Big Motoring World - Blue Bell Hill Reviews 

I recently purchased a vehicle from the Chatham Branch and it can be considered a fairly mixed experience. Put simply:

Pros:
-car was exactly as described online, with only a few minor blemishes which is to be expected for a vehicle of its age.
-Reception and drinks bar staff very friendly and professional.
-Clean environment, not unpleasant.

Cons:
-sales staff overly aggressive selling of ancillary products, and they will not accept 'no' for an answer which became incredibly irritating to the point that I nearly walked away. Both individuals that worked with me showed visible frustration when I kept declining, which is unprofessional and childish. I won't name the two individuals and they are just doing the job the company obviously asks them to do, but it is annoying for the client.
-the car we drove away in hand almost zero fuel and the nearest fueling station was closed. We are unfamiliar with the area and feared breaking down, this is unacceptable and to be frank, cheap. They should give the option for say £25 worth of fuel which I'd have been happy to pay for to avoid the stress. This policy of a tiny amount of fuel on pickup is dreadful and illogical.

All in all, a very transactional experience and not the relationship driven approach I am used to.

I reserved a car. Hearing such good things.
Walked in made so welcome. Tick. Introduced. To sales person tick new sales person however come across experienced. Tick. Look for more of our needs tick. Then viewed the car. Down hill from this point. Car wasn’t ready for us. Doors didn’t open correctly warning lights every where car drove like a dog. Car had 13k on clock. Showed us another car felt better. Higher millage sam spec as other car £700 more. !!!!! Same car. To the letter. Said would take it same price even though it had done 8k more. They said no. Wouldn’t even give us a years warranty on the new one. Even after speaking to the manager. I drove all the way there paid to go through the tunnel twice. Shocking can show me a car like this. Not happy bunny. At all. I said I would write a review. To the manager.

Wimbledon first, the process of booking a slot to see 2 cars is not ideal. Agreed they have to know who is wandering around, tel number, email etc but we hadn’t decided exactly what car we wanted for our daughter so would have liked to just freely roam and look at all types of cars. Also the excitement of going to look at a new car is squashed by having to sit down at a desk for 30-40 minutes, running through aimless questions when you just want to look at the cars. Cars were not suitable so drove to Maidstone, Bluebell Hill. Similar process but slightly quicker at the beginning. Found the car we liked and the young salesman Aman was very personable. Just wanted to buy the car, cash no finance, and leave. But no, such a very very long winded process which was annoying, too loooooong! Picked car up next day, handover poor, nobody ran through the car features with us so we had to keep finding people to ask for help. The whole process needs speeding up and shortening, every stage just takes too long, especially the beginning when you just want to look at cars!

The place is great unfortunately the guy I spoke to seem to lose complete interest at the moment I told him I was buying my car next month and not that day.
Test drive was extremely short was literally driving for about 15 minutes.
I would actively avoid purchasing a car from this company based on this interaction.

**EDIT**
Big Motoring World asked me to contact them to discuss this further. They immediately told me that they will not be "upholding" any of my concerns. They have replied to this review to appear as though they care, they do not! The ombudsman will now be involved.

**ORIGINAL**
Absolutely shambolic! Suppose let’s start at the beginning.

I visited the Bluebell Hill branch in October 2025 to purchase a car. Having viewed a car that I was interested in, I decided to proceed. Here I was met with a barrage of sales patter for extra services and protections. The salesperson would not take no for an answer and continued to pressure me into spending more money. At one point, when I had said no to an extended warranty (at £200 per month!), she folded her arms, exhaled loudly and said “I don’t know what to say to you”. It was like being spoken to like a child.

One technique used was to say that if I purchased one of the protection packages, they’d be able to give me more money for my trade-in car. Surely my decision to purchase protection packages doesn’t impact the value of another car?!

After a lot of back and forth, the salesperson finally let me buy the car. Something which should not have taken that long. Once the car was mine, the real problems began and began big!

Firstly, the car (being an EV) was missing the charging cable. How can this not be noticed during the 200-point check on the car? To their credit, this was resolved quickly.

The next issue was that after about 3 weeks of owning the car, I started to get warnings regarding the emergency assistance features. I contacted Big Motoring World as I was within the 90-day warranty period to be told that I’d need to book the car in for diagnostics at their local repair centre. Seems fair at first, however, the nearest centre is a 45 minute drive away and the next appointment was 3 months away. They also said that I’d have to leave the car there and make my own way home without a car. As this wasn’t an option, I opted to take the car to the manufacturer and pay the diagnostic fee out of my own pocket. The repairs cost over £300. Big Motoring World then refused to pay this back due to this issue not being covered under their warranty.

Following this, I had a further issue with the charge port door which failed needing replacement at a cost of £338.89 which Big Motoring World did reimburse me for after about a month of being out of pocket.

I also then had an issue with the parking sensors which cost me £907.78 to put right. This was also reimbursed although this took over a month.

In total, I have spent many hours dealing with their shambolic complaints department and only received a full reimbursement around 3 months after the first issue was resolved. I have had to demand a new complaints handler as my first (Rianne) was completely unhelpful and on many occasions, downright rude. You can expect to get no response for weeks until you phone them and then suddenly, they have an update for you. My second complaints handler (Charlotte) was not much better and also displayed a poor attitude and no concept of customer service.

Over 50 emails back and forth, total lack of respect and no customer care. Both your sales team and your support team should be ashamed of themselves!

To date, I am still out of pocket for the diagnostic fees that I’ve had to pay due to their service centre being unable to book me in within a reasonable time frame.

I attended the Bluebell Hill branch today to test drive a vehicle that I had already placed a reservation on. Upon viewing the car, I was disappointed to find that it was covered in scratches and that the interior was unclean, with visible hair and crumbs in the rear of the vehicle.

When I raised these concerns with Lucas the salesman, he responded by saying, “If you don’t want scratches I’ll show you more cars, but you’ll pay more.” He also stated that vehicles are not valeted before test drives because, in his words, “we haven’t got time to do it, we have 200 cars a day coming through the doors.” I explained that viewing and test driving a clean, well-presented vehicle would have made a significant difference in my ability to make a purchase decision today. However, he continued to respond in an argumentative manner, repeatedly stating that my expectation was unreasonable and asking, “How do you expect us to do that? It’s crazy what you’re asking.”

Even after I stopped engaging in the conversation, Lucas continued speaking in the same confrontational tone. When I decided that the vehicle was not suitable and thanked him before leaving, he then said, “Well aren’t you going to shake my hand then? You’re just leaving without shaking my hand?” This made me feel uncomfortable and pressured to do so despite the negative experience.

As a result of this interaction, I left without proceeding further. I was prepared to purchase a vehicle today, and this represents a lost cash sale for your business.

The condition of the vehicle, combined with the dismissive and argumentative behaviour displayed, fell far below the level of customer service I would expect. I will not be returning to the Bluebell Hill branch following this experience. I would strongly suggest that Lucas receives further training in customer service and professional conduct.

I recently purchased a car from Big Motoring World (Blue Bell Hill), and while there were some positives, the overall experience left me disappointed.

The showroom itself is clearly designed to feel premium with good coffee, a polished environment, and an attempt to mirror higher-end brands. On the surface, it creates a strong first impression.

However, the process itself was frustratingly slow and poorly coordinated. After my test drive and finance approval, I was left waiting while basic preparation (like cleaning the car) only began after everything else had been completed. In total, I spent around 2.5 hours at the dealership. This felt unnecessary, especially compared to previous experiences I’ve had – for example with Cazoo – where the process took around 20 minutes from home, with no pressure.

The sales experience also became uncomfortable when I chose not to take additional products over the full term. The reaction felt noticeably negative, as if this decision wasn’t well received, which added an element of pressure right at the end of the process.

By the time I collected the car, it was dark. The handover staff member was polite and helpful, and even wiped off a small bit of dirt before I left. However, in daylight the next day, I noticed broken interior trim near the rear-view mirror, which appeared to have been poorly fixed with what looked like at best blue tack, and at worst, chewing gum. I also found loose broken plastic near the centre console which wasnt there on the testdrive.

This was disappointing. Mistakes happen – that’s not the issue. What matters is how they’re handled. In this case, the damage wasn’t mentioned at all, and the car was handed over regardless. That lack of transparency undermines trust.

To be clear, I’m happy with the car itself. But the overall experience means I wouldn’t return to Big Motoring World, and I would advise others to proceed with caution unless they are very set on a specific vehicle.

For me, the experience lacked the integrity you would expect from a business presenting itself at that level.

The whole experience was really good from start reception to Gary then the handover by Rob was truly exceptionsl, he is a real gem so much knowledge and patience. Rob made the experience exceptional. Thank you Rob.

Best customer service

Attentive and organised

Kept waiting a long time before being able to view the vehicle. The price offered for my PX was over £700 below the minimum price quoted in writing for my PX in poor condition. My vehicle was in excellent condition for its age and mileage. Again kept waiting a long time while they slowly improved the offer price for my PX. Having travelled over 100 miles to purchase the car I left very unsatisfied without buying the car and would never ever want to buy a car from a so-called ‘car super market’ as the car buying experience was the worst I have ever experienced.

I am beyond disappointed with my experience here today. Having bought my previous car from this dealership, I arrived with a high level of trust, but that trust is now completely gone. I drove all this way only to find that the vehicle was in appalling condition.
​Here are the main issues:
​Misleading Photos: I am almost certain the photos used in the advertisement were of a different car. The vehicle I saw looked nothing like the one online.
​Poor Repairs: The car had clearly been in a significant accident. The bodywork was repainted so poorly that even a non-expert could see the ripples and mismatched finish.
​Filthy Interior: The inside of the car was disgusting. It clearly hadn't been cleaned or maintained at all.
​Engine & Mileage Discrepancy: For the mileage listed, the engine looked like it was in terrible shape. You don't need to be a mechanic to see when a car has been neglected and driven into the ground.
​It is a shame because I was a returning customer. Instead of a professional sale, I had my time wasted on a "lemon" that should never have been put on the lot. I won't be coming back, and I suggest others look very closely before trusting their descriptions.

They really looked after us. Gave us plenty of drinks and was so friendly

Appalling shady company. dont trust anything they tell you about the car. cost us thousands. Definitely dont buy any of the extras

At the start the hospitality was great, store is well presented. When we saw the car it was not presented well the car was not washed found lot of dust with cobwebs. We requested from the start we need the car to be washed and polished if we go ahead with the deal. Since I had not taken their finance way of talking to us changed and they said we will only wash the car. We went ahead with the car since we came from 3 hrs drive. When we took handover of the key car was not washed properly just water was sprayed we eve found spider and cobwebs on the door hatches. Was so disappointed. I had to take the car for wash myself and washed it properly. Finance team also did not had friendly smile

Peter was extremely polite and very professional. We could not make a deal this time as my wife liked another car at a different dealership. Would love to come back in the near future.

Great service

I have to say that right from the first moment I walked through the front door to the moment I drove out the main gate in my new to me car every person I met was so friendly and polite it made for such a good experience so my thanks to everybody.