Halfords Autocentres Reviews 

1 star it's my rating about car service. Its says it all no more words needed.

Dreadful, shocking, unprofessional and incompetent.. (Halfords Autocentre Darlington - 1-5 Woodland Rd, Darlington DL3 7BJ)

If you don't want to read further, BEWARE of this garage if you:
1. Value your time and transparency on a job you're paying for.
2. Don't want your car DAMAGED more than when you brought it in.

I've now officially wasted the good portion of a week just trying to replace 2 tires on my car with absolutely nothing to show for in the end other than anger, frustration, a damaged car on my end and ZERO accountability from this garage.

Day 1 (28/07/2026), took the car in (with a prebooked slot) to get the tires looked at as I had lower tire pressures than expected.. Took over 2 hours to get a call back for the inspection.. Diagnosis was nail on the tire, with the corrective action to replace them.. Fair enough, my tires are run-flats and the nail was on the outer edge of the thread quadrant.. The garage did not show me this, I later verified it on my own.. I agreed to get the tires (axle-set) ordered, which by the way were super expensive at >£274 per tire (even though they had a discount put on)..

Day 2 (29/07/2026), I can only assume the tires were in "transit" at this point as I have had no update on tracking or from the website as to the status of the parts/repair.. Waiting..

I also now think back to the remarks that the associate booking me in made alluding to "your tires are going to take a long time, they're hard to fit because they are big run-flats".. OK, at this point, I already had a bad feeling! If you are not capable of handing a job, please just deny it then and there!!

Day 3 (30/07/2026), I get an unexpected call at 3:36 PM saying that I tires are in and I have an appointment today.. Mind you I had already gone out and made plans as there was no formal agreement that I'd have an appointment by the garage to get my tires fitted on this day.. The associate said "Oh, it is too late now to bring it in..", not surprising! I rejected anyway and said tomorrow works better anyway! (still no appointment tracking or confirmation at this point other than word of mouth!)

Day 4 (31/07/2026), I take my car per the "word of mouth" slot. Car is in at 9:45 AM, I then get a call for "bad news" at 11:25 AM.. They are unable to fit the tires without "damaging the wheels", come get your car back and take it to another garage...

At this point I am pissed as I've been strung along for days expecting that they'd be able to at least complete the job and I can move on with my life. They could not even do that, as a matter of fact. They wasted my time, and DAMAGED my wheel in their struggle! I brought this up to them while I was there and got the side eye and the "oh, I don't know if that was there before" dismissal. I asked for a receipt to trace my service and sat stood there in awkward silence for a good 10-15 minutes before just leaving!

This is completely UNACCEPTABLE for ANY business. Needless to say, I will never return to a Halfords garage.. As I said before, if you are DOUBTING getting a job done properly before the part is ever in BE HONEST AND TELL THE CUSTOMER TO GO ELSEWHERE TO A GARAGE THAT IS ACTUALLY COMPETENT TO COME THROUGH WITH THE JOB.

Proceed with utmost caution if you do decide to bring your car in..

I’m going to get right to the point!!!!!.
I ordered a very expensive tire to be fitted the next day due to the tyre on my car having a bulge , only to be emailed by Halfords stating the oppointment date had an error on their part ?. They have received the money as it is no longer in my account and they sent confirmation of payment via email in that same email i was told to call Halfords to sort out the appointment which i did only to be told they can’t find the booking nor the payment transaction ??? .Then i was told I’ll have to wait 48hrs !!!!!! In the mean time as mention by the Halfords team they can book another tyre but i will need to pay for??? So in our words they want me to pay again ?? That would be nearly £700 for one tire ??? . This has massively is inconvenient while they fluff around trying to find the tyre i bought it means i have to still drive around with a tire that needs changing or stay put . I will not be buying from them again !!!.

Halfords fitted my Dash Cam and had to refit 3 times from being installed incorrectly. When getting a new car Halfords wanted £170 for take out (5min job) and refit in new car..........Absolutely disgraceful

Now for the bad stuff!!

I went to a local specialist (£120 for out and in), Immediately he asked who had fitted because it was extremely poor, unsafe and illegal, I asked if I could film it and he was ok as I am contacting trading standards with the footage.

Camera was wired into wrong electrical feed,
Cable ran across both airbags meaning if the air bags were deployed the cable would have whipped your face causing significant injury, Cable was not installed in the dedicated conduits in boot and just tucked into the carpet trip, Spare cable was coiled and rammed into a small space causing damage to trims.

I can go on and it was all filmed with commentary from the very professional installer.

STEER CLEAR OF HALFORDS

To whom it may concern at Halfords, Newport Road, Cardiff.
A ridiculous experience at this store on 30 July at 7pm.
What should have been a simple visit turned into a farce.
I visited to purchase a bicycle inner tube and tyre Arron was busy dealing with a complicated issue with another customer but stopped to help me.
He then asked me to pay downstairs.
At the till, I saw two colleagues walking away. I said hello to them to get their attention and Alison turned and shouted at me, but i couldn't make out what she was saying. The pair proceeded to the back of the store giggling away and doing nothing of note.
Alison then came back. Arron told her from upstairs to 'get on the till' and when she started to serve me I said 'you don't leave a customer waiting'.
She told me: 'I have work to do' to which i replied that i was only sorry to be a customer who pays he wages.
She then asked me to wait again as she walked again to the back of the store.
Finally, on her return she was wearing a small camera.
I asked to pay as i was saddened to be treated so disrespectfully.
When i'd paid i said that i hoped her camera had captured my best side and said that i hoped she had lovely evening.
What is the world coming to - to make a simple purchase.
I'm a tolerant, measured person but i was saddened to be treated in this way.

I had a problem with my 2007 MX-5 rear/brake light.
got as far as removing the bulb holder but the bulb itself had fallen off and was inside the light cluster housing.
Couldn't get it out so went to Halfords Autocentre, Eastern Avenue, Gloucester, where I spoke to Danny. He sourced the correct bulb, fitted it and checked it worked.
All looking great but the old bulb was still in the housing. Danny returned with a flexible thing with a magnet on the end. He managed to connect with the metal connectors and fish out the old bulb.
He was brilliant, helpful, courteous and obviously nothing was to much trouble for him.
We done Danny, and thank you for helping me out in such an efficient manner.

Halford's Bridgend Autocenter employee "Kyron" deserves a special mention - he has not only shown himself to be extreemly helpful, he proved to be knowledgible and efficient. Needed his help with affixing a wheelarch trim on a Nissan Quashqai, he was tremendous! Please give him my thanks

Booked an Mot at Orpington centre, took the car in, later received a message saying tyre was down to the cord and cv gaiter (severely deteriorated)no mention of which if any were failures,but a price of £254.for replacing the cv gaiter I knew the tyre was a failure and told them to go ahead with that at £131.00 and leave the cv gaiter I had had one changed at the end of March and just wanted to check the price I paid then, as it turns out they had picked the same one that I had changed in March?? So I returned to the garage that had fitted the cv and he said that the fastening clip had come loose and that was all and he called out Halfords for claiming that a new cv gaiter that had come undone was (severely deteriorated) and wanted to charge for a new one.And in the end Halfords said the cv gaiter was an advisory anyway, now I wonder about the tyre being necessary to be replaced NOT VERY GOOD FROM HALFORDS ORPINGTON.

Had rear shocker replaced in Jan. same shocker failed Mot because it’s leaking oil. Now trying to claim on 2 year guarantee, had to go to different centre further away , have spoken to help line 3 times, who were much help and now waiting for approval from Area manager to fit replacement, suggest you go anywhere but Halfords for car repairs

Wouldn't touch Halford’s again with a barge pole. Offer guarantees for screen chip repair and then just walk away. Shameful!

Technically fine, but bad customer service. They charge you extra for certain times lots and then you wait for 2 hours for them to change a couple of tyres.

We had 4 matching tyres with one puncture, so decided to swap out the back two for new tyres and asked them to move the good back tyre to the front as the tread depth matched better than what was currently there. They fobbed my wife off with some story about how it will upset the sensors, which is nonsense on our vehicle. I assume they were following a script designed to avoid providing that service, wasting our decent tyre instead.

What an absolute joke. I am in Preston and need a tire replacing preferably this evening. Halford said they are open till 8 pm. Ring Halfords and they tell you how wonderful they are and that they have retail sales garages and mobile. First time chose mobile and it didn’t get through to anybody other than the same choice as previously. Second time tried garages and it said that they were all closed and put the phone down. It is a myth. You could spend a good couple of hours going round in circles on the phone with all the shit that is called customer service.

You can have the best technicians but in reality it’s all about the person behind the desk when you arrive.
If they are professional, friendly, helpful and entirely customer focussed then all is good
Russ at Halfords Bridgnorth is all these and more, going out of his way to get your problem sorted. Treats women with the same respect which means a lot too.
Sorted us today in his usual helpful manner - just first class, faultless service.
Halfords - you’d be lost without him.

Having booked an appointment 5 days ahead, receiving a text confirming by booking AND checking it was all ok online before I left, I arrived to be told that they couldn't do the job as "...all of the technicians were on holiday. " The explanation given (wholly unsatisfactory) is that bookings are made centrally and not by the branch. Obviously they don't communicate with each other. V disappointing. Rubbish booking process.

Aylesbury store. Served by Patrick. Needed 2 new number plates and fitting. Done super quick and super polite. Will return. Thanks Patrick

Efficient and friendly staff. Fair price. Would recommend.

The entire experience was a nightmare! I came to Hallfords Wigan for a MOT my car had initially failed and so I went and repaired all the work needed. When I came back for the retest I over heard the mechanic doing the test say to the person on reception and I quote “I will fail it just be a prick” when I asked about why they would say this it was brushed off and made to make me feel as if I was in the wrong. I then was told that my car had failed on parts that was fitted band new. The parts I failed on had also only been checked after the comment and my conversation with them happend. While I was still waiting for the test results I called Hallfords customer support and when I was on the phone I explained how the way I was treated and the comments made was unacceptable and that I had booked in for an MOT which was not conducted correctly and in which I was always going to fail. I was then told a ticket was raised in which I got confirmation over email and was told to wait up to 7 days this was over 7 days ago now and I have still had no response in the end I had to take it to another garage which it passed without me having to change anything on the car. And I still had to pay for an MOT I never had any chance of passing. I would never recommend coming here the customer service was the worst I’ve ever seen!

The manager, Ian English, booked my car in at short notice and immediately detected and rectified my problem.

Unprofessional and rude
Not worth having your MOT done at the Newton Abbot garage. Hand break failed the MOT which is fine but they send me to away to get it fixed since they could not do it so went to my local garage and they done the repair work for £45 - 1/2 hrs wait. So a waist of time - dropped of my car to reinspect which was fine and returned to collect my car. No one in the office but my key was on the desk in front of me so I picked it up but waited until someone arrived to show them that I got the key. The young guy said mate don't pick up the key very rudley ?? so I said why do you leave the key on the desk for anyone to take it? They also make you feel like you should be grateful the work they done not realising I am a paying customer???

I booked my Tesla in for an MOT through Halfords, with the test being carried out by the National Tyres branch in Truro.

When I first attended two weeks ago, I explained that the passenger door had developed a fault and that Tesla had already arranged for a mobile engineer to repair it. I was told the MOT couldn't go ahead because access to the cabin via all doors was required. While this was disappointing, I accepted the explanation and the appointment was rearranged for two weeks later.

Tesla repaired the door as planned, and I returned today expecting the MOT to be completed. I left the car with the garage, only to receive a phone call around 40 minutes later saying they couldn't carry out the test because my car was too wide for their lift and they couldn't test it safely.

They said they would try to find another garage within the group that could fit me in, but they were unable to do so. What was most frustrating was how casually this was handled. I was told they are a relatively new MOT centre and hadn't tested an electric car before.

The obvious question is: why wasn't this identified at my first appointment two weeks earlier? They already knew the make and model of the vehicle. Had they told me then that they didn't have suitable equipment or experience, I could have booked the car into another MOT centre and would likely have had a valid MOT by now.

Instead, I've lost another two weeks and have been unable to use my car because the MOT has expired. This situation was entirely avoidable.

The staff were polite throughout, and I appreciate that they attempted to find another appointment. However, the lack of planning, the failure to identify that the vehicle couldn't be tested before asking me to return, and the inconvenience caused have left me extremely disappointed.

My feedback to Halfords and National Tyres is simple: if a branch doesn't have the equipment or capability to test certain vehicles, that should be identified when the booking is made or, at the very latest, at the customer's first visit—not after they've waited another two weeks.