Formula One Autocentres - Cowley Reviews 

Terrible - don’t even consider. Went for a tire change - broke my TPMS - got contacted by the regional manager - promised to sort it out after 2 days - it’s been 3 weeks. Went to protyre and was sorted in 30 minutes - Protyre is 100% better

Fantastic experience. Super friendly staff, and it was incredibly straightforward. This is how it’s done!!

I booked my service and MOT and when I went to the test Center they were forcing me to reschedule my service and just do the MOT but I told them I want to do it on same day as I can’t keep my car for whole day again just for service.

After waiting for 3 hours they said my car has failed MOT and they can’t repair it so I asked them if I could can take my car and get it repaired and come back to do retesting and also if I could get my money refund for service as I dint know how long it would take me to repair the fault for which they replied say the reason I have bought my car to F1 auto centre is because it’s cheaper than BMW service which would cost me £1000 and it would take 3 days for servicing at BMW, I dint say anything and I left from there and took my car to near by mechanic which he managed to repair in 10 minutes and when I called them If I could bring my car for retesting they said the MOT tester has finished for the day at 12:00pm and I can bring it on Monday at 5:00 pm for retesting.

On Monday I reached test centre at 4:30pm and when I went to reception they said the MOT tester is not available until Wednesday and if I have to retest I will need to book it back for Wednesday

I think this was just to harries me I have lost 3 days of my work money as I couldn’t travel to work.

Please guys avoid this place.

Great service super helpful with my tyre. I brought in a Toyota Aygo with a puncture today. They helped me out and fixed my puncture and changed my wheel. Super helpful. Thank you. I would thoroughly recommend.

Excellent customer service from Tommy at the Cowley branch - absolute credit to the company. Fitted me in 30 mins before closing, went above and beyond to make sure my car was sorted. Top work ethic.

I for one can only thank the team who helped an NHS worker to get back on the road. I had a flat tyre, went to ask for help and in one hour an a half I was back on the road. Thank you all, Stephen who fit my tyre and the guy from reception. All nice, polite and effective 👏👏👏👏👏

very bad service! booked an MOT with them for the weekend. arrived there on time and after 20 minutes of waiting one of the mechanics comes to the reception to tell me that they don't do MOT's in the weekend and he doesn't know why the system is taking orders if they don't have any testers do this job.

Always a pleasant trip to the Cowley centre. Was greeted by a very welcoming and friendly chap on the front desk (didn’t get his name unfortunately, but he wore glasses and a beanie - he also has a VW Golf from what I remember). Definitely a great asset to the team, should be commended for his positive attitude and humour! 5* for him and the rest of the team! Plus the Corsa passed the MOT so also very happy for that! I always bring my car to this garage as can always expect the highest of services! Thank you very much! And kudos to the whole team!

Many thanks,
Deanna! 👏

Quick, efficient and good value

I booked F1 Centre Cowley because they were the cheapest MOT centre in Oxford.

I now regret this. I have no problem with garages that fail cars. However, this garage is different. Firstly, they wanted to charge me over a hundred pounds for work that took me 10 minutes to fix with no tools. Secondly, they ordered the wrong parts for the breaks twice. This pushed back the second MOT until it was past the 10 day grace period. Thirdly, the problem with the handbreak was extra expensive because someone had over tightened the handbreak. The handbreak had been tightened after the first MOT they failed me on. I am highly suspicious that they made the problem much worse before they made it better, and of course they charged me for the full amount of fixing it.

Then when I came in for the second MOT test they told me that because they had pushed the car over the 10 day grace period I now had to have a full retest. That meant re-booking to another day and paying the full amount for that new test. When I came in for that test, they told me the MOT had to be rebooked again.

All in all, they tried to charge me for work that didn't need doing, there was a suspicious break on my break cylinders, they kept my car for OVER THREE WEEKS, and they made me pay for the re-test.

Since this, I have gone back to read reviews and have learnt that this has happened to other people too. For example, failing people on breaks that were new (that customer argued back, and they got a retest where the car passed). Of course, a majority of people get their new cars in and passed and they write a good review. This gives the false illusion that they are a reputable company.

The lesson I am telling everyone is that you should take your car to a DEDICATED MOT centre. They have no incentive to fail a good car and fix things that don't need fixing. And because they are not the one's doing the work, they don't have the incentive to be slow and get out of the 10 day grace period.

Tell your friends and family the same so they don't have to go through the same pain I did.

The garage did not fit the good tyre on my car, i ordered a 205/55R16 tyre and they fitted a 195/55R16, i asusme they were professionals and didnt check my tyre number after the fitting, ended up failing my MOT due to wrong tyre size on same axis and having to pay for another one. They kindly told me that i should have checked myself. Garage to avoid they are not professional at all you cannot trust them. AVOID AT ALL COST

I had not intended to use F1 autocentres today but none the less I ended up at the Cowley branch when a reputable mobile fitter were unable to get a wheel off, leaving me with 2 tyres in the boot. Thanks to technician Deane who completed the job and did my tracking. Considering I had just wandered in I found the service second to none and would not hesitate to bring my car back in future. Cheers!