Halfords AutocentresReviews 

Booked a full service and mot in April for the end of May on a Saturday as it was the only Saturday appointment they had available. 1 month and 2 weeks later after receiving multiple texts and emails to confirm my appointment was booked I arrive at 8.20 to be told no Mot are done on Saturdays and also it will take 5 working days to get a refund even though you have taken payment the moment I booked this mot and service back in April. No offer to get me in ASAP as they are fully booked for 3 days. I now have to miss 2 days work due to Halfords incompetence and faulty booking systems. Awful service from a National brand and shows they don't give a s×××

Great service - good communication from the Guildford branch.
I booked my Tesla in for an MOT and service.
Great front-of-house communication from Matt (a real asset to the company!) and good work on the car by Brandon. All done on time and clean.
I am surprised ot see some poor reviews, as I cannot fault either the work or the service.
Highly recommended.

Had 4 tyres changed, prices were competitive, booking in on line was easy. Appointment was made for 11am. I arrived early as they advised and the car was taken in on time, receptionist said would be about an hour, after waiting patiently for 1 and a half hours I asked the receptionist if he would check what was happening he went to see and came back saying it was nearly finished, I got the car back at 12.40, no explanation why the delay, the fitter just handed me the keys. I would say the tyres are good, the fitting was ok, but the time it took with no communication was poor.

Booked an MOT in
high st
Kirkintilloch.
11am.
Arrived at 10.50am to be told they are running an hour late so rather than I lost another important appointment I had to cancel the MOT ..
WOULD IT BE TO DIFFICULT TO SEND A COMPLIMENTARY TEXT TO CUSTOMERS TO SAY OH WE ARE AN HOUR BEHIND?
Very poor Halfords loss was Kwik Fits gain and will be using them in future

I had my tyres changed at the establishment in Stanground, Peterborough. All fine… except the lad who did the job informed me that I had serious problems with the suspension, so serious that he thought driving the car was unsafe. He told me to avoid speed bumps and drive very steadily. He gave me a quote for the work which amounted to £774. I drove the car carefully to my local garage who do my services and MOTs and asked them to take a look. They did and informed there was just a bit of rust and not to worry. In any case, they pointed out that they would have spotted this when they did the MOT.

Booked an appointment for a 4-wheel alignment at the Aldershot centre on May 23rd. Paid on-line.
On the morning of the appointment, I received a text saying "Sorry your booking has been cancelled".
No explanation. No follow up. No sign of a refund.
After a frustratingly slow response time chat session, I'm told the issue is being routed to a dedicated team and I'll hear back within 7 days. Why 7 day's to sort out a refund?
No feedback so I waste more time in another chat in which Alka A. asks questions that should already be evident from my earlier query. That ends with her telling me she's escalating it again and I can hear back within 7 days. She then leaves the chat abruptly.
Still no contact from Halfords regarding my refund.
Never again.

Booked my car in for 4 new tyres at the Mansfield Baums Lane branch. Online booking process required that you choose an appointment time from those given which were at 30 minute intervals. In the confirmation you’re asked to arrive 10 minutes before your appointment time which I did. This was a 2pm appointment. I was given the hard sell by the receptionist for tyre warranty. I declined but she persisted twice more before she’d take no for an answer. She then said the car would be put in a queue and should be done by 5pm. I had expected to wait for it and asked what’s the point of making an appointment? From there I walked to the local retail park to get a coffee. I had a call from them whilst queuing so I called them back. I was told that because I was having 4 new tyres (£200 total). I would need new TPMS valves which would be a further £400. When I declined I was told it would fail its MOT which actually wasn’t due for another 8 months. I knew I would have the opportunity to go elsewhere for a quote but they tried to make me feel that I had no choice but to pay up. I’m a pensioner and cannot just pluck hundreds of pounds out of the air at a moment’s notice. I wonder how many do though. In the event I ordered my own pre-programmed TPMS valves online for £125 for a full set of 4. Fitting them at my local tyre fitters costs £20 per tyre so in total HALF the price Halfords quoted. Having read all the shocking reviews on here I believe I’ve had a lucky escape. I’ll never, ever use Halfords again. They see every customer as a potential blank cheque!

Took my car into Halfords McConnechy Oban for 2 new tyres and ended up with them losing my car key. Quoted £2000 by Land Rover. Had a massive battle with Halfords to get them to pay. They finally agreed to pay but mog for overnight stay as it will take 2 days to prepare a new key. Plus mileage expense of a 130 miles round trip. This company is the pits. I will never use them again and somewhere my key is in the hands of someone who knows my address so potentially could get my car stolen! I'm very annoyed!!!!

Car booked in for 4 wheel track Halfords Autocentre, Washington, Tyne and Wear.

Turned up for appointment on time and informed that they cannot carry it out as the equipment not working!!! Surely you can inform your customer before they make the journey for the appointment, surely there is no way the equipment failed at the time of turning up.

Really frustrating and wasted time off work!

Away from home, so couldn’t use my usual. The air conditioning needed regassing. There was a slot online so I chose this one. I arrived on time, they started on time and the job was done.
Cheerful staff.

Would be zero starts if possible. Halfords (Tritton Road Lincoln) did my MOT on 25 March. The Certificate had 38K miles when it should have been 35K. Went straight back in after double checking in car but it was 4.55pm and they said they would correct the next day. Now 3 months later (27 May), I still don't have a correct Cert so it will be wrong when I sell the car privately. Halfords Autocentre's excuse (unbelievably) was that they "don't have an envelope or stamp" despite there being a stationers on same Retail Park!! For me, it is 32 mile trip to go back. Even their own central Customer Services have tried to get this corrected for me but theAutocentre just don't care, nor take responsibility for correcting their own daft error. Have now complained to DVSA. Last time I use them.

Charged me twice for 1 item online....all website have errors and phone number cuts off without allowing an option.....
Bonkers customer services where are you.......

I phoned Halford’s Mansfield book my car in for an aircon regas. I was told it would be £74.99 in total so I booked it in.

When I dropped off the car an employee said that we also had to buy a £34.99 aircon diagnostic service first or they wouldn’t be able to proceed with the regas. I said that when I booked the regas I was told that the £74.99 charge covered everything. The woman behind the counter was adamant that I must buy the additional diagnostic service or the garage could not regas the aircon.

She then said that the person who told me this had only been working there for two weeks. I said that didn’t matter, I was told one price but now she wanted to increase it by almost 50%. She was still adamant that we must buy the additional diagnostic test. When I said no, she said that she would waive the fee. I handed the woman behind the counter the car keys and left.

A couple of hours later the employee phoned to say that the car had failed the diagnostic test because the aircon condenser had a “massive hole and a severe leak”. She also told me that three of the tyres were illegal because their tread was so worn. I went to collect the car from the Autocentre.

Upon arrival, the woman talked to me about new tyres and that the garage could fit them. She emphasised that I should pay a little more for “better quality tyres”. She also told me that the cost to fix the broken aircon would be over £800, “which is a good price”. At that point, the technician who had looked at the car appeared and showed me a photograph of an aircon condenser he said was from my car, and said that some of the vanes looked a little bent and may indicate that there “might be a leak”. This would indicate that he hadn’t tested for a leak, but he just thought that there may be one. This certainly contradicts the account of the woman behind the desk about a “massive hole and severe leak”.

I said that I would think about the tyres, and then she said we owed £34.99 for the diagnostic test. I said that she told us earlier in the day that she would waive the fee, but she then said that was only if we had the aircon regassed. I disputed this as she had simply said the fee would be waived with no mention of the condition that I would have to pay it if the car “failed” the diagnostic. The employee was argumentative and insisted I paid for the diagnostic service. I said that she can’t simply change what she said a couple of hours ago. She looked furious, and went through a door to return with my car keys. She handed them over and I left.

After I arrived home I telephoned several other Halfords Autocentres and every one said that the aircon regas fee was £74.99. When I asked about the diagnostic service they all said that was optional, but wasn’t required. Most said that the machine that automatically refills the gas tests for leaks anyway as part of the procedure.

I also checked the tyre tread (ironically using a tyre tread depth gauge I bought from Halford’s several years ago) and in my opinion all of the tyres were legal.

In my opinion, this whole episode was little more than deceit and attempted miss-selling from the employee and/or Halfords Mansfield. I would hope that this embarrassing event is not representative of your company. Consumers need confidence in the companies they deal with, and I’m afraid that in my opinion Halfords Mansfield gives your company a bad name and re-enforces the image of a ‘dodgy garage’.

Booked an air con diagnostic check online . Attended the local Halfords who informed me I had attended the wrong location and that there was another Halfords nearby which was the correct location . I duly attended the other location , they informed me that I needed to go back to the original location as that was the correct one ! They even phoned up the original location this effect.
Went back to the original location , they insisted that I go back as the appointment wasn’t at their premises. When I asked for a refund I was informed they couldn’t give me one . Tried to contact Halfords online to get a refund ,no chance ! Every time I tapped on the contact us or refund link the page wasn’t found . Absolute farce !

My car was booked into Inverness Halfords Auto Centre for an exhaust inspection. The staff were very polite, helpful and thoroughly professional. They provided a first class customer service, advice and resolved the issue to my satisfaction. This is my third experience of using this Centre and on each occasion it has proved to be extremely good. Highly recommended

Halfords (Bicester) auto centre I would highly recommend. Matt helped us out when we got stuck and needed a tire sorting. Thanks Matt for helping us.

Avoid!! Hubby took car for service and mot to Palatine Road Halfords on Friday. He rang later in day for update as noone had contacted him. Guy said a spring was missing on handbrake and was trying to source but couldn’t and said best to take elsewhere. Picked car up it was rattling and smell of burning. Took to another garage they said nothing wrong with spring but cable had been over tightened. Went back to halfords to complain to be told by same guy that it was now the adjuster missing. Shocking service caused more problems. Halfords failed it. Other garage passed first time. Halfords should be struck off from doing any mot’s or servicing. Be warned and avoid

Just a warning to anyone using Halfords MOTs/service work. I took my car in for its MOT on Monday 25/05/2026 and it failed for “headlamp aim too low”. I was told I needed a new headlight adjuster and a completely new headlight, despite there being nothing actually wrong with the headlight itself. I told around £365 for the replacement plus another extra £20 for who knows what.

I was told this was simply “wear and tear”, although the screw looked very newly broken as you can tell with wear and tear it usually looks older and more of a natural deterioration, this was a brand new (polished) looking screw which has a suspiciously clean mark/break on it, something wear and tear wouldn’t show. Obviously I can’t say for certain what happened, but it does make me question whether it could have been damaged while they were inspecting it.

We then took the car back down today (26/05/2026) with the issue being fixed, expecting the issue to simply be checked, only to be told we’d need to pay another £27 for a retest. We obviously refused and instead took the car to another MOT garage. After explaining the situation, they mentioned they’d recently had another customer come in from the same Halfords centre who had also been told they needed a completely new rear headlight when no issue was present beforehand. This was within the space of 48 hours.

Do not recommend due to overcharging for repairs.

Spent the extra money to upgrade to the motoring club
When it came down to getting free mot , booked well in advance and then day before THEY cancelled . Did not offer any alternatives , so left high and dry !! Sent me a gift voucher when I needed mot
They promised to repay cost of mot if I sent them the proof of me getting it done , I sent copy but they just come back saying case closed !,,,

On Friday, 22nd May, my car was booked into Halfords on Saughall Road, where I was greeted by a lovely young lady whose name unfortunately escapes me. She was professional, informative, courteous, and genuinely cheerful throughout my visit. I was really impressed.

To be fair, I’ve always been impressed by the service, communication, and overall courtesy from this branch. The team consistently provides excellent customer service, and it’s very much appreciated. Please keep up the fantastic work.