Halfords Autocentres Reviews 

It seems impossible to book a slot other than a paid-for "premium slot". However, on arrival at the designated time this counts for nothing. Happened three times with a recurring issue. Wrote to the company (post to the chief executive, but have not had the courtesy of an acknowledgement, let alone a substantive reply. Customers, it seems are an interference with the smooth running of the business. In which case I shall take my custom elsewhere. And as I have have multiple vehicles, it will, I hope make something of a difference to them.

Shocking service, car not ready twice at estimated times but no communication, lack of detail and management

Parts not there ready for appointment booked in two weeks in advance, had to wait for delivery ... did not tell us when car dropped off no parts there and was told it would be first job ,,,,, had to go back 90 minutes after estimated complete time and they then told us and were still working on car as never had parts !!

Had 4 new tyres in May and 1227 miles later in July tread had worn by half. At Mot in June they did not and despite asking give me MOT certificate showing tyre tread, when queries they then said human error on bill and don't worry tyres are ok.

everything feels like a shambles and cover up for short staff, poor management and claims of company policy to justify

Raised a complaint to customer service who did not respond to main issues and then they closed case without replying to feedback

As a premier member will never touch this store again

I made the unfortunate mistake of upgrading my free Halfords motoring club membership to the premium version. Do not make the same mistake as Halfords makes it almost impossible to cancel an auto renewal. I recently decided it was no longer worth the £55 a year it costs and tried to cancel the auto renewal. I was told I could not do that unless I rang up on the day before the renewal. I could cancel it before the renewal date but then I’d lose all the subscription benefits I’d already paid for. When I then said ok give me a pro-rata refund for the benefits I’d lose it said it won’t do that either. Basically the whole operation is designed to make sure you forget to cancel so they can take another £55 off you. From a good value perspective it also falls flat. One of the claimed benefits is the ‘free’ MoT worse £54 which comes with it but like most motorists I book a service at the same time. On Halfords own website an MoT booked with a service only costs £20 anyway so even the supposed benefits don’t add up. As for the auto renewal I’m sure there is now legislation in place - or due to be announced - banning this underhand tactic. Like I said avoid at all costs because on every level the inconvenience is ridiculous and advertised benefits don’t even add up. I’m contacting trading standards in the interim.

I am extremely disappointed with the service I received from Halfords.

I booked appointment and placed an order worth £255 for dashcam only to be let down with less than 12 hours’ notice appreciate that sickness cannot always be predicted or avoided, but cancelling at such short notice is simply not acceptable, particularly when I had made arrangements and committed to spending a significant amount of money with Halfords.

What makes this even more frustrating is the apparent double standard Halfords state that if a customer is unable to proceed or certain circumstances prevent the service from going ahead, a £40 aborted appointment charge can be applied Yet when Halfords are unable to provide the service, customers are apparently just expected to accept the inconvenience without any consideration for the time, arrangements and disruption caused.

If customers are expected to respect Halfords’ cancellation and aborted appointment policies, then the same level of responsibility should apply to Halfords

Customers’ time is valuable too

This has completely damaged my confidence in the company I would expect better communication, better customer service and, at the very least, reasonable notice when an appointment cannot be fulfilled

Very poor experience I will seriously wont be using Halfords again and would advise others to think twice before booking them fed up with double standard service is how customers are treated.

Ordered and paid for 5lts antifreeze online paid with apple pay didn’t get an email or text went next day Coalville branch didn’t now anything sent me to national tyres auto centre as they own it nothing back to Halfords still nothing so 5 days later £21 out of pocket and no assistance to get it back terrible company

I took my car in because the wipers don’t work. I was quoted £750 for a new front wiper motor for my 2015 VW Polo. I looked up the cost of a new motor on their website and the part they recommended and had to order in for my car is around £190 which is already more expensive than the ones I found from other sellers. What a joke to then quote £750 and worst of all it is apparently a 1 hour job max.

Worst experience at Halfords Farnborough branch.
You will keep loosing customers this way.
We needed help to choose a suitable roof bars for our car. At first we were told they can fit at 1 o’clock and when we agreed they said they are double booked at 1 and were asked to come back at 3.
When we asked for help to choose the roof bars and the bike rack. They said come back at 3 o’clock. Even the store manager was very arrogant and spoke to another customer while we were waiting for them.
Won’t be buying from Halfords again with this attitude.

Bought tyre as a walk in booked in for couple days later. Felt overpriced same tyre £68 dearer than last year at another company. This tyre £201, saw their price match promise. Saw Blackcircles same tyre less than£144
£57 cheaper. Don’t even bother with the price match it’s a con. I contacted a chat support said he would look into it heard nothing then I contacted customer support they said it’s only if you order online. The sales pitch doesn’t say that ChatGPT says they do honour Black circles quotes. Forget it, I have 3 other tyres but I will be going to Blackcircles in future not a fair company and do not honour their price match promise

The Woking branch charged me £1650 for tyres. When i phoned halfords afterwards I was told the tyres should have cost £998.
Halfords have just stolen £652 from me!
What a disgusting company and disgusting branch. Thieves.

I booked a joint service and mot, two weeks ago, all planned around the busy schedule. A message left at 4.50pm on the Friday night to say they can't do the mot! Cannot contact anyone when I left my shift, a wasted day ahead. Customer services " You can rebook"! Thank you for your understanding. Sadly, I paid on electronic voucher, they will get my business this time, but never again.

I made a booking today for 2 tyres to be fitted the following Monday. After paying £244 for the two tyres, I contacted the Bath centre to tell them that I had not received confirmation of the booking. They informed me that they could do nothing to help and gave me another number. After contacting them I was informed that they had not booked a time and date for me (even though I had completed in online. I was then informed that I could not book on that day. I asked to cancel the order and was then told that the mint would be returned to me in 3 to 5 working days! So obviously they received my payment instantly by I have to wait to get a refund!!!
Avoid using Halfords!!!

Clutch broke yesterday, rang Halfords Pokesdown and they agreed to either check fault that day or next day. I am a community nurse and no car no work. It was fixed just after lunch next day. Service great, kindness and care exceptional. They were so busy yesterday that there was little room for recovery truck to unload. Great team. Great service. Thankyou to all the team at Halfords Pokesdown.

If I could leave zero stars I would. The Andover branch seem to think that the logistical issues they have are my fault, and that booking a car in at 0830 for an MOT and service, only to discover that the MOT wasn’t carried out until 1330 and the service didn’t start until after 1500hrs, and they didn’t bother to tell me that the discs and pads were an advisory until 1720, and that they couldn’t release the vehicle as the discs were below the manufacturers limit, but it had passed the MOT. When I asked why that entire sentence made no sense to me, I understood the individual words but not the complete thing I was told by the branch manager that ‘it’s a fleet vehicle and we can’t release it with the discs like that’. I was shocked. I didn’t realise that my privately purchased vehicle that’s used by me and my partner was a fleet vehicle. When did it become a fleet vehicle? I asked. He couldn’t tell me. Whose fleet does it belong to? I asked. Again, he couldn’t tell me. Why do you think it’s a fleet vehicle? I asked. His response was because it’s on the system he replied. Who declared it a fleet vehicle? I asked. Whoever booked it in the system he replied. Who booked it on the system I asked. He didn’t reply. Why was the car with you for 5hrs before it went through its MOT I asked. We’ve only got one ramp and it was busy he replied. Why didn’t you tell me after the MOT that the discs and pads needed doing, I’d have happily paid for them to be done immediately I asked. We were busy he replied. Do you want to book back in? He asked. No. No I don’t. If I wanted my car to be serviced at a circus I’d have messaged Billy Smart. I wouldn’t use Halfords again and f they were the last firm doing anything mechanical on the planet. The customer service skills of the manager reminded me of a Dog attempting a crossword puzzle and his inability to own the problem leads me to believe that he is to customer service what Jimmy Saville was to child care.

Edited to add in the 14th August that the dashcam has been unplugged and broken in the process. When I rang this morning the initial response was ’it’s against the law to view an MOT’ when I replied ‘What about MOT viewing bays and if you go on YouTube there are seven million MOT video's and I asked for the specific legislation I was told not asked, told to hold the line. Eventually she. He got back to me he said ‘it’s company policy’ the manager couldn’t tell me who had done it (assuming the name on the MOT cert is the guilty party) and they also couldn’t provide a response when I discovered that whoever had pulled the wires had snapped the housing.

Are we getting a Jim’ll Fix It Badge customer services?

I am extremely disappointed with the service I have received. It has been rude, unprofessional, and far below any acceptable standard. I have never experienced customer service this poor, and this company unfortunately sets a new low. My car is damaged and cant be used its been 9 weeks already and not a single response or acknowledment - what a disgrace

From the Auto Centre through to Customer Services — which is practically non‑existent — the organisation shows serious communication failures and a complete lack of accountability.

38 Week Pregnant Women & 19 Month Old child lives put in danger by being sent home in a car that was damaged by Autocentre mechanics at Halfords Sydenham!
Car taken in for MOT in which it failed at Catford Rushey Green Autocentre and needed over £1,600 worth of work done on it for it to pass an MOT. the work was supposedly completed but the car felt worse afterwards so upon MOT retest a few days later back at Rushey Green and I was then told the car was in a dangerous and undrivable condition and the car would fail it's MOT again - which is disgusting having had my wife and son in that car over that week before the retest. I was sent back to Sydenham who completed the work and told me the parts they used were defective and that the car wasn't immediately dangerous but would have been if i'd have driven for another 2 weeks according to the centre manager Samson. they tried to offer £50 as a goodwill gesture and then £100 instead after a formal complaint and then closed the case when I let customer service know the autocentres had lied about what had happened. NEVER USING HALFORDS AGAIN!

Absolutely appalling. Booked MOT online for 12:40, arrived approx 12:25, checked in and confirmed with the woman 12:40, and that it will be ready by 13:40. So we came back at 13:40, car didn't look like it had moved! Went in, saw same woman, oh yes it should be done. Guess what? It hadn't been touched! They then started telling us we had it all wrong and that 12:40 was drop off time and MOT was due at 13:20!! Total BS. I showed her the booking confirmation of 12:40. We then got told that it was our fault and we did not read the detail when making the booking. I went back on the website to make another booking and passed the phone over so she could see all the details. NOTHING mentioned a drop off time, not on the website, not on the confirmation, not anywhere. NOT ONCE DID SHE OFFER AN APOLOGY, it was all our fault.

They still insisting my 2 year old EV is due a MOT. PATHETIC Anyone involved with the motor trade ought to know a little about it.
Halfords do not!
Update, they need to discuss this further, again,. Having spoken to "customer service" it's still happening. Is a second call going to help. I think not!

Halfords Autocentre Surbiton MOT. Staff were incompetent and rude. Gave false information to insist on black box removal, or else they would fail vehicle without testing. Then did fail car for issues they did not test (headlights and assessments for EV only cars when car is Petrol!)
Took it for second opinion and they laughed their heads off at how incompetent Halfords were. DO NOT USE for MOTs, they are not fit to run them.

Avoid at all costs, damaged multiple wheels when getting 4 new tyres today. £1200 for tyres, and I’ve now got 2 damaged wheels. Brand new car getting its first ever set of replacements tyres, and clearly the machine has slipped or not been used properly, and now multiple parts of the rim have been gouged out. You can see clearly that it’s impossible for it to be driver caused, as it’s tucked into the crevice and not front facing. Initially they denied all possibility and claimed it to be ‘impossible’ due to the ‘rubber handles’ until I showed photos that I took at drop off, with time stamp and location. Waiting for this to be resolved, and until it is, this review will stay here highlighting the lack of care or attention these garages gives.

Halfords Auto Centre in Borehamwood

I recently took my car to Halfords Auto Centre in Borehamwood for a 10-point check. The booking process and check itself were fine.

However, I was then told that both tyres needed replacing as apparently could not be repaired. I was quoted £110 per tyre for a BUDGET tyre on a simple car.

I took the car to a separate, reputable tyre centre near me for a second opinion. They inspected the tyres and were able to repair one tyre no problem by removing a nail. The other tyre was replaced like-for-like for £50.

This isn't the first disappointing experience I've had with this particular branch. A few months ago, they failed my car's MOT for an issue they said was unrepairable and said they woudl need to replace the part. I took it to another garage, who said it was absolutely repairable and fixed it, saving me hundreds of pounds.

I used to use this Halfords branch regularly around 6–7 years ago and always found them reliable.

Unfortunately, based on these two recent experiences, I would no longer have confidence in their recommendations.

Very disappointing, and I won't be using this branch again.