Formula One Autocentres - Pendlebury Reviews 36

Excellent service throughout. Thoroughly recommend!!!

I took my car to the Pendlebury branch in Salford as it was juddering badly. They let me take it in mid-morning when they knew they had time to look at it, rather than the crack of dawn like I’ve had to at some places. When I arrived, the staff were very welcoming and the atmosphere there was light and pleasant: no grumpy faces here. It’s great to go somewhere you don’t feel like you’re making their day worse by asking them to do something for you. They kept my car for a couple of hours, to run diagnostics, then called me to say that it was ready to pick up. I couldn’t make it back before they closed but they were happy to keep it overnight. They didn’t make a time for me to collect it and there was someone in the office when I did arrive. Same again, smiling faces and I felt like I was a valued customer, despite this being my first time there. They gave me a breakdown of the things they found and advice on others they had spotted but didn’t try to get me to have everything done with them. I really appreciated their honest, professional attitude and will most certainly be going back there again. Thank you to all the staff there.
My husband has also now had work carried out in his car at this centre and his air conditioning sorted at the Bolton branch. Great staff all round.

Absolutely disgraceful practices here left my car unroadworthy and could have easily resulted in a crash.

Went here on Friday for an alignment. They took my car into the back and after 5 minuets said they could only adjust the passenger side as the driver side track rod end was seized. They didn't charge me anything at this point, but said I would need a new track rod end and would charge me for the alignment if I decided to go to them to have the part installed by them. They quoted me £272.00 for a new track rod end, installation and alignment (for a 2009 VW Polo, a track rod end is around £30/£35).

I took the car to Wilko Motosave down the road, who managed to do my alignment with no issues and said I didn't need a new track rod end at all. What the staff at Wilko Motosave did find was that Formula 1 Autocentres left the bolts on the passenger side completely loose, and in trying to fix the drivers side alignment they had pushed it out by over 10 degrees. This left my car in a dangerous and unsafe condition, and the staff at Wilko Motosave advised that had the car got up to motorway speeds, it could have resulted in a very serious accident.

Absolutely disgusted to find out that not only is Formula 1 Autocentres trying to scam people out of over £200.00 for a 20 minute job, they are also so sloppy and lacklustre in the their working practices that they would leave a car unroadworthy and in a potentially life threatening condition.

Please please please look elsewhere. What should be a simple job surely can be handled by any garage with the correct alignment equipment, but apparently not by the circus that is Formula 1 Autoconmen.

Brilliant service and went way and beyond to get my tire changed and the car back to me within 1 hour. Thank you to the team at Formula One Autocentre Pendlebury.
Mark

We were on a long drive and our tire started making a weird sound. We pulled in here and they got straight to helping us resolve the issue. Highly recommend, a great group of people especially Kaleb!

Thank you for your help today Daz. My rear light bulb had gone. Was tricky to remove but you did a great job .. with a smile 😃

Efficient, friendly staff. Didn’t try to overcharge me. Kept to the timings and pricing they quoted.

Excellent service. Very prompt and polite. I had an emergency with my lights and needed them doing asap. Such a brilliant service. Would definitely recommend.

My car broke down on the motorway after losing all its coolant. I had it taken to this garage where Corey quickly carried out a pressure test and found the problem — a cracked thermostat pipe, which had caused the coolant leak. They immediately diagnosed the fault, ordered the part, and had my car repaired the same day.

Even though they closed at 4 pm, Corey told me to carry on with my journey and simply call when I was finished so they could come back and provide my key for me to get home. That level of flexibility and customer care is rare and very much appreciated.

Fast, professional, and genuinely helpful — I can’t recommend them enough!

Booked the car for an air con re gas. Job done promptly and the drive home was really cold air con!
After 2 days the air con wouldn’t even get remotely cold. Called and rebooked it in with a polite person.
On arrival for the second time, we were met by 4 mechanics ( i give that name as they were all dressed in dirty boiler suits), all sat in the customer waiting area seats!
The person at the desk then said he wouldn’t be able to do anything as there must be a leak in our air con system and they cant do leak tests and repairs, so we would need to take it to an air con garage???
I asked if it was checked before the regas was done, and they said yes but its a simple 5 minute pressure test.
I asked if they can retest for leaks. Again they were still saying i just needed to take it to an air con garage. After back and forth for a few minutes, i said please do the test and if leaking we will take it elsewhere.
We returned around half an hour later, and a different person said, the air con did indeed have a leak, all be it a small one. He said after 1 minute of the 5 minute test it started to drop pressure.
At this point we thought there was clearly no way the test had been carried out prior to the re gas being done initially, and as they were so adamant we needed to take it elsewhere, we didn’t bother arguing about if the test had been carried out initially or not ( clearly wasnt!)
We left the garage, £59 wasted!
Would recommend anyone to stay well clear of this garage, and we certainly won’t return for any type of work, totally unprofessional!

Take my car here for any work that needs doing. They always help me out with anything I need sorting. It also doesn’t take long for work to be completed. Less than a week to get booked in, working usually completed within 2-3 hours. Cannot fault Cory and team one bit.

I always go to the Pendlebury garage (despite moving miles out of the area) I have always found the team to be trustworthy, friendly and knowledgeable, today was no exception. Originally booked my mot for 11:00, I had to arrive early due to some work meetings and Jordan was able to get it all done for me by 10:00! Exceptional service, I highly recommend 👌

Booked in for my MOT online. Took about an hour which also included waiting for a part to be delivered. The mechanic was great and explained the issues and all my options. I came here last year and received a similar service. I'm happy to recommend.

I had my MOT done at this garage on the 3rd December 2024 at 11am. My car had failed with 3 tyres and 1 tyre being an advisory. The 3 tyres all had “bulges” and the advisory on the 4th tyre was then for a damaged/cracking. I was very concerned as I had 2 new tyres (continental tyres) on the front on the 8th November 2024 so they were on for less than a month. I was also quoted £178 just for 1 tyre. Which I find absolutely ridiculous.

After my MOT had completed and I was informed of the fail I then got in touch with the company that had fitted my new tyres (Halfords tyres on the drive) and they booked an appointment to come out on the 4th December 2024 to do an investigation on the tyres.

I then left the garage to try and get a new tyre for the 3rd one that had failed. I was driving around and calling other garages for around 4 hours and had no luck (THANKFULLY)!

Fast forward to 4th December 2024 to Halfords coming out to investigate my tyres. I told the person that came what had happened and showed him the MOT certificate of the fail. He then took one of the tyres off and advised that he could not see a bulge. He then did a video call with his managers in the office to get a second opinion and they said that they could not see a bulge. They advised to me that I should go back and challenge my MOT. I asked them to put this into writing so that I can prove I’ve had the company out. One of the managers in the office was nice enough to call the garage. The guys that work at the garage turned around and said that they are sticking with their choice and if I want to do anything I would need to appeal it with DVSA however, Halfords just recommended that I took it to a different garage for an MOT and that’s exactly what I did. To my surprise the car PASSED with absolutely NO advisories and nothing wrong with any of the tyres. Betweeen the 3rd December and the 5th December I have had no work done to my car.

If I hadn’t of had the tyres 3 weeks prior to my MOT then I would’ve bought 3 potentially even 4 new tyres that I did not need. Which would’ve cost me £712 just for 4 new tyres because as stated above I have rare tyre sizes.

A lot changes in a year, previously used for tyres , servicing and MOT , took car for MOT at swinton branch, told to bring car in for parts at certain time , stroll up at time to collect car as agreed, said work not done as parts not arrived and they were busy so not likely will happen, didn't call to say delay , wasted a day annual leave , took car to a local garage , all work done without issue, safe to say won't be using F1 again, at least this experience has meant I've found a local garage who can carry out basic work and also outsource for specialist electrics when needed

The swinton branch have been so open and honest about the condition of my camper van
The quickly highlighted major unsafe issues with my camper van and potentially saved my life
All the team were professional and excellent communication and updated me regularly

Fantastic customer service and great value for money, thanks 👍🏻

Pendlebury branch. Brought my Discovery 4 into them unannounced as I had odd noises from rear wheel. They stripped brakes and established that there was a failure. Replaced discs and pads in 90 mins and back on the road. Great staff in there

DO. NOT. USE. Young woman so clearly tried to pull a fast one off the back of an MOT. Stated I needed £831 worth of work doing. Took it for a second opinion and it was passed with 0 advisories. They are scammers and trying to perform daylight robbery in such difficult Financial Times??????