Halfords Autocentre Colchester

Theiving cowboys! Car went in for a MOT and service, came out with a leak from coolant tank which wasnt there the week before, 1800 later (the bill was changed 3 times) i took the car home only to find the electrics were then shot to peices, i went to another garage for a 2nd opinion, the electrics have been tampered with! Said garage asked what the original issue was, upon checking the leak is still there, another 700 later its sorted. Today im hearing the same thing has happened to my neighbours car! These mecahnics hide behind the nation wide brand Halfords, people trust the brand, trust me and do not use them, a MOT will open a huge can of very expensive worms!!! After reading other reviews it seems Halfords is getting quite a name for itself!!
Apr 18th, 2023

Services: Electrical, General repairs & maintenance
Apr 14th, 2023

good service
Apr 2nd, 2023

If I could give Halfords less than one star, I would! We decided to go with them for my annual MOT, as they are a large company which made me think they would be more reliable and trustworthy (I could not have been more wrong). I purchased an older car (2007 model) with no MOT issues in the last three years and a few minor advisories further back in the MOT history. Although we had expected some minor issues due to the car's age, frankly we were in shock when they provided us with an extensive list of issues with the car that had prevented them from passing the MOT. To be honest, it wasn't even the fact that we failed that was the primary issue, it was what came next that put such a bad taste in our mouths. Throughout the overwhelming list of advisories and 'major issues' they put under our noses, they not only tried to add various advisories to the worksheet, but they also added 'suggested work' items that would have no impact on our retest (such as wheel alignments) and quoted excessively for everything (123 to change one tyre, whereas you can change it for much less (40) just around the corner). As we felt we had no choice, we took the vehicle to a local auto repair workshop to have some welding done (Halford's were unable to do this), and, we booked it in to have the other 'major advisory' mended/ a retest the following week (not knowing they were such scammers and that we could have had that item replaced elsewhere for much less). While completing the repair on the day of the retest, they broke a bolt and called us to tell us that we would need to collect the car the following day; during the call, they also indicated that, as one tyre was close to the legal limit, we should consider having it replaced as they "would hate to have us fail the retest because of it". I told them we would think about it and call them back as we had found a place that does them cheaper, and given it was just an advisory, we wanted to book the tire after the car passes the MOT, to which they said that they could then do it for 80 (40 below the originally quoted 120). This is where it gets strange because while I was discussing what to do with my partner, I looked up the UK government website and saw that it clearly states that 'during a retest, only the major issues that caused the MOT to fail should be re-examined', therefore, they could not fail me based on the tyre advisory, that was just a lie. I promptly called them to tell them we would not be getting the tyre done with them as they couldn't fail us as indicated, to which they admitted that this was true. On the phone, it seemed as though the person I was speaking to had felt they had been 'caught out' which may explain why early the next morning we were called and informed that the welding on the car (one of the 'major issues' we needed to fix) had been done incorrectly and needed to be redone. We brought the car back to the welder, who was shocked. They pointed out that the welding was identical to the welding on the other side of the vehicle in the same spot, and that they had never had any issues with their work. We were advised by them to take our car elsewhere to have the MOT re-done and to stay away from Halfords. They believed that we had been given false information and that many advisories were just items added for them to reach their monthly quota. Having had enough of Halfords, we decided to heed the auto-repair shop's advice and took our car to a local, reputable shop (HiQ Colchester). We were in and out in 1 hour with a passed MOT, far fewer advisories, and a quote for a new tyre for 59! (Just a quick note, we were also within 10 days of the first test and could get a free partial MOT check with them, but given that the situation got so out of hand and predatory, we were incredibly uncomfortable to go back and were happy to pay HiQ for their service.) Unfortunately, I feel that we were taken advantage of, as my partner dropped the car off each time on her way to work, and they thought that they could rip her off as she is both a female and a foreigner. Service: General repairs & maintenance
Mar 30th, 2023

Great staff Free coffee oh and they fix cars if that's what your after.
Mar 16th, 2023