Car.co.uk wins King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation

Car.co.uk has been awarded a King’s Award for Enterprise for Innovation — the highest official business honour in the UK, personally approved by His Majesty The King.

It’s recognition of the work we’ve done over the past few years to rebuild how older and end-of-life vehicles are bought, sold, and recycled. A part of the car market most people overlook, but one that quietly underpins UK sustainability and supports thousands of small independent businesses.

We’re proud of it. And we’re grateful to the team, the partners, and the customers who got us here.

What the King’s Award means

The King’s Award for Enterprise (formerly the Queen’s Award) is the most prestigious business award in the UK. Each year a small number of British companies are recognised across four categories: Innovation, International Trade, Sustainable Development, and Promoting Opportunity.

The Innovation category, which Car.co.uk has been recognised in, celebrates British businesses that have built something genuinely new. The judging is rigorous — panels review applicants against a strict set of criteria, and the winners are personally approved by His Majesty The King.

Five awards across two businesses

This is the fifth time a team I’ve been involved with has been recognised this way. The first four came at Recycling Lives, the company I led before founding the New Reg Group. Together with three Sunday Times rankings of Britain’s fastest-growing companies, the full list reads:

• 2010 — Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development (Recycling Lives)
• 2014 — Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development (Recycling Lives)
• 2018 — Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Recycling Lives)
• 2018 — Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 (Recycling Lives)
• 2019 — Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility (Recycling Lives)
• 2019 — Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 (Recycling Lives)
• 2025 — The Sunday Times 100 (Car.co.uk)
• 2026 — King’s Award for Enterprise: Innovation (Car.co.uk)

This one is special. Car.co.uk was built from scratch, debt-free and self-funded, in a part of the market that nobody else was investing in properly. Having that work recognised at this level, by His Majesty, is genuinely humbling.

Thank you

To the team. Years of hard work, good decisions, and turning up every day. None of this happens without you.
To our partners — the garages, dismantlers, recyclers, hauliers, and traders we work with every day. You’re the backbone of an industry that genuinely matters, and we’re proud to work alongside you.

And to our customers — the more than 15,600 of you who’ve left us reviews on Trustpilot, making Car.co.uk the UK’s most trusted online car buyer. Thank you for choosing us. We don’t take it for granted.

The next chapter is already being written.