Thatchammotorcompany Reviews 17

Found a vehicle I liked on their website rang and asked more details very helpful and arranged a viewing. Very pleasant experience took as much time as we wanted to have a look at the car and we then took it for a test drive. No pushy sales, car was clean for age and low miles with great service history. Thanks Thatcham Motor Company.

Car I bought from them broke down on the motorway a few weeks after I bought it. If I hadn't been able to swerve into the hard shoulder I would have crashed and died, with a young child in the car too. Thatcham Motor Company don't care, refused to talk to me about it or pay for repairs, am now going through court to recoup costs as they also failed to show up to mediation. Avoid at all costs.

I got my BMW 1 series form Thatcham motor company a few months ago and I am very happy with the whole process and service provided. The staff was helpful, answered my questions and made the car available when I had arranged for the RAC to carry out an inspection.

I bought a car from Thatcham Motor Company in June 2025, and less than 3 months later, it has failed its MOT and been deemed unsafe to drive. I am now going through legal proceedings, as Thatcham have refused to repair the car or refund my money, or in any way adhere to the Consumer Rights Act. Also, I IMPLORE you to ignore the poster in their office, claiming that they are part of the Dealer Promise with the AA, as I reported the issue to them and they informed me that Thatcham Motor Company cancelled their membership in July 2024, over a year ago. Read the other reviews on here and avoid buying a dangerous, faulty car from Thatcham Motor Company. For your own safety, look elsewhere.

Hassle free, quick and easy I would recommend selling to this company

Bought second car from there . It’s a ist car for my daughter great condition and drive very well. I came back here because my other car still running great. Thanks Thatcham motor company

A welcome & polite greeting on arrival, - the car we enquired about was readily on display, we were allowed to inspect & test drive the vehicle on our own having been plenty of time to look around & ask any questions, very helpful & certainly without any pressure.. Friendly and honest salesman which is a welcome, & so helpful & genuinely willing to be of assistance. We bought the car there & then & drove away... from our experience we have no hesitation in recommending this company

I made contact with Ross, a salesperson at TMC, who was incredibly responsive and helpful. The buying process was easy, the video didn't hide anything, the vehicle was serviced, MOT'd, cleaned and polished. It was delivered when agreed and was presented in excellent condition. I would definitely recommend TMC to anybody wanting to purchase one of their vehicles.

Bought a red vw gold car from them in Dec 2023 they were really helpful on phone and arranged delievery down due to unable to drive up. The car arrived covered in mud after spending 200+ delivery. On cleaning the car I discovered things they did not advise of and not visible in pictures where i was met with unhelpful responses from the company. The car appeared like it hadn't been checked before driving down no windscreen fluid and not overly clean .. the wingmirror was missing glass to the indicator and didn't light up they told me they would send me a new one this never arrived and they avoided responding to any correspondence. Threemonths after having the car the clutch slave went. The paint started showing as peeling of the wingmirror. There were blim marks to the interior.Disappointed as a single parent to have wasted money on a car which has had problem after problem but to be completely ignored by the firm when I contacted them and they'd promised to send a part. I will avoid especially if unable to view the car prior to sale

I bought a mini at the end of April & paid my brother fuel money to drive me the 75 miles to get it .No sooner than my brother left I sat down to sort paper work and was told " so we gave it a service &have given it a fresh mot but a headlamp leveling fault keeps coming on , if it does come on again let us know and we will pay for it to be sorted at a local garage " I wasn't happy about this but as they promised to pay and I was kind of "I'm here now " i said " OK " . On driving the car home sure enough the light came on , so when I got home and knowing abit about cars I looked at where the level sensor connects to the arm and the stud was not even connected and sheered off ! This was old and rusty so not a "new thing that had just happened" ( pics to prove this).I sent pictures and without kicking off or questioning it called them and said " I know a mini specialist around the corner I will call them Monday to book it in " to which they agreed , that was on Saturday. Sunday morning I took it 2 miles to the shops and an engine warning light came on the dash ! Not even had the car 24 hours and second fault ! I called Roger Again and he said and I quote " The OBD ? Unbelievable. Maybe best we have it back to get sorted. Unbelievable and so sorry " AGAIN I didn't kick off and said " I will get the mini specialist to look at that aswell and come back to you before any work is approved " I stuck with the mini specialist as i trusted them and was not willing to drive a car with now multiple faults 75 miles one of which being an engine warning light let alone taking time off work and sorting out lifts to and from ! By this point I'd done 85 miles and 75 was driving it home .Thursday came and I got the car looked at and ended up paying the diag fee myself and half the labour with Thatchers paying the other half and the parts , in hindsight I shouldnt have paid a penny but at least it was at a well respected specialist of my choosing and only 2 miles away so felt happy to drive it there.They fixed the wiring to the headlamp leveling sensor and reattached it to the arm by drilling out the rusty snapped bolt and replaced an engine breather valve that sorted the engine light .
So at last 1 week after buying a £13500 car I could drive it without problems ..... No... another week passed an I noticed that the "stop/ start " didn't work ... and come to think of it , it had never worked ? So I tested the battery and it needed replacing , i called AGAIN and Thatchers paid for a battery and I fitted it myself while being told " any more faults you need to contact the Warranty Company " 2 months went past and now the latest fault , the drivers front fog lamp isn't working .When I looked underneath it doesn't even have a wire going to it and has been cut at the plug ! I have since found out that the wire comes with a loom thats £250 ! Thatchers said " it must have been the specialist as "all lights were checked at that time and both fog lights working " they also said and I quote "To accommodate your convenience rather than you bringing the car back to us for repair which we preferred to do we settled a repair bill with your local Mini Specialist without question " AGAIN making out they have done me the favour on what is now the fourth fault in 2 months! Infact as I write this I have a service reminder saying the car is 13,000 miles over due so did they even do the service ? ( yet again pics to prove this )
As it stands other than the fog lamp and service which I'm going to get done I'm hoping that's the end of it . Do I believe Thatchers knew about all these faults of course not but a better prepped car and sorting this latest problem would have made me alot happier , especially after what I've been through with this car !
I have been in touch with the finance company from the start and they have been excellent ! I have reports, pictures & info ready to go & it is now in their hands when just a "sorry Mike for the on going problems , we have sold you this car we will sort "would have done .

Love my car it looks amazing, great customer service, friendly helpful and would definitely recommend to others.

UPDATED: I'm lucky that my claim against Thatcham Motor Company has been accepted IN FULL by my credit card company who have refunded my money. Thatcham Motor Company do not adhere to Consumer Protection legislation and my recommendation would be to stay away from this company.

As other reviewers have said, their behaviour is suspect and they don't accept any responsibility under consumer law.

I purchased a car from them in January 2023 which suffered a catastrophic failure 17 days later and is undriveable. They said the car had been 'recently serviced' and had been 'very well looked after' and after having to prompt them, they finally provided the paperwork for the service which turns out to have been conducted by a garage that cannot be traced under the name and address on the invoices - hmmm?!

Unsurprisingly they are not interested in my rights under the Consumer Rights Act and thankfully I used a credit card to pay for the car so I do have some protection. As they have refused to refund me I've had to submit complaints to Trading Standards, the AA and the FCA because I really don't want anyone else to get caught out.

I don't understand how this company can have a 2.8 star rating on Trustpilot when all ratings are 1 star?! Don't be fooled by the rating on AutoTrader either, this is powered by Feefo [check out Feefo's 2.4 star rating!] Seriously, avoid Thatcham Motor Company and please don't be caught out!

I bought a 2005 Lexus - nothing revealed on the two short test drives. When I bought the car I turned down the 3rd party warranty which I knew generally are worthless (gien age of car) but was confident as I was using a credit card. They sneakily put 'ltd' and claimed they would have to write 'spares or repairs' on the invoice because I didnt take the warranty - which effectively held me out as a trader - which I am not!!! Anyway when the 'xmas lights' came on the dash a couple of weeks later TMC didnt want to know - so looking at multiple faults involving engine, gearbox and suspension & steering.

I have not been so lucky as my bank (BoS/ Lloyds) is not as good as Barclaycard. Seriously, avoid this 'business' - if they try and sell you a 3rd party warranty understand before you sign what is and is not covered especially on cars that are old. And if they try and write - ltd, spares or repair, sold as seen or the normal dirty tricks - WALK AWAY immediately - reputable dealers dont do that as a reputable business will stand behind the products it sells. Complaint to Trading Standards will be forthcoming. as they let me drive a car on a public road they new was faulty (thats what spares or repairs means, they event MOT'd it - go figure) or deliberately tried to negate my use of a credit card and the protection it offers, I almost had my family in the car on the test drive!!!)

Lastly, I hired a ramp to do an inspection on the car as diagnostics revealed issues and I was advised some of the issues sound like poor oil maintenance - the car apparently was serviced but on draining the oil and removing the filter - neither are likely to have been changed for many thousands of miles. How it passed it MOT without an advisory I will never know - as on the ramp the test to reveal damaged suspension showed an issue which a good mechanic would have picked up - I am taught by youtube and I picked it up!!!

Thatcham Motor Company (TMC) apparently specialises in good quality, low mileage cars. If you are lucky and there are no issues with the car then you will be ok of course but if there are problems, beware, because the helpful, smiling car salesman will rapidly reveal his alter-ego! He will say/do nothing without the boss’s say-so and of course the boss is never there when you call!

We bought a low mileage Toyota Verso 56 reg from TMC, £4000, one lady owner, excellent condition, 12 months MOT, FSH etc. The 10 minute test run did not reveal any issues but within one week the car broke down. TMC referred us to the Momentum warranty that came with the car. This turned out to be totally worthless (but that’s another story – see TrustPilot reviews about Momentum!). TMC refused to repair the fault claiming that we had damaged the automatic transmission by the way we drive, a “fact” confirmed by their “independent” engineer i.e. the local garage guy who we believe does all their servicing, MOTs etc.

At considerable expense we had two independent inspections done on the car – one by a main Toyota dealer and one by a certified independent automobile engineer. The fault was traced to the ECU plus associated parts that control the gearbox, and, importantly, it was confirmed that we could not have caused the fault by the way we drove the car. It would cost over £2000 to repair.

After advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau and Local Trading Standards we tried to return the car under the 30 day rule (Consumer Protection Act). TMC didn’t want to know. We were in the process of resorting to the Small Claims court procedure but were advised by a retired solicitor friend to try Barclaycard first as I had bought the car using my VISA card. To my surprise Barclaycard stepped up to the mark and offered to pay for the repairs, which we accepted. It was not an entirely painless process as naturally they required a detailed chronological list of all the events including copies of all the correspondence.

All-in-all I spent many, many hours writing letters, emails, making phone calls etc and a lot of money in travel expenses, recorded delivery costs and the car inspections. The bottom line I suppose is be very careful when dealing with TMC. It might pay to have an AA inspection done on the car and definitely have a good, long test run. Don't waste your money on a Momentum warranty. As I said if you buy a “good un” obviously you won’t have any hassle with TMC, but if you get a “bad un” don’t expect much in the way of customer service!

2004 Honda Civic.Where do I start..with the corrosion covered up with gobs of underseal or the bent wheel or the suspension and brake lines that were so corroded it all had to be cut off with a grinder, or maybe the steering that was so far out it was quote "off the machines scale" or perhaps the four seized up brake calipers? Even the battery in the key fob was corroded.All this with an MOT certificate from a garage not 5 miles from Thatcham, hmmm. Upon taking the car to Honda, their opinion was... flood damage. One thing is for sure, "immaculate inside and out" it was NOT. I havn't contacted or complained to Thatcham Motor Company because I just know what the reply is going to be. To anyone reading this, have a professional look the car over before you part with your cash.