Formula One Autocentres - Newport Pagnell Reviews 

I took my Van for a MOT/service in March 2025 and had an advisory on a tyre. I asked the then manager to check the aircon to see if all it needed was a service as it wasn't working. He confirmed it was all good and they could service it to get it working again.
So I dropped it back today after purchasing a new tyre and a aircon service online. I get call from the new manager Tommy to advise they have changed the tyre, but are unable to do the aircon service as they don't have the correct gas. He goes on to say that the Van needs new rear pads/discs and that are dangerously close to metal on metal. He said he could change them and make it safe to drive away for £505.
I asked him why they where not flagged up when the MOT was done 3 months 2000 miles earlier. He said the the brakes are not visible through the hub cap and wheel so they would not have been checked. When I collected the Van he still insisted that if not visible the brakes are 'given the benefit of the doubt' as he put it. He said they would only be checked if it was a service or a safety check....unbelievable !!! He also went on to say he is a MOT tester (god help us). When I reminded him the Van was also serviced so why wasn't they picked then he couldn't answer, he just said he didn't work there then.
When I was on the phone to him earlier he was quiet pushy for me to get the work done to the point I said I didn't have the funds just to get him off the phone, his answer to that was signing up to some sort of pay over to 3 months deal. I told him I would think about it and get back to him.
So now I am going to have to get the brakes checked somewhere else as I cannot trust this place due to all the inconsistences.
I did get a quote somewhere else incase the they do need changing and it was £320 all in. So £185 cheaper and they have a low price guarantee.
It is safe to say I will not be going back to F1 and if would advise you do not either !!!!!!

***UPDATE*** 10/06/2025 I booked the Van in for disc's and pads with Mr Clutch(the cheaper quote). When they rang to advise the job was completed, he advised they only changed the pads as the disc's are fine and they don't replace parts that don't need replacing.

Tommy the manager tried to pressure me into a £505 repair.
It ended up costing me £159.95 !!!!!

**UPDATE** 17/06/2025
Took the van back to Mr Clutch today to look at the aircon as F1 said it was on the new Gas and they only do the old gas. Guess what? it's on the old gas clearly labeled on the pipe. Mr Clutch has serviced for a better price than F1. The cab is lovely and cool now.

AGAIN Tommy the manager is lying or just doesn't have a clue.

This company can improve massively firstly by not trying to rip customers off. I took my car to them for an mot, I had the car prepared for it and my mechanic told me the car would pass no problem at all, as she's in fantastic condition is regularly serviced. So they done the mot and failed it for an incorrectly fitted tyre which they had fitted just a few months before, they then lied and said they hadn't seen the car for 16 months, so i went to car and got receipt that they produced for fitting that very tyre just 3 months prior. Then with a puzzled look on his face he said I don't know how that happened. They also stuck 15 advisories on the mot. They retested after correctly fitting the said tyre. I knew straight away that they were talking rubbish, so last month I took it elsewhere fully a year later for mot and it passed straight away with just 2 minor advisories not 15 and that's a whole year later with no work having been done to the car. This company are rip off merchants and i have heard lots of comments from others who have used them, like wheel nuts not tightened up safely and many other comments about how people had received similar mot failure reports only to find that their vehicles had no such problems like I myself experienced and found out at last mot done elsewhere whereby the mechanic complemented my vehicle as being in fantastic condition. I never bothered giving them a review last year as I couldn't be bothered, but i am now because they just sent me a reminder a month late to take car to them for mot as its due. That itself tells you just how bad they are. And on the leaflet they sent it said service you can trust. 😂😂😂

I showed up without a booking, needing help with a tyre. Staff were efficient and polite and helped me without any fuss. Amazing service. 5 stars!

Very friendly staff. Efficient service would recommend.

Took my Jaguar XJ to this centre so that they could check two spare second hand wheel rims for trueness, they did this very quickly while I waited and was pleased to find out that both rims where OK. I explained that I was informed by the company that service and repair my car, that my two rear wheel rims were not running true. Formula 1 guys suggested they test the rear wheels on my car with there balancer machine, this they did and informed me that these wheels also ran true and therefore put them back on my car. When I offered to pay for there time I was told No Charge, I cannot speak to highly of this Newport Pagnell branch and highly recommend you use their many services.

Extremely impressed with how thorough & professional the technician was (Rafaele)

Warm welcome from the staff at 8:30 on a Monday morning. Very efficient customer care for my MOT and full service. Raf or Raph the new manager seems to have a good team and runs a smooth garage. We will recommend and use them again.

Ordered and paid for 2 tyres with appointment 2 days later. Turned up for appointment, we also had another car booked in at the same time. They told us to return in about 45 minutes. When we arrived back, the tyres for one car couldn't be located. After a small wait we were asked to attend the following day, we told them any issues to phone us. Arrived for the appointment the following day, they only had one of the tyres and couldn't locate the second. Again we went off for walk came back an hour later. They hadn't started the car. The two fitters were then seen putting what looked like mounds of tissue into a tyre that they said had a faulty rim, explaining that some tyres couldn't be bought up to pressure, (this was for a drive-in customer with no previous booking) after several conversations, a telephone call with the manager these clowns had still not managed to deal with either the drive in customer or myself. BOth ourselves and the drive in customer eventually left after 3 hours with our old tyres on. I am really disappointed and angry that the fitters were full of excuses, no apologies, no attempt at customer service and absolutely no idea. There practises seemed unsafe, as I had a 120 mile journey ahead of me I was very concerned whether they had fitted even my old tyres properly. I will be taking my car to get it's new tyres elsewhere in future. I only hope I get my refund in quick time. Do yourself a favour and go elsewhere.

The care and consideration given to customers is outstanding. The team were brilliant in their speed and communication, and the price was competitive too. Thank you!

Unfortunately I have to report extremely bad service levels from the Newport Pagnell branch in relation to a recent service and MOT. Both were booked online via web page with additional demist for aircon. On attending site at 09:10am the first words from the front desk were that I had missed my appointment. After asking for some clarity apparently the MOT was booked in at exactly 08:30, which meant despite nobody informing me at any point of this time slot either via mail or phone the slot had been missed. As I had booked in for a service and MOT, I did then ask if the service could still proceed and after initially seeming to suggest that the service would also have to be rescheduled, I finally managed to persuade them that the service should continue with the MOT bring done later. This would also make sense as the service (which was booked as a full service) should inspect and report on most of the MOT points as per the service description. Seems however that this is absolutely not the way Formula 1 do it and apparently in the 30 years that the front desk guy has been working in the trade, he has never seen it done this way! Very strange conversation, which led to me feeling like he really did not want to be in any kind of contact with paying customers and indeed didn't want to support someone servicing their car. Unfortunately this is not the end of the issue as we then moved onto the air con remist, which apparently didn't include a regas of the air con according to the front desk, this is despite the web site clearly showing it does under the description. On querying this, I was informed it had been booked as a re-bom (still no ideas what this is). I showed the F1 colleague the we site and asked him to make sure that what was done was inline with the web site description. I thought we agreed this, however it then appeared later in the day that they had no air con gad in stock and therefore couldn't do the remist anyway. On top of all of this fun, I received no contact from the team to let me know when the service had been completed and in picking up the car, I found the spent pollen filter simply dumped in the Passengers foot well.

Suffice to say that I will no longer be using Formula 1 for any of my car maintenance moving forwards.

Very dissapointed with Formula 1 as good customer service really does cost nothing and in this case seems they really didn't care.

I booked an MOT and service online for the 30th October That was my first mistake! I pre paid around £260

My car went in, it failed its MOT for break pads, and a tyre sensor issue the same issue Informed the centre when I dropped my car off.

They couldn’t get the parts and I and I eventually got my car back and paid around £500 for poor service. The sensor they needed to replace was one they broke, and the issue to this day is still not fixed.

Now I have just been stopped by the police for no MOT and Tax!

I call the garage and they state they can’t send me proof other than my invoice, due to the time of night, and looking on the system my failed MOT is live and some how the retest hasn’t be put on, and they need to speak to the mechanic, to see if there is a error.

This has in turned invalidated my tax, with the renewal due on 1st December, which I had completed online, I believe my insurance which was purchased to start on 1st December maybe a risk.

I have been driving around for nearly 2 months non the wiser, with my daughter in the car.

I need my car for work, the policemen could see I have insurance and I had proof of applying for my tax and the proof of the invoice for the MOT , I am lucky he didn’t cease my car!

Arrived for a 10am booking. Told it wouldbe 1hr. Went for a walk and came back to it not done and they couldn't find my keys.
It took another 1hr 45mins to fit two tyres.
The wheels were marked with boot marks and tyre soap as they had problems inflating the tyres.
Complained to the manager requesting they clean them, refused saying it will wash off.
Not great customer service.

a fair and good price for new tyres / friendly staff

Timed booking through 3rd party supplier. Stood aroind for nearly 3 hours, no update from staff stating a delay. Eventually started to fit tyres, and broke the tpms sensor. Fitted a "new" while I was away for lunch. Drive away, it doesn't work. Staff stated he ordered new one. He hasn't, and he's now on holiday for two weeks! Thought I would support local business, never again NO THANKS F1.

4 tyres to be fitted via third party supplier ,after 5 attempts to get tyres fitted they still failed today
Reasons given :
Staff sickness
Bookings not fulfilled
Capacity
Broken Equipment
Branch is either inept ,unlucky ,liars or just plain bad .
Avoid at all costs ,it's a shame as other branches in Northampton provide a great service but not Newport Pagnell

Booked the wife's car in for tracking and check the exhaust back box at formula one in newport pagnell , she dropped of the car in the morning didn't get a call until late afternoon that day with a quote for the exhaust and tracking...which was grossly over priced it at £886 , no tracking done and they tried to rip us off for the exhaust ......... disgusting display of business conduct .

I drove all the way there, left the car with them for a hour (was a 30 min appointment for a new tyre) and it was not fitted. That is a hour and a half of my life I will not get back, never mind the cost.

Don't waste your time like I did.

EDIT: Love how I received a email from Trust Pilot that must provide more detail to PROVE the review is genuine. (I have now provided the invoice number. Fact - The review is genuine.)

"If we don’t hear from you, the company may not be able to recognize your review as genuine."

UPDATE (2024/11/01 19:18): Formula One was quick ask for details. A day later and absolute radio silence.

UPDATE (2024/11/29) 29 days later and heard NOTING from them. Fantastic service.

I clearly made a mistake opting for garage fitting for my new tyres, as the service I received was appalling. I booked a 9:30 to 10:30 slot at Formula One in Newport Pagnell, and arrived just before the start of the slot. Forty-five minutes later nothing had happened, so I asked when I might get the car back. Eventually, at about 10:40 one of the service engineers took the car to change the two rear tyres, returning the car to me at 11:10.

On the way home, the car gave me a tyre pressure warning. Therefore, I checked the new tyres when I got home only to find that both tyres had been inflated to nearly 40psi, way above the 30-32psi that they should be.

I will not be using this garage ever again, and will advise anyone I know to avoid them.

Oh my goodness! Delay after delay waited over 4 hours for just 2 tyres to not even be fitted. Having paid for in last Tuesday (17/09/24) to have 2 x Goodyear Tyres fitted, valve , balance & wheel alignment check at the Newport Pagnell branch Saturday 21/09/24) @12:00, I was appalled at the poor service , repeated delays and nonchalant attitude by the Manager. My Dad & I arrived @ 11:55am to have the 2 x tyres fitted . At first, we were quite impressed that the reception colleague came out, looked at all 4 tyres and advised that it would be better to have all 4 replaced. Whilst explaining, the different types & brands..
However, these proved to be more expensive than our Goodyear purchase, but by going online we were able to secure the remaining 2 as Goodyear, at the online price realising we would have to come back next week to have those fitted - so far
so good , but then things went decidedly downhill.
At 12:20pm we decided to continue
with the 2x tyres fitting at the front,
wheel alignment check . The Centre
Manager advised that we would have to come back or wait as due to other bookings it would be about an hour to an hour & half ( 2pm ) before the car would be done. We walked home, had some lunch & phoned the branch @2:30pm allowing for 2 hours work duration. On that call we were advised that it would be another hour.

At 4:00pm we arrived back at the centre, knowing that they close @5pm - and there my car was , exactly where I'd left it 4 ( yes 4!!) hours earlier . No phone calls prior to us explaining the delays & we didn't think the centre was overly busy - short staffed yes - not one of the 3 cars in the centre were being worked on. We were toldthat my car would be next, as they'd had difficulty with a
4 x tyre install earlier, something about being unable to inflate the Michelin tyres. With safety being paramount we didn't want to risk a rushed job given our experience thusfar. And hang around another hour.

We'd had enough at this point , so requested a refund which the mgr agreed to send an email on internet sales to process, but there might be a backlog, as they don't work at weekends, so would review on Monday.

This service really is so bad, there's no point offering keen tyre prices, if they make customers waste the whole Saturday afternoon AND not being kept informed of progress. Why risk coming back to have 4 tyres fitted here

Fantastic work from the team at the newport pagnell centre today. They were very efficient at getting the job done and priced lower than any local competitors. I shall be returning!