Formula One Autocentres - Colchester Reviews 

Booked me in at very short notice to change my car battery, which was playing up in recent cold snap. Provided a quick quote which allowed me to compare other providers but F1 was very competitive and offered a timely turnaround .

Very happy with service as always nervous of cost of mot work but wasn’t expensive and no work carried out without prior agreement. Staff were pleasant and professional.

Booked an mot and paid online. The online process worked well however 24 hours prior to my appointment they phoned me to cancel it as they had nobody available to do the test leaving me with the headache of finding another company at short notice.
At least they did refund my money a few days later.

I told my wife to get a price on a rear exhaust on a fiat 500 as I had no time to do it. Quoted her £350. I thought she said £150. A new rear box is around £60.
Then I came home from work to find out that they said she needed new pads and discs. We asked for a exhaust not a total make over.
Disc and pad come in around £50 and they charged £230
Exhaust and pads and discs £629
Really! Total rip off and scaremongering of my wife who know nothing about cars. And itthe exhaust now knocks all the time. Total discrace, stay away.

On the hottest weekend for ages my aircon stopped working. Hoping it was a simple re-gas, we phoned the Colchester branch at 4.45pm and they said to come straight down. We were probably lucky with the timing, but it was all done and sorted very quickly at a really competitive price.

I went to get some parts changed.
I have bought the parts myself, but one component was missing.
The mechanic installed the parts with the missing component and they never mentioned this to me. Now they blame me for the component missing.
1. Why haven't i been informed of the missing part?
2. Why did they not use the old part? Or ask me to buy it? Or offer to sell it?
3. Why did they shrug shoulders when I told them there is something wrong with the car and they asked me to just take it to a different garage as they don't know what the problem is?

The analogy is simple. If i ask them to change 4 tires, but I only bring 3 tires in. What should they do?
Well based on their policy they would return the car back with only 3 tires and one empty wheel.
Would you not ask me where is the 4th tire? Or if i wanted to use the old tire? Or just fit the old tire? Or offer to sell me a tire?

I had to spend almost £1000 more to rectify their mistake at the main dealership who had to change all components again.

Also, the management does not even read any complaints email. How do I know? I have sent in the full details with receipts proving their wrongdoing and they replied by saying a completely different component was "broken". No, it was not. I was not talking about that.

So if you want to save yourself the stress of sending emails back and forth, writing reviews, getting reports from other garages, attempt to get refund, stay away from Formula One autocentres.

Oh, and one more thing. If you are a woman, don't bother asking any questions as you will be asked to bring a lad in to discuss.

I do not recommend, please avoid at all costs. One star is the minimum, but I would give 0 stars if I could. Their technicians will put your life in danger and then lie about the safety of your vehicle after works have been done.

I had some suspension work done on my car at this garage (changed whole front suspension), the technician working on the car did not install the top mount bearings on the new suspension. Within 2 days I noticed a clanking sound from the new springs when turning the steering wheel, I have since then brought the car back to the garage for further investigation when they advised the problem could be because of the new top mounts and that my best bet is to take the car to the main dealership. After investigation, the main dealership found that the bearings have never been put back on the car during the initial change. This garage even told me that it was safe to drive and my issue was minor and few other people have been experiencing the same issue.

They are also misogynistic, prior to the suspension failure, my wife took our car for an MOT and it failed, when she didn't understand why it failed, the employee asked her, quoting "do you have a LAD we can talk to?". Unacceptable and poor customer service.

Avoid at all cost!!

The manager on the desk is extremely rude, he speaks to customers and staff like dirt. The manager was very rude to me today after picking my car up from a service, he said there was an issue with car and thats why they didn't fix handbrake so i asked if I could be shown and he was very rude and replied no, he said speak to the mechanics on the way out then when I tried to speak to them he pulled a black car in behind me very fast which was close to my legs and he held the horn down waving staff to come over, I waiting patiently until they turned away then I tried again and he held the horn down again shouting out of window stop speaking to my staff they have work to do. He got out of car angrily and i said but you said to talk to them, he was so rude trying to intimidate and making me feel small, he also insulted me and my family for no reason at all I'm so confused because I wasn't rude to him. Seemed like he made up a excuse to not fix because he couldn't be bothered because he didn't want to help and didn't want staff to help either so I drove away not knowing what the problem was. I took my car to another garage and they couldn't find a fault to why they wouldn't be able to fix. Maybe he was having a bad day and took out of me I don't know, very puzzling. Me and my family have been coming to this garage for years but I won't be coming again. I drove away very upset and confused.

The guys who helped me (Luke and Aaron) were so helpful and kind! Got my issue all sorted out in under 30 mins, brilliant customer service :)

Horrendous noise coming from offside rear wheel: stone rattling and sticking somewhere I couldn’t get to, even with the wheel off. The looks we were getting driving back from Stanway.

One quick call to Formula One Colchester and they booked me in the next day. Took the wheel off, spent 20 minutes finding a chunk of slate the size of a kids marble stuck behind the brakes. Brilliant service.

Listened to them spend time helping 3 others with unusual and urgent issues while I waited. Will be going back.

Warning! Formula One Colchester Branch , I had an mot done on my car, I was told it failed on 7 points I was quoted that the works if done there would be £1800 I knew something was fishy as my car passed with flying colours the previous year, so I left and had another mot done , at another garage, I was told that my car did not need 5 of the failure issues and just needed 2 front tyres.
I have reported them to the DVSA and am waiting for them to inspect my vehicle and investigate the scam mot station.

Update : 20th dec 2022

My vehicle was inspected by the DVSA and was found to be a pass on all 5 issues , this was carried out at Matrix motors Colchester, which I recommended for total honesty and transparency.
I was there whilst vehicle was inspected and was told that the inspector would be visiting the formula one garage straight after, which he did.
I called formula one and asked for a refund which they said they would send me a Check in the post , which I still have not got, I will be following this up soon also.
So there you have it! You have been warned ! Do not take your vehicle there for anything! I will also be contacting the main directors of the company to make them aware of what’s going on there.

Ordered and paid for 4 tyres online at a cost of £518.00. Their system only lets you do that if the tyres are showing in stock. I then get a email to call them because they can't get the tyres and would I like to buy alternative tyres which would be more expensive. Requested a refund and was told I had to wait 5 days. Buyer beware - they say that they can sell you the cheapest branded tyres, they advertise them cheap as well but anyone can sell cheap tyres and at a bargain price if they are never in stock because they never have to make good on the advertised deal. They tell you "that all tyres are subject to availability", even though the site says that they are in stock and they let you pay!! and then it turns out that they can't get them. It's just a way of sucking you in - bad business practice. I will never use them again and have ordered the tyres from Somewhere else at £50 per tyre extra which is probably the reason why Formula 1 can't get them at their advertised price!!!!!!

Great service, highly recommended. Alec and his team at the Colchester branch helped me with 2 x tyre replacements, battery replace + wiper replacement. Couldn't fault a thing - really professional and quick service. Thanks!

Booked my Mot online 2 weeks in advance, when i got there on booking day I’ve been told that, my vehicle cannot be testes because it’s 4 wheel drive. For two weeks that could be easily checked and cancelled, so unprofessional and incompetent just a waste of time

Great customer service. I have been to another garage and they were so unhelpful. I than went to Formula1 and I wished I took the car there in the first instance because they were so helpful.They have fixed the problem in the car and explained all the details of what they had to do. Staff were very polite and professional,friendly. I’d highly recommend them.

Car was booked in to check a puncture/leaky valve as couldn’t do it when I dropped by. Was told when I booked it 45 mins max, returned an hour later no work had been done and that I should have booked it! Unprofessional and no apology, use a good local independent would be my best advice.

Booked in for MOT, service and Air Con refresh.
This was not as smooth as it could have been and I would like to preface this review with that at no point was this down to the staff at Formula One Autocentres. All human interaction has been respectful and fair, my complaints would be with how their systems work.

Booked online and was not told of a time slot, just to get my car to the centre at 8:30, arrived with 10 minutes to spare however other customers had made it impossible to park legally. After giving up and finding a near by permit parking visitor bay, I arrived 4 minutes late. I was told I had missed my time slot and would be rebooked into monday. This wasn't ideal for me, however I managed to make this work. Had I been made aware of my time slot more than 20 minutes beforehand I could of been prepared.

MOT and service went well, was pleased that no unreasonable additional work had been thrown on. Advisory work was suggested and at no point did I feel pressured into accepting. However... it was then that I was told that this centre could not perform my air con refresh and that I would be refunded by head office. It is a shame that the website can't be automated to not allow new gas models to be unable to book this service, considering that other garages are able to.

Refund would have not have happened unless I chased it up.

Overall, it was fine and I can chalk it up to live and learn. Would I use them again? Maybe, they don't go the extra mile but they get the job done if they can. Would I reccomend them? Probably not, the experience didn't leave me feeling great.

Very good service from Colchester F1 Autocentres. I had a puncture yesterday, and temporarily fixed the tyre using repair foam.
F1 were able to fit me in first thing today, despite very busy schedule, and quickly repaired the tyre while I waited. Total cost including balancing, £22.
Thanks!

Popped my car in today for a slight problem and was dealt with in an extremely polite and professional manner, the repair was carried out to a very high standard and at a very reasonable price, I can’t express how highly I rate this amazing garage and staff and I’d recommend it to anyone, well done gents and thank you

Just been down to my local Colchester f1autocentre. What a great bunch of efficient helpful guys. I had a nail in my tyre, we went straight in and got seen straight away even though it was full up with cars. Lucky for us the nail hadn’t gone right through. Steve who sorted it was great. Thank you for all your help.👍🏻