Last night, Equivo was named Customer Service Excellence winner at the Car Finance Awards 2026, hosted by Credit Strategy. We’re proud, we’re grateful and this one genuinely means a lot to the entire team.
This recognition is the result of years of building something we genuinely believe in: a customer service operation where technology, people and accountability work so closely together that doing the right thing becomes how we operate every single day.
We’ve spoken previously about our vulnerability work, following back-to-back national recognition in that space. This award is different. It’s recognition of the whole picture. The systems we’ve built, the standards we hold ourselves to and the culture of honest self-assessment that pushes us to keep improving even when things are going well.
Setting The Standard
When Consumer Duty came into force, many businesses in financial services approached it as a framework to meet and move on from. At Equivo, regulation has always been our starting point rather than our destination. We believe our customers deserve more than the minimum standard and that belief shapes how we build everything.
Our in-house QA framework constantly strives for better outcomes. Every field interaction is recorded and assessed internally, with feedback going back to agents within hours not days. We continuously identify opportunities to improve and we act on them quickly. That level of internal accountability is something we’re committed to maintaining as we grow.
The numbers from the past twelve months reflect that commitment. Every metric we track moved in the right direction. QA scores, call quality, resolution times, complaint volumes. Consistently, quarter on quarter. Not because we had a good period, but because the system we’ve built is designed to keep improving regardless of external conditions.
Technology That Works for the Customer
Good team members are the foundation of good customer service. But even the best colleagues benefit from the right tools behind them. Tracking multiple risk signals across a conversation, spotting a pattern before it becomes a problem, maintaining the same quality of response across every interaction regardless of volume or time of day: these are areas where technology makes a genuine difference.
Our proprietary technology, built in-house, identifies when a customer needs something more from us and makes sure that need is met, regardless of which agent picks up the call. It supports the judgment of our people rather than replacing it, putting the right information in front of them at the right moment so they can respond with the right tone, the right conversation and the right outcome.
Investing in technology of this kind makes customer service more human. When our systems are working hard in the background, our people are free to be fully present in the conversation and that presence is what customers remember.
Whose Award This Really Is
Recognition like this is an opportunity to reflect on the people behind it.
It belongs to the colleagues who handle genuinely difficult conversations every day and approach each one with care and consistency. From the QA team who deliver honest, constructive feedback quickly and hold the line on standards, to the operational leads who’ve worked to build an environment where continuous improvement is simply part of how we work. And to everyone across the business who plays a role in making sure our customers are supported properly.
We’re proud of this award and proud of the team who earned it. This one is for our entire team.
Your main contact:
John is Founder & Director, and leads Equivo’s Collections & Field Division has responsibility for operations and service delivery for collections activity across the business. John always challenges standard industry practice while keeping fully abreast of regulatory requirements, beliefs that are core to Equivo’s operation.
