EP Comps
Introduction
EP Comps is a relatively new competition founded in 2024, that focuses mostly on giving away unique and fun cars that may – or may not – be your cup of tea.
Key Information
- URL: ep-comps.co.uk
- Organiser: EP COMPS LTD
- Type: Competitions & Prize Draws
- Prizes: Cars, Motorcycles (Sometimes)
Review Summary
EP Comps can be best described as a niche car competition, that focuses on prizes that are… Very unique to say the least. The majority of the prizes can be best described as ‘unique modern classics’, that vary from supercharged Mini Coopers, funky drift-spec E46’s, all the way to a funky pimped out ricers.
If the above sounds good to you and they happen to have a prize up for grabs that tickles your fancy; the competition could be potentially worth entering. However, if you are looking to win £100,000 or more in cash – I’d recommend looking at one of the recommended competitions instead.
Even though EP Comps appears to be a smaller operation when compared to some competitions in the UK; the competition is still one of the more authentic and legitimate ones out there. So even with the somewhat limited type of prizes available and the lack of philanthropy, they score (a still respectable) 7.2 out of 10.0 in the Real Score – giving the competition a ‘Neutral’ rating.
If you wish to learn more about how I’ve calculated the Real Score for EP Comps, please see the below sections!
Real Score
The basic information about the competitions and draws are easily available on the website in the shape of usual FAQs.
The draws clearly show the amount of tickets available, and the amount sold as well – which is nice as it’s quite common amongst some competitions to hide these or position this piece of information so that you are able to enter without actually seeing what the odds potentially could be or how many tickets are still available.
Additionally, you are able to see the amount of tickets sold and available even before going into the competitions themselves – which is a lot more transparent of a choice than can be said for most competitions.
However, there aren’t any clear contact details available in any shape or form which is less nice (i.e. a separate contact page, details in the footer, etc.) However, it’s quite clear that the adequately named EP Comps is ran by EP Comps Limited, which is then again ran and operated by Ed(ward) Perry himself – hence the name EP I presume.
For a small operation that doesn’t have a team of people capable of answering customer enquiries; not having clear ways to contact is ever-so-slightly more acceptable.
Like most legitimate competitions, EP Comps does have plenty of proof of winners on their website – and even if not every single one can be found on their site, you are able to see on their social media accounts who won the draws so there’s no question about whether people do actually win or not.
And as it turns out (after exchanging an email or two with Ed from EP Comps), some of the winners on the draws are simply missing from the results due to some issues with web developers not being that reliable to help with the competition site, which is fair enough.
The draws are performed in a very standard fashion for most legitimate competitions: Live draws that are performed on social media (Instagram in this case). And it’s clear that when the draw is performed the list of entrants is properly shown, and then a random number generator is used to pick the winners number live.
I’m personally not a big fan of the way Instagram Live / Reels work, as it’s not as easy to navigate the video as easily on desktop as it is on Facebook – but for most people this won’t matter at all.
Apart from that one grumble; it’s very nice to know that there are no ‘instant wins’ competitions being done by EP Comps. What this means is that every single draw done by the competition will be done live (which is a lot better than most competitions, as it is very common to have lots of instant wins competitions running that are automated and/or with very low transparency).
So as far as the process goes, it’s quite basic, but I think it’s perfect for this kind of a competition and for an authentic draw experience.
Like many other competition in the UK, EP Comps is operating as a prize draw with a free entry method as an option. As far as the positioning of the ‘free entry’ route goes, it should be on the same level as the paid entry route, and not underneath as it is here. But I suppose that only matters for those who are nitpicking about the guidelines of the Gambling Commission.
EP Comps also requires you to answer a question before you enter, which is similar to other competitions. It does need to be noted, that at least there appears to be a bit more thought that has gone into the questions before you enter the competition (unlike with the competitions who just ask what is the capital of England for the millionth time like Rev Comps and Dream Car Giveaways).
So, even though a multiple choice question isn’t really still a valid way of being compliant according to the Gambling Commission’s guidelines, at least there’s some effort here.
For a competition that has been running for just a couple of years, there is plenty of proof of an existing track record as all the winners are posted on their social pages – and most on their website as well. (Although, still has to be pointed out that you won’t be able to find 100% of the winners on the website.)
The prizes themselves are… A bit different to say the least when comparing to the majority of the other competitions.
At the time of writing this section of the review there are two cars available:
- A 2003 Citroën Saxo
- A 2007 FIAT Panda
And if we look at some of the older winners and what they’ve won – the prizes are very similar:
So, on a very quick glance – it looks like the majority of the prizes are probably worth around £2,000 – £10,000 depending on what’s up for grabs. However, since a lot of the cars are somewhat unique or there aren’t that many cars available that are exactly like-for-like… One could argue that there’s some value in that as well.
If we take the Citroën as an example, and try to find a similar one on Autotrader… It’s clear very quickly that these are a bit harder to find, and to compare the value of:
Out of the 6 Saxos only two have the same engine, and they are priced very differently so… Even though the prizes are somewhat on the ‘lower end’ of the spectrum for competitions; they still appear to be somewhat rare and collectible even in this day and age. And I’m certain these types of cars do appeal to a certain demographic, and entering competitions like this could be worthwhile for such players.
The odds themselves are extremely good on EP Comps compared to other competitions. Granted, you won’t be bagging a £1 million house if you win, but as the draws seem to have only 2000-3000 available tickets at a time the odds themselves are great in comparison.
As an example, the current FIAT Panda competition has a measly 2250 tickets available in total:
Realistically; what you are able to win for a £1.49 ticket isn’t superb, as there are lots of different competitions out there where you can win £100,000 in cash for example for less than a £1.
However, I think due to the fact that the odds are so much greater – it’s a very balanced value proposition for anyone who is interested in the prizes they have up for grabs.
Additionally, it’s quite clear that the competition is ran in such a way that doesn’t try to raise a stupid amount of money with the prizes – or especially in comparison to what the prizes are.
If we take the FIAT Panda as an example that has 2250 tickets available at £1.49 a pop; this means the competition will be able to raise £3352.50 at the very most with the draw.
And if we have a quick look at the available 100hp Panda’s – the going rate seems to be around the actual sum that the competition is trying to raise in total.
Therefore, while the value of the prizes themselves isn’t necessarily the greatest for those looking to get rich – this is nicely offset by the good odds and the lack of greed by the competition itself. Nice!
EP Comps doesn’t appear to be doing any philanthropy at all. Instead, the competition rather focuses on doing the draws. And as a small operation, I don’t fault Ed for not doing any donations as the competition is clearly just getting going – and that’s what he should focus on.
For the bonus point I’d like to focus on the fact, that EP Comps only performs the live draws and doesn’t do any instant win competitions.
Now, there isn’t anything inherently wrong with instant wins, but they by very design encourage irresponsible type of gambling (not playing, but gambling), and ten times out of ten there is almost zero transparency on how the draws are done.
But as EP Comps focuses on just doing one draw at a time, you can be sure that the draw you’re entering will be performed live and accordingly.
Notes
Reviewing competitions like these is always a pleasant surprise. Even though these smaller competitions that are ran by 1-2 people may not be as polished and turning over so much money to be able to have ridiculous prizes; the authenticity of the competition itself offsets that fact (assuming the niche prizes they do are to your liking).
With the somewhat limited selection of prizes and by only doing a couple of prizes a month, I think EP Comps will sensibly be able to grow over time to something more. As one common mistake competitions do, is that they start off with too big of prizes and go under very quickly as they figure out that the competition landscape is… Well, competitive.
One can only hope that greed doesn’t overtake the person (Ed) running the competition as time goes on.
– T
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Frequently Asked Questions
EP Comps is a very legitimate competition indeed, that only does live draws you are easily able to confirm to be legitimate on their social media.
EP Comps official trading address is: Unit 1 56 Beeches Avenue, Worthing, England, BN14 9JF
