Formula One Autocentres - Bedford Reviews 138

I always go there to get my mot done or anything wrong with my from years as my husband go their too. Even he stops going their. Recently I went 2 time and paid alot money for my both visit around £400 to get fix my car. They haven't fix nothing the warning light still coming. The thing i told them to check they haven't check properly. Their customers service is not that great. For my last visit they scratched my car. I have notice when I went back to pick up my car. They said they haven't so I wasn't very pleased with their service.

Put the wrong tires on my car and told me it was a tire company that changes them. Also charged me for a puncture that they didn't repair
Would not recommend them.

I called to book in on Thursday 12/3/26 and ordered tyres. The man I spoke to said come in Sunday 15/3/26 13:30 for fitting. I said I needed them for a long drive Monday and had other options but he said he would price match.

I arrived Sunday 15mins before appointment time. I asked the front desk for the price promise and while they agreed they struggled to work out how to apply the matching price and gave up on the 10% discount as too difficult. They looked at my order multiple times and the specific tyres on the computer. This took a good while with a queue forming.

They said they are busy and I should come back in 1 hour. I came back after 45mins to check and my car hadn’t moved, it did they shortly go in, after about 1 hr. I went for another 45 min walk. When I came back the wheels had been taken off my car but told me the tyres are not in stock.

Why did I waste 2 hours of my day, on Mother’s Day, They showed me the system and a yellow mark that said not arrived. Why did they not look before accepting the car, or taking the wheels off, maybe even call me on the day to avoid me coming in? This might have given me a chance to find other tyres but finding out at 3:30 on Sunday gave me no chance. I may now need to get a train/taxi tomorrow instead as my MOT said the tyre needs replacing asap.

I had other options in stock on Thursday but trusted your company to deliver what they promised.

I sent an email to complain. I received a phone call toda 17/03/2026 y from a manager saying i should have gone in yesterday, no-one told me this and was impossible due to the long drive(train in the end) i had to get.

I asked for discount to apologies for my wasted time but they refused even any sort of small discount and said i could have reduced wheel balance (£3.25) which is work I don't even need. I'll go elsewhere for my tyres and suggest others do to.

Fantastic service. I was in desperate need of wheel balancing as I had to drive a long distance the next day. The Bedford branch made an appointment for me on the same day I called. This was even though they were fully booked up. The team there actually stayed open almost an hour after closing time to ensure my car was fixed. All of the staff who stayed late were still extremely friendly, professional and knowledgeable. And the final bill was incredibly competitive compared to the amount of work they did. I will definitely use this company again and will recommend to anyone who asks. Brilliant. Thank you.

Had rear brakes and discs replaced on a transit , heard strange noise after but dismissed it . Some weeks later heard grinding noise and felt brakes seizing on inspection the bolts holding the disc on were all loose causing the problem , scary to think what might have happened , this is just poor workmanship , Beware

I visited the branch in Bedford to have two new front tyres fitted and to have a wheel alignment check done at the same time.

I was booked in at the end of the day, at which point staff were not able to do the wheel alignment since they were about to close. If they knew I had asked for wheel alignment to be checked, why did they book me in right at the backend of the day I wonder.

In addition, after fitting the front two tyres, they did not tighten the valve properly. The following day I had a flat tyre and had to go back and ask them to do it properly together with a wheel alignment check.

When I asked to see the evidence of wheel alignment check being performed. Surprise surprise, the printer was not working so they could not provide any evidence that alignment check had been performed but still excepted me to pay the cost of a front wheel alignment because they said they had made a small adjustment. Very disappointing to say the least but not surprised since I did not get the impression that the branch was run but a responsible set of qualified staff.

Needless to say, whilst they may have been cheap on paper the hassle was not worth it, never again!!

I would really recommend Formula One Autocentres, when I took my car in due to having continuous issues. Jack and Malcolm were really helpful and attentive in getting the issues diagnosed and fixed quickly and effectively. They kept me updated during the process and took the time to answer any questions I had. Overall very great garage !

I had a really bad experience at this garage when I turned up for a tyre fitting appointment.

I arrived 5 minutes early, parked briefly in front of the garage door, and went into reception. Nobody was there, so I went inside the garage. After being ignored by a few employees, one finally told me to go back to reception and wait. I did as asked, but after 2–3 minutes no one came.

When I stepped out to check on my car, one of the employees (sitting inside a car) started gesturing at me in a very rude way about where I’d parked. Instead of politely asking me to move, he chose to be disrespectful. I tried to explain that I had a booking in just a couple of minutes and was following his colleague’s instructions to wait inside reception.

At that point, another member of staff—who seemed to be a supervisor—came over. Instead of listening to me, he immediately took his colleague’s side, accused me of being rude, and refused to fit my tyres (which had already been purchased through Blackcircles and delivered to them for fitting).

The whole interaction was completely unprofessional. A simple polite request—“Could you move your car please, sir”—would have been enough. Instead, I was met with rudeness, poor communication, and a total lack of customer service.

I left extremely frustrated and disappointed. I’m sure they’ll have their version of events, but I know there are CCTV cameras that will show how they behaved. Truly horrible service. Please avoid this garage.

Booked appointment to have2 front Tyres fitted, arrived 15 minutes before time as was requested on website. Waited 1 hr before car was taken into workshop. No protection was placed over seat and gloves that were being worn from previous jobs were not removed. Fitting took another 35 minutes so from the time of arriving to time leaving about 1 hour and 45 minutes so from.
When the car was handed back there was dirt and grime on the door handle and the liquid that was used to lubricate the tyre before fitting to the wheel was running all over the freshly polished alloy wheels.

Suggest seat protection and clean hands or replacing gloves before entering customers cars.
Wipe off excess lubricant after tyre fittings. Very disappointed at lack of professionalism and care of customers cars.

Booked in for Mot and I was told they had tried to contact me as they were running late. I had no missed calls so they must have ru hung the wrong number maybe!! Left it with them and returned after an hour hadn’t moved from where I parked it. There seemed to be no urgency or anyone in charge. Decided to take my car somewhere else which I did with no appointment and done in under an hour. Much better experience than Formula 1

Just visited the local Bedford center for 2 front tyres.
The quality of the work was excellent but the wait to have them done was ridiculous. The center certainly didn't look like they were rushed off there feet.
I arrived on time for my booking 3pm and there was nobody in reception to greet me and I waited for 10 minutes before anyone spoke to me or acknowledge I was there.
It took over 1 and a half hours for 2 tyres to be changed. There didn't seem to be any rush to get my car seen to.
Maybe this is a one off and they were under staffed, but I certainly won't be going back

Had to rebook due to staff sickness, then they kick up a fuss about the car being 15 mins late, met by rudeness from staff, excessive costs involved, issues arising from previous MOTs not mentioned but plenty of new and original are. Then to add to the failure they don’t even bother to complete the log book.

DO NOT USE - My girlfriend experienced what I can word as an utter shambolic, unprofessional and bullsh*tting service with Formula One Autocentres - Bedford.

Having dropped off the vehicle for a Service and AirCon regassing. We were advised when collecting the vehicle that 'problems in the workshop' meant that the aircon regassing did not happen. (having paid for it) and also some of the service including diagnostics, topping up coolant were not even done. We were then advised to come back at a convenient time that suits us to return the vehicle for the AirCon to be re gassed.

My girlfriend then phoned a few days later to book in for the errors made by the garage. Then was abruptly belittled and told 'Sorry Darling, we're booked up'

Dropped off the vehicle today for the regassing of the AirCon. To now being told - that the Compressor has popped. Advised that the garage don't order parts in. A garage not ordering the parts required to fix for a paid service? Considering that most garages won't install non validated parts supplied by the customer and due to warranty reasons.

I simply picked up the keys and won't be returning to Formula One Autocentres - Bedford.

My car was booked in for a full service online. On arrival i was looked after by the manager who dealt with the booking and kept me updated on some extra bits that required attention on my car later on in the day. Big shout out for Malcolm who was polite, friendly, courteous and professional.

A big shout out to Jack for saving me on Saturday 21st July. He was so helpful checked all my pressures (as I had an error showing up on my tyre status) He could not have ben more helpful my tyres had been over inflated so he corrected them all and reset the status. I was going on a long journey and was so reassured. Thank you Jack I really appreciate all your help.

Had a new alternator fitted February 2024 which cost £900. Car broke down this weekend as drive belt had shredded and come off. Had a new one fitted by RAC and needed to get it adjusted. Went to proper garage who couldn't do anything as the alternator had not been fitted properly or bolted down as was not fitted correctly and the tension belt was missing cos one hadn't been fitted when the alternator was done. I haven't been back to F1 as I had such poor customer service the last couple of times I've been but I want the work I paid for in February 24 done properly before I have more problems with my car.
Replied to request for more information and not heard anything from them, not even confirmed they received the information... still waiting.
21/06/25 - still not heard anything back from F1 after sending them the details and information they requested. My car is now having the work done that I paid F1 for in the first place, costing me another £485, plus the car hire £90, plus the initial part to get my car running again £38.95, to say nothing of the time and stress this has caused. I have had to walk to work as bus and taxis fares were costing far too much. I feel a small claims court application coming on.

Sat around all day kept asking about my car every time ( won’t be long) it was in for mot they found a cracked spring and front discs. Were badly worn so the manager tells me the problem and had to replace both sides springs and discs pads so 3 hours later and £800 lighter which no one told the total price so they have a credit company who paid the rest now I’m paying £230 a month!!!!! Get a quote first…..

Car failed MOT for what should have been only advisories. Stated one brake pad less than 1.5 mm when later inspection elsewhere showed it to be in excess of 2.5mm. Also stated tyre had a bulge caused by separation. This turned out to be a legitimate earlier puncture repair and perfectly ok. In my opinion these guys are either incompetent or wilfully fail cars to drive business in the workshop. Avoid at all costs.

I have been servicing my car at the Formula One Autocentre, Elms Farm, Bedford for the last 4 years. The car is 2009 and of course when I go for MOT, every year some problems were discovered. Every time I was given a quote for the service and every time I did the service with them. On 22nd of February this year, I went for MOT. There were few things that needed fixing. On the top, I asked them to change the tyres and the engine oil. I had oil leak after the service. I contacted the team, arranged a date and the problem was fixed free of charge. I could feel my car is working better now. I will continue to use their service.

Good work! And great service