The first stages of the 2020 Business Car Awards qualification are over as the deadline for judging, and the date for delivery to customers for any eligible new cars, have passed.

Our deadline for entries was extended to 14 August as a result of requests from businesses whose day-to-day running had been affected by the lockdown and furlough scheme to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

However, we have been overwhelmed by the level of interest from dozens of companies whose products, services and achievements will be assessed by our judges.

For a car to qualify for judging, it must have been on sale and available for delivery to UK fleet customers by the end of July 2020.

In the next stage, submissions from fleet operators and fleet suppliers will be scrutinised and evaluated by our expert independent judges, followed by eligible vehicles being pored over by whole-life costs analysts.

The entries will be narrowed down to a shortlist of finalists, which will be published ahead of our interactive virtual event on 22 October.

Registrations for the event are now open, at 2020businesscarawards.vfairs.com, and guests will be given a login to visit the 2020 Business Car Awards as they happen.

Our new, interactive awards format, sponsored by VisionTrack, Europcar Mobility Group and the AA, will add an extra dimension to our annual event where we reward excellence in the fleet car sector.

Guests will have the opportunity to network with each other, meet our sponsors, and witness our awards presentations on a video stream.