-based business celebrated in style as owner Andy Johnson stepped on stage to receive the network’s blue riband prize from Operations Director Mark Hutchins. And it was the second time the repairer was awarded for what has been a tremendously successful 12 months after picking up the Region 3 Award earlier in the evening.

In total, 27 awards were presented during the course of the evening, as hosted by TV’s Mr Wheeler Dealer Mike Brewer.

For the first time, Fix Auto Durham was named as the Allianz Insurance Bodyshop of the Year while Fix Auto Deepcut won the Admiral Bodyshop of the Year award meanwhile Fix Auto Mitcham walked away with the second prize from the insurer, the inaugural Admiral Customer Journey Award.

Fix Auto Stevenage earned a brace of prizes, first winning the Covéa Customer Service Award which was swiftly followed by being named as the network’s first recipient of the Zenith Bodyshop of the Year. Fix Auto Loughborough was presented with the second new award of the evening, scooping the Direct Line Bodyshop of the Year.  The final insurance-led award was won by Fix Auto Bradford South who received the RSA Bodyshop of the Year trophy. For the second successive year, Fix Auto Weston-super-Mare again set the standard in dealing with customers by winning the Fix Auto UK Customer Service Award.

It was the first time that a repairer from Northern Ireland has been recognised by the network as Fix Auto Ballymoney, who joined in November 2023, won the Region 1 award. They were followed on stage by fellow regional winners Fix Auto Bradford South (Region 2), Fix Auto Lichfield (Region 3), Fix Auto West Kensington (Region 4) and Fix Auto Weston-Super-Mare (Region 5) meanwhile, another first for the event being that Region 2, led by Regional Business Manager Carl Norton, was named Region of the Year.

Rickesh Chohan, the network’s Commercial Analyst, was named as Fix Auto UK’s Employee of the Year while, such is the strength and depth of the young apprentices running through the network, for the first time ever, the Nigel Luffman Award Apprentice of the Year prize was shared between Teagan Whiteman of Fix Auto Newport, Jake Harris (Fix Auto Neath) and Justin Reid (Fix Auto Sandhurst).

For the second successive year, Sam Smith, Managing Director of Fix Auto Leeds North, Fix Auto Leeds South, Fix Auto Bradford South and Fix Auto Keighley received the network’s Multi Site Operator of the Year prize and tenth anniversary plaques were also presented to Fix Auto Bolton, Fix Auto Derby, Fix Auto Wrexham and Fix Auto Redcar.

As the network turned 20 in March, that milestone was acknowledged with 20^th Anniversary presentations to Fix Auto Dagenham, Fix Auto Weston-Super-Mare, Fix Auto Loughborough, Fix Auto Bradford South and Fix Auto Keighley.

Paying tribute to the award winners, Ian Pugh, Advantage Group of Companies’ Managing Director which Fix Auto UK falls within, said: “As ever, our awards evening highlighted the breadth of talent we have throughout the organisation and the total commitment to our customers our Franchise Partners pay to ensure we continually provide an industry-leading service.

“While we have to have winners and my sincere congratulations goes out to every recipient, in reality, each and every Franchise Partner in our network deserves recognition for the level of service they consistently deliver.”

Ian added: “Every year we raise the bar for our National Conference and this year’s event has been no exception. We welcomed a record number of sponsors, delegates, insurers, industry experts and suppliers to a world class venue that has once again lived up to all of our expectations. As ever again, our event has made me extremely proud to lead this organisation.”