Synergy Car Leasing wins Broker News Awards 2024

Synergy Car Leasing was named Broker of the Year at the Broker News Awards 2024, held last week. The Harrogate-based leasing broker picked up the main award as well as the Best Customer Service Award.

Ralph Morton, editor of Broker News: said: “Synergy Car Leasing has absolutely nailed customer service. In their category, they were winners by a significant margin with enough points to ensure they also carried off the Broker of the Year title.

“For a leasing business that has also been awarded a Feefo 10 Years of Excellence Award for 10 successive years of attaining the Trusted Service Award earlier this year, it is fitting that they should be recognised with the Broker of the Year title.”

The Women in Broking Award, designed to raise the profile of women in the sector, went to Kelly Marshall of Gateway2Lease, who started her broking business at the age of 22 years and has quietly built the impressive broking business over the last 16 years.

The Women in Broking Award aims to encourage more women into the industry, change traditional attitudes to leadership gender, and provide support, networking and mentoring opportunities.

The Editor’s Award, recognising a significant contribution made by a broker, went to Paul Parkinson, for his nine years on the BVRLA Leasing Broker Committee – two years as chair – as well as for his tireless work in promoting the role of leasing brokers and their significance in the automotive sector.

For the second year running, Greenfleets won the Best Small Broker category (up to 1000 units). Mid-size category winners were the LCV Group, and the main Volume Broker of the Year was Nationwide Vehicle Contracts.

Robotic quote and pricing tool EzRental saw Gateway2Lease win the Best Innovation award, and Best Commercial Vehicle Broker went to Bristol-based Vanaways.

The full list of winners of the Broker Awards 2024 were:

Best Appointed Representative (AR) -Jonathan Nolan t/a Fleet Alliance
Best Small Broker (up to 1000 units per year) – Greenfleets
Best Mid-size Broker (1000-5000 units per year) – the LCV group
Best Volume Broker (5000+ units per year) – Nationwide Vehicle Contracts
Best Customer Service Award – Synergy Car Leasing
Best Commercial Vehicle Broker – Vanaways
Best EV Broker – loveelectric
Best SME Broker – Vavoom Vehicle Management
Best Innovation in Broking – Gateway2Lease
Rising Star of the Year – Anna Stockdale, The Electric Car Scheme
Funder of the Year – Lex Autolease (voted for by brokers)
Woman In Broking – Kelly Marshall, Gateway2Lease
Editor’s Award – Paul Parkinson
Broker of the Year – Synergy Car Leasing

Jane Pocock, CEO of Copart Inc UK & Ireland and head judge at this year’s Broker Awards commented: “It is an honour to be able to chair the Broker Awards for a second consecutive year. They are extremely important to the industry to highlight all the achievements within this sector.

“Judging is, as always, a feat, and this year’s entries were of such high calibre that there were fine margins between winners and nominees, but we got there in the end. Congratulations to all the winners and those who entered.”

The Headline Partner for the awards was Fleet Procure, and the supporting partners were Arval, Automotus and Leasing.com.

Judges were Chris Swallow, National Sales Manager – Associate division at Novuna Vehicle Solutions; Duncan Green, Commercial Operations Director, Drivalia; Steve Cocks, Director of Broker Division, Lex Autolease, James Russell, Head of Indirect Sales, Leasys UK; Scott Glover, Head of Broker Sales – Retail, Arval UK; Richard Chadwick, Head of Indirect Sales, Alphabet GB; Jon Burdekin, Owner, Fleet Consulting; Paul Kirby, eLCV Expert, EV Essentials; Paul Hollick, Managing Director, Lightfoot and Chair of the AFP; Paul Harrison, Chief Partnerships Officer, Leasing.com; and head judge for the second consecutive year was, Jane Pocock, the CEO of Copart Inc UK & Ireland.