National Tyres and Autocare Reviews 

Excellent customer service from Alex and his team. Great prices and professional service at a good price. I booked in for an MOT and 2 years service on my BMW x3 today and am a very happy customer. Totally recommend this garage for any make or model of vehicle. Your vehicle is in great hands. I will definitely be back in the future.

Used National tyres several times over the years, out of pure convenience really. Always painfully slow service. What I wasn't happy about this time is the chap got half way through changing my tyre, then buggered off for his lunch for half an hour with my van up on the jack. I just had to sit and wait while he had his sandwiches and coffee. 1hr 20mins I was in there.

Not exactly good customer service.

Booked a time slot and gave an alternative. Alternative date was given. AM visit confirmed. No one turned up. Called Customer Services and they called Halfords only to find out that Halfords cancelled my job without any intervention from me. Absolutely fuming. How hard can it be? Clearly too hard! Apparently they called the wrong number to confirm the job with me and possibly called a previous customer? Honestly, I would think twice using this service if that is the level of competence you are dealing with. The Customer Service agent was very apologetic and couldn't understand it either. Mind boggles.

Went at 5.35pm with a nail in the tyre. The store closes at 6pm. Had a lengthy drive to Kent so didnt want to take the journey with a nail in the tyre. Despite the fact that there were no customers being served we were told that they only worked on an appointment basis and anyway didn't have a tyre fitter - which was clearly a lie as we saw a guy with a tyre on the machine. Anyway we said that in that case all we needed was someone to loosen the nuts on our wheel (and retighten them) as we did have a spare that we could fit using our jack. Would only have taken 5 minutes but we were told they could not help - astonishing reaction from a tyre company. At 5.45pm one of the guys just rolled down the shutters in our face. Clearly all they wanted to do was to go home. Quite disgraceful.

Booked online a MOT for 27 April at 10:10, took in at 9:50, told they had a problem with car lift,awaiting engineer, would let me know when it would be ready. No phone call, I rang to be told my car would be MOT’d next morning, first thing. Rang at 12:30, wasn’t going to be tested until afternoon, would ring when ready. No call, I rang at 3:15 to be told it’s ready ! When I picked my car up, no apology, just checked I’d paid online for it !
After using National for at least 12 years, with multiple cars, that’s the last they’ll see of me, but by the staff attitude, they’re probably not that bothered 😠😠

One star is too many for National Tyres Blackburn. Here's my complaint sent to National Tyres and Halford which they haven't bothered to acknowledge or respond to!
On the 7th October 2025 I had a new tyre fitted at National Tyres in Blackburn.
I booked Halfords Mobile to come to my house today 14th April, to replace 4 tyres on the same vehicle. I chose this option as the service at National Tyres Blackburn has been deteriorating over the last couple of bookings (services and tyre replacements for both mine and my wife’s cars).
When the technician arrived, it transpired that the locking wheel nut did not fit because National Tyres Blackburn had given back the wrong nut when they fitted the new tyre in October last year! Therefore the Technician was unable to replace my tyres – a complete was of my time and his.
In the meantime, thankfully, I had not had a puncture, which given the state of the roads at the moment is something of a miracle.
I had taken time off work (self-employed, to have the new tyres fitted) which costs me in loss of earnings.
I then drove to National Tyres in Blackburn to explain the situation (more of my time and fuel wasted). They clearly decided that I was lying, so rather than apologising, they decided to search my car for the locking wheel nut, going through personal belongings in the glove box and boot. This was despite the fact I had given them the one (that didn’t fit) which the technician left in my car after the tyre was replaced by them.
They then pulled out at least 6 more locking wheel nuts from under the counter, so clearly this is not the first time that such an incompetent error has been made. Obviously none of these fit.
They then thought it was a good idea to search my car again, obviously without success, but making an already disappointed customer even more disgruntled (still no apology).
I then suggested they contact Skoda and get a replacement, which he said they can’t do, but they do have a company that can get the locking nut off and replace all the locking wheel nuts. So I said “Can they come now?” – he said “would you like me to try?” (What I was tempted to say was ”no, I’d like to drive my car forever without ever replacing the tyres or getting a puncture!”) So I said yes. He tried and there was no reply, so that was it as far is he was concerned, so I asked him to try again, which he did and still no answer. He said “I doubt they will come today as they finish at 5pm (it was 4.30pm) so I’ll call them in the morning and let you know.” I said, “well if they’re open till 5pm, try them again”- which he did and they answered. Why on earth I should have to say keep trying is beyond me, but the staff clearly didn’t care.
As a result, I had to go back again the following morning to get the locking wheel nuts replaced (this meant another day off work, again costing me in loss of earnings). The attitude of the staff had not improved with a, and I quote “it is what it is!” attitude. The lady that came to get the locking wheel nuts off was very good, polite and professional but did say she gets quite a few jobs from National Tyres (that explains the many spare locking wheel nuts under the counter that they tried!).
I have re-booked for Halfords Tyres (the lady I spoke to was very helpful and very apologetic for the experience I had with National Tyres) to come back on another day to replace all 4 tyres, which I’ve already paid for and guess what, yes, take another day off work, costing me yet more in loss of earnings!
The incompetence and couldn’t care less attitude of the staff at National Tyres has been an absolute disgrace and I am beyond fuming. This is such a shame as I have used them many times before for multiple cars and they have been brilliant, however there seems to be a completely new team there now, who really don’t care and this site has been on the decline for quite a while as I mentioned earlier.
The lack of care, customer service and indirectly accusing a customer of lying rather than apologising is an embarrassment and poor reflection on your organisation and your attitude towards a loyal customer.

Don't buy a car battery from NT. Our new battery had 5-year guarantee. NT refused to change it when it failed stating that we had a parasitic drain. They did not have evidence for this. We spent £125 on an auto-electrician. The outcome of substantial checks with the car being on the auto electrician's premises for 48-hours was there was no parasitic drain and the autonator was also fine, concluding it was a faulty battery. On going back to NT with this evidence, screenshot of readings etc, NT reluctantly replaced the battery stating this time that it was our autonator at fault which had wrecked the battery. This is not the case as proven by constant readings taken. NT have taken away the 5-year guarantee from the replacement battery. This appears to be a scam to not honour 5-year guarantees!!

Wow what an amazing team .. I arrived without an appointment and the team were so welcoming. I had a screw in my tyre and Jake was quick to diagnose I’d need a new tyre- he kindly put my spare wheel in for me with no charge! I can’t recommend these guys highly enough .. will definitely be back - thank you!! 🙏

Had a tyre blow today 24th April like most modern cars now I had no spare,I managed to get the car to a nearby bus stop and as I looked around a national tyre garage was like 50 feet from me, I thought brilliant couldn’t have picked a better place to get a flat,so I went into the reception (Hamilton branch ML3) to be told by the guy behind the counter sorry can’t help today, i thought you joking? the car is on the other side of the road you can see it from the window ,anyway contacted the AA who took me and the tyre to a nearby kwik-fit literally half a mile from them who replaced the damaged tyre in ten mins. So yeah very very poor.

I called in to National Tyres Northwich, after i noticed wire sticking out of the edge of a front tyre after steering work.
They were fully booked up, didnt want to know or even look at my car to see if it was safe or not.
So i went across the road to Kwit Fit, who despite been booked up, managed to fit me in for two new tyres and tracking and i was on my way in an hour or so.

Wow, I’m sure if you have an order that goes through smoothly they’re probably fine. But here’s my experience. I put an order in online for a tyre that they said was available and they happily took my money. I then very shortly afterwards received a text saying they could not confirm the order and it had been cancelled, and that I would receive a refund up to 10 days later. I contacted customer services to say that really wasn’t a timescale that’s acceptable in this day and age of banking, and that I would require it to be returned quicker so I could go and buy a tyre elsewhere, to which they said you won’t get it any quicker that’s how long it’ll take and it’s within our terms and conditions that we can cancel orders when we want to. They openly admitted that no one ever got a refund any quicker and no one ever got compensated if they made a complaint regarding the fact that orders had been accepted when stock was not available. It was obvious that this is a regular enquiry they have at the customer centre and openly admitted that their website is not up-to-date and therefore they know that they are taking orders for stock that they cannot fulfil. Having a bad order system is one failure, they’re not promptly refunding people is another. I would not touch this company with a bargepole they are happy to take your money sit on it and not provide any product at all. The way the customer service representative spoke had company nature embedded in the arrogant attitude and lack of customer service, she literally said that she’d been told to tell people that there was no point them complaining because they wouldn’t get anywhere. It was when I pointed out I work in finance and that what she’d been saying about the banking options was completely wrong that she suddenly changed her tune and spilled out their complaints procedure on how I could make a complaint if I wanted to. You can just tell the nature of the company is rotten to the core.

Really helpful, video evidence of what they do, very polite and even checked and blew my wife's tyres up probably after a pothole incident set off the tyre sensors. All done for free. Thanks for a great service.

Great service.
Booked online on the Sunday for the Wednesday between 1pm and 6pm.
Guy turned up at 1.20pm really nice chatty guy sorry I didn’t ask your name. All completed within the hour. Will definitely use again.

I initially had a good to reasonable opinion about my mot & full service provided by this centre on Halfords behalf, a bit pricey but what do I know on reasonable prices for this stuff. I left today with a much worse opinion. TLDR: Misleading printing on website and rude manager.

I picked up my car and was overall happy with the result. The thing that peaked my concern was that there was no mention of my AC in the final report. Now, I knew going into this that the AC in my car didn't work, and I in no way expected them to fix it as part of a service. What I did expect is for it to be highlighted as part of the "Check air-conditioning operation" part, so there I am thinking that they may have not done that, and if so what else have they missed from the service.

So I went into the store to inquire and at first the guy at the desk says they do not check AC and that they neither have the tools or qualified people to do it, and that it would be at another site. This agitates me as I have not been told that part of my service will be at another site, and I say as such. This goes back and forth a bit until the manager steps in, an older guy with white hair, and looks into it and explains that the "Check air-conditioning operation" is literally just does the AC turn on and off on the dashboard.

That is it, nothing else, not even to just check that the air coming out of the vents is cold. Being quite honest, this does not classify as "Check air-conditioning operation" in my opinion, really it shouldn't be on the list of things they do on the service as it is not worth paying for, but it is what it is.

I say to the manager and staff that I don't blame them and that is fair enough, but personally I feel that is a bit misleading on Halfords behalf, but what can you do, maybe they can at least put one of those stupid asterisks next to the thing. But the manager has decided that he doesn't like my bad impression of Halfords or something and as I am leaving he says to me to stop interrupting, which fair enough I am a bit agitated and I didn't mean to but he is distinctly unfriendly and rude about it, and says that any garage or service centre in the county does the same, which okay... doesn't make it right.

He is distinctly rude and unfriendly about about it, which keep in mind I was leaving anyway, he just wanted to get the last word in and wanted to make his dislike felt. He pushed what was an unimpressed opinion of Halfords and an ambivalent opinion about this place to an active dislike of both Halfords and them. I will never ask for service from Halfords or especially this place with the rude and up them attitude manager so long as I live.

Following on from our previous review after a puncture repair lead to them damaging our tyre pressure sensor.
Agreed by head office we took it to another garage for a diagnostics and they told us they would cover the cost. The garage has done fault finding and have now replaced the sensor national tyres fitted with a genuine ford one. This is what was broken by them originally. We asked after the second visit if genuine parts were used and we were told no and that it wouldn’t be an issue. Today it has been replaced by a genuine ford one and the issue is fixed.
We have had to pay another £200 bill, took all the evidence back to the garage and now have to wait for it to be agreed and paid back. Don’t hold much hope of this happening! And if it doesn’t happen we will be taking it further. Do not use this company. Would never ever use these cowboys again. Such an awful company

Just purchased 4 new tyres for my Kia at National Tyres Pontypridd.
Arrived at centre and was greeted by nice guy who worked there.
As about my booking and then changed the tyres.
Found them very friendly and could not enough for you.
Will be back

Halfords Leppings Lane are always my choice of garage. Staff are always friendly and kind and the service is super reliable and second to none. Today I took the car for an MOT, with two kids in tow, both with special needs, and the staff couldn’t have been nicer. The garage was really busy, but they still found time to get my son a charger for his phone, and they were nice when I lost the locking wheel but and then found it again. When I was about to pay and suddenly remembered the tyre pressure warning, they pumped the tyres up and reset the warning lights, for me free of charge. It’s those little things that matter when you’re short of time and have your hands full. Thank you Halfords Leppings Lane for the usual super service today which was much appreciated.

I was happy with the service I received from National tyres at Bishop Stortford today
They told how long it took to complete and were very helpful I took out the extended warranty and if anything happens I know they will help

​I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy. They held my car for 9 days for a job that should have been simple. The reason? They ordered the wrong part and left the car sitting there, even though the correct part was actually in stock and available.
​The lack of communication was staggering. Not once in those 9 days did anyone call me with an update; I had to constantly chase them just to find out what was happening with my own vehicle.
​To make matters worse, the payment process was a total disaster:
​I set up Payment Assist, signed all the paperwork, and paid my deposit upfront.
​When I arrived to pick up the car, they told me the application had "expired" on their end.
​Because I had to re-apply, the second application was declined due to my current status.
​I was forced to borrow money on the spot just to get my car back.
​I still haven’t received my original deposit back from the first Payment Assist application. The entire experience was totally ridiculous and unprofessional from start to finish. Save yourself the stress and go literally anywhere else.

I had travelled to Cardiff from Carmarthen and on leaving the John Lewis car park at 5pm discovered I had a nail in my tyre. The first two tyre companies I visited could not repair the puncture that day as they were fully booked. My last hope was National Tyres who I usually use. Thankfully Jamie and Mark were very helpful and sorted the puncture out very quickly allowing me to drive home. Thanks very much for your excellent customer service.