TheCarBarns Reviews 

Trading in my Mercedes for a car at this dealership was a huge mistake, and I deeply regret it. The salesperson, Tim, was extremely unresponsive from the start. Despite numerous calls, messages, and emails, getting a simple update or response was like pulling teeth.

To make matters worse, Tim blatantly lied to me several times about addressing the issues with the vehicle. He claimed it was in perfect condition, but it came with multiple problems, including faulty wheel alignment, ambient lighting issues, and malfunctioning headlights. It became clear that the car had not been properly inspected or serviced before being sold.

The customer service here is abysmal. When I raised these concerns, I was met with indifference and a complete lack of urgency to fix anything. Tim and the rest of the staff obviously don’t care about their customers, and I feel completely misled by this purchase. After trading in a premium vehicle like my Mercedes, I expected far better, but all I got was disappointment and frustration.

Tim constantly made excuses, from his wife being in the hospital to being "too busy" with other customers, even cutting calls short.

Do yourself a favour and avoid this dealership, and especially steer clear of Tim.

Great people and more than happy with my purchase 👍

I had an amazing experience with The CarBarns. The entire process was smooth, from getting a fast and accurate online quote to having my car picked up promptly. Jesus was incredibly helpful and ensured everything went off without a hitch. I received a great price for my junk car, and the payment was made on the spot. The whole experience was hassle-free, and I couldn’t be happier with the service. Highly recommended!

A great car buying experience from Tim, Danny and Charlie. They brought the car over to my home, gave me a driving lesson for my first ever ‘automatic’ experience, showed me everything including the wheel nut location. The guys were great, really patient with me and answered all my questions. A month has past since ‘Betty’ was purchased and I’ve had zero problems and feel very confident that the team would be equally helpful if a question arose in the future. Tim, Danny and Charlie, thank you x

****PLEASE READ: This company has flagged our review 3 times on Trustpilot to try to get it removed. Trustpilot has put it up again. They have now gone on a rampage putting out many 'positive' Trustpilot and Feefo reviews which all have linguistic similarities hence could be fake. I have alerted both Feefo and Trustpilot to investigate this. I have also sent our County Court Judgement against this company to Trustpilot.****

I cannot warn you away from this company strongly enough. Take the negative reviews seriously – you can find more by googling the old company name “TH BOLER AUTOMOTIVE LIMITED” – I suspect the name was changed to escape numerous previous negative reviews.
We purchased an Audi Q7 etron as a family car when our youngest daughter was just four weeks. This car developed a charging fault within a week. We decided to return the vehicle using the consumer rights act’s Right to reject, which was agreed to by Tim. As part of this we requested return of the vehicle we part exchanged. This was when the responses disappear. I’ve seen other poor reviews describe him as hiding and this is exactly how it feels. Multiple emails are sent without reply. When we pin him down by phone we find that he has sold our part exchanged vehicle and he promises to arrange the refund for the car shortly. But we hear nothing. Multiple further unanswered emails with only very occasional replies. All promising to arrange a refund by a specified future date – which then goes by without any contact or apology from Tim. In fact - he acts aggrieved at being chased for a refund legally due months ago. We find out later that he sold the part exchanged vehicle 2 weeks after we requested it back in breach of the consumer rights act – presumably to try to extract some profit from the situation. This we might have ignored if he had actually paid us our refund rather than leaving a couple with a newborn without the car or the refunded money so we could buy a new one. We instead had to dip into our savings and take on more debt which made for a stressful maternity leave for my wife and I. Tim and the company were very much aware we had a newborn so draw your own conclusions about the moral integrity of the man.
We had to take the company to court where the claim was undefended (for anyone having trouble with this company, his threats of speaking to his legal representatives are reliably false. The company agreed a settlement but only partially paid (and even then after promising several different payment dates which expired repeatedly).
To get our money back, we had to obtain a county court judgement which took 1 year and 8 months after the, to quote Mr Boler, “no quibbles” 14 day refund was due. Despite multiple proclamations that he will be talking to his lawyers, Tim did not even attend the hearing.
This is not the first review that states they had to take this company to court so please read all the negative ones and be aware. If Tim Boler or this company owes you any money please do not hesitate to take them to small claims court – we represented ourselves throughout the entire process.
We have also reported this company to Trading Standards and suggest that anyone with a similar experience does the same.

Update 1: The company flagged our review as containing 'harmful or illegal content' in an attempt to remove it but Trustpilot reviewed it and found that not to be the case. Additionally, in the 24 hours since our review was posted, they have proceeded to put up 3 positive reviews which is quite the coincidence given they have not had positive reviews in the past 6 months and all the reviewers have never reviewed anyone before so they likely set up a new account just to review the company in the 24 hours after our honest and negative review. I have alerted Trustpilot to this so they can investigate.

Update 2: The response that there is an open legal case is categorically false. We won a court county judgement against the company in 2023. I have forwarded this document to Trustpilot. It seems that a lot of people are having to take legal action against this company from previous reviews.

They advertised a Tesla which looked suitable. Having asked some questions I put down a £2000 (returnable) deposit. Then the problems began. Slow to respond. Evasive and inconsistent. Delays with no proper explanation. In the end there was no sign the transaction would go through so I asked for my deposit to be returned. And waited...and waited.. more obfuscation and delay. In the end I was forced to threaten legal action. But not until I was about to submit a Letter Before Action did my refund arrive

Please do read their other Trustpilot review - not just mine - and reach your own conclusion

Edited in respect of their disingenuous response:

1) Initially they claimed the car was pretty much an immaculate one-owner vehicle
2) At no stage did they say £100 was sufficient deposit. I paid a big deposit based on their assurances about the vehicle
3) I did NOT insist everything was replaced! That's absurd. I simply listed the known common faults to look for (Not everyone is familiar with common faults on the Tesla S)
4) Then they said they'd found some damage to the seat and would repair it.

Then they variously said they would/would not get it checked by Tesla. Would send me a report/would agree a price reduction due to faults found/would return my deposit. Would trade it at an auction. In other words a catalogue of incompatible excuses
5) Finally they claim they are trading it out via BCA.. except according to my industry source it ISN'T listed on BCA
6) I gave them my bank details and they responded "I will send over deposit this afternoon" Except they did NOT do so. So I was left chasing and chasing. So eventually I threatened legal action.
7) All of a sudden they claimed to be on holiday. No access to funds etc. Who runs a business like that? When I insisted no more excuses they finally refunded my deposit

So make what you want of this litany and more importantly read their other reviews

Bought a golf from these.

What a mistake, the car is dangerous and despite several attempts they have ignored every attempt to rectify the situation.

Bonnet doesnt open - which obviously means the pre sale checks were not actually done.

Gearbox fault, car suddenly stops working and wont go above 2nd gear.
Acceleration is severely lacking to the point right turns are dangerous.

Screw in a tyre - cheers

Apparently a full service history - no service book.

Absolutely zero customer service.

Reading other reviews, it seems to be a theme.

I have had to resort to going through the finance company to sort it out.

Avoid this dealer at all costs

They had this deleted once

I purchased a car from Tim at the Car Barns in March 2024. It is now June 2024 and I still have had no documentation of the 6 month warranty or breakdown cover the car came with. Despite emails, texts and calls chasing this. Today, the car has a flat tyre, upon trying to put the spare tyre on it became apparent the locking wheel nut key was not supplied with the vehicle. When collecting the car we asked twice ‘where is the locking wheel nut key?’ only to be told by Tim the car did not have locking wheel nuts so there was no key. Clearly it should have come with the key. Upon calling Tim today, stuck at the roadside with a flat tyre and no key for the locking wheel nuts, he LIES on the phone and denies telling us the car didn’t have locking wheel nuts. He told us he gave us the key and ‘why are you pushing this back on me?’. An absolute joke. He sold a car without a key component and now I am stuck with a car with a flat tyre that I cannot change and he is now calling me back! Absolute joke. I would never buy from him again and urge you all to AVOID. Cannot do enough for you when you purchase but as soon as you drive off, that’s is, no customer care or service.

However good the business is, it was completely let down by one of its drivers at 2.30 today, heading west on the M3 today, towing one of its wagons emblazened with company logo.

The driving was heedless of others, seemed to forget he was towing a large trailer, dangerous and inconsiderate.
Lane discipline was appalling. I saw him cut up at least two cars.

Hope the business is run better than the driving!

The company has said it has no such vehicle and denies all knowledge (unsurprisingly), and asks no questions about it.

Yet the company's logo was on the trailer that was pulled by a utility truck.

To me, it's odd that they show no curiosity about someone pretending to be them, and damaging their reputation.
Don't they care? Or they don't want to admit to it?

If the company disclaims it, then someone is masquerading as them. If it were my business, I'd want to know all about that.

I find their reply unconvincing.

Bought a Volvo S80, beautifully presented with all documentation history, keys, offered to take out for a test drive and examination. Good price for my P/X, Charlie not pushy, really accommodating and genuine.0

Had my 2014 XK serviced and the service i had was really good
The staff know what they are doing and understand cars

Bought a car apparently with FSH. Had some documentation regarding the latest service but when investigated further it did not. Had to spend £1,400 on a service a month after buying

Please do NOT buy from this company if you want good service, a reliable warranty and a stress-free life if something goes wrong with the car. They are certainly the worst car dealership i've ever dealt with. Let me explain.

I bought a Volvo S90 from them in Nov 2022 and prior to buying the car, they seemed fine. However, after a few weeks, i noticed a bolt was missing from one wheel and this is where the problems started.

I contacted Charlie who asked me to take it to my local Volvo garage. Volvo said that two other bolts were also torqued in at a slight angle making it dangerous to drive. Charlie then asked Volvo to sort it out and send them the bill. However, when it came to paying the bill, Tim Boler wrote me an email saying it was nothing to do with them. This would be the last time i ever heard from them again.

I replied saying that Volvo had identified that the problem would have existed prior to me buying the car. No reply.

I wrote again asking why this wasn't covered under their own warranty. No reply again.

I rang and emailed again asking to get this resolved as i didn't want to have to go legal. No reply again.

I emailed again to say i would go legal unless they paid me for the repair (by this time, i had had the wheel repaired at my own cost). No reply again.

I then contacted the HM Courts & Tribunals Service to launch a claim. This gave him 21 days to respond. Again no reaction except to formally request an additional 14 days to respond (which is his right but was only more delaying tactics). Long story short, he finally made me a payment after the tribunal decided in my favour.

Why was this necessary? Not a single return phone call. Not a single return email. How discourteous is that - to ignore me, expecting me to go away and disappear. Prior to selling me the car, Tim Boler personally told me that they offer the warranty themselves as a 3rd party warranty rarely pays out. I now know why they don't issue a 3rd party warranty. And to add salt to the wound, they left it until the very last day to pay me as ordered by the courts - why???

I have nothing good to say about these guys and you buy from them at your peril. Good luck to you if you decide to ignore this advice.

Recently traded in a Range Rover valor for BMW 330, diesel estate, before Charlie was bringing the car to me, he said they had an alloy wheel to fix.
After a few days of owning the vehicle, I decided to wash it and the black alloy wheel had been just covered up rather than fixed and there was a bulge in the tire. Hence I need a new one.
Their response was the car left the workshop with the complete inspection and it’s not covered under warranty. Absolute joke not impressed.

I do not recommend buying any car from this company because of their lack of customer support, arrogant attitude and poor response. You simply cannot trust them. Let me explain.
I traded in an immaculate Jaguar XK for a BMW 5 Series M Sport because I needed a more practical car with space to carry two dogs.
On picking up the car I noticed a cracked headlamp and Charlie agreed to source a replacement but this didn't happen and within a week both front lamps had failed due to water ingress rendering the car unusable. This was immediately fed back to The Car Barns who did agree to effect repairs but not for a further two weeks. I asked for a loan car in the interim but this request was conveniently ignored, although they did subsequently agree to a loan car when the BMW was actually sent away for the headlamp repairs.
I also discovered that the warranty supplied with the car was worthless as it it did not cover the age of the car.
At this point, as a result of the very poor response from The Car Barns and having now been without a useable car for 4 weeks. I decided to return the car as covered by the Consumer Rights Legislation in that the vehicle must be "fit for purpose" and "as described". This vehicle clearly didn't comply with either of those requirements.
I called Tim beforehand to advise him of this but he cut the call short before I could tell him saying he would call me back. Unsurprisingly he didn't. I then took the car back the next day but was turned away saying I had given him no notice although he did reluctantly agree to reverse the deal. I eventually went back the next day again and we reversed the deal as agreed giving me back the Jaguar which thankfully hadn't been sold on.

Professional and friendly handover.
Fantastic knowledge of the process.
No pushing of after sales and finance etc. that you tend to get from manufacturer dealerships.
Cars sourced are to a very high standard.
Would highly recommend. 👍

Second car I have purchased from these guys and once again the vehicle was in outstanding condition, Charlie made the process simple and straight forward thanks guys love the car! Would highly recommend

Excellent service. Very responsive, friendly not pushy sales. Resolved minor issue with headlight bulb right away. Car as described in immaculate condition. Would definitely recommend.

Excellent service, love the car.

Thank you

A very smooth, satisfying experience!👍

Charlie and Tim valued our time and gave us all the required attention and information to purchase a GLC. They also offered a reasonable price for our part exchange car.

In the future, if I find another suitable car in their forecourt when I am ready to change my second car, I would certainly approach them again

Thank you guys. Fingers crossed, we'll have a good time with the GLC for many years