Anchor Cars Anmeldelser 

I bought a vehicle and unfortunately there was a major issue, so I returned it and cancelled the deal. The salesmen were really helpful in reversing the finance deal (I'm still waiting for the finance company to complete the paperwork), however when it came to returning the £500 refundable deposit Anchor cars have been dragging their heels. It's been almost two weeks and they still haven't returned the money (They've had all the details required and requested). I have been in numerous times, but still nothing, this is awful aftercare, although the salesmen were professional, understanding and helpful with the whole situation, the finance and aftersales team have been the complete opposite.

They were the highest bidder in our Carwow auction and then imposed a lot of unreasonable extra conditions to reduce the price. We checked with carwow and all of these extra requirements breached the terms of the sale agreement so we have had to waste a week and then re-list. Avoid!!!

Interesting but disingenuous reply from the company. They never actually came to inspect the vehicle because we were not prepared to sign the Anchor pre-agreement that allowed them to deduct the cost of an MOT or replacement tyres. We checked with CarWow and there was no requirement for either 3 months remaining MOT or 6000 miles tyre wear in CarWow’s sale agreement. The 1 month remaining MOT was obvious from the service history that was on the listing, and photos of the tyres are optional on the CW website. If the car had, indeed, been inaccurately described we would have expected to have had to renegotiate a price, but we had been scrupulous to show any problems to avoid such a problem. It’s infuriating as these cowboys outbid another dealer but then tried to bring the price down by dishonest means.

In response to the second reply, the document we were required to sign explicitly stated 3 months MOT and 5mm/6 months wear, with signature giving you the right to deduct the cost of an MOT and replacement tyres if those conditions were not met. I double checked with CarWow and they agreed that those conditions were unreasonable. I communicated this to Dave Young your used car buyer and he wished me luck with relisting it. No confusion, just dishonesty.

1) The haggling over the Warranty was relentless and stressful. I didn’t need the £299 Care Plan. * ¼ tank of fuel. * Pre-delivery inspection and presentation. * AA assistance. * 3 mth warranty (return-to-base only). I would not make the 90min drive, nor would I pay to have it towed to Tadley. Furthermore, I have a concise RAC recovery plan with my insurance policy. I simply would not benefit from the ‘optional’ warranty plan.
2) Putting the ‘return-to-base’ cover to the test, I had to drive back within minutes of leaving my newly purchased car, because the rear window electric demister was not working. I parked up and approached Anthony Holt (Sales Exec) about this. He went into the workshop and after no more than 2 mins, returned to say, somewhat incredulously, that he has looked it up, and remarked that “it won't work if the boot is full”, and as I “have a lot of stuff in the boot, it can't work!” I was stunned to hear this as the function relies on the electric strips on the glass, and not any form of fan air/heat circulation.
I felt right then that I was being taken for a fool. Not only was this response insulting, but it was also grossly inaccurate and went against the warranty policy. They neglected to honour this agreement by not addressing the issue. Under the very points of the warranty, I was assured that any fault would be investigated and resolved. From this example, this was clearly not the case.
3) I had to pay £300 (incl VAT) for a spare key which was not provided.
4) I was advised by Richard Sampson (Sales Mgr), that as my car was 9 years old, the CAM belt would need replacing next year, so he would have to deduct the £1k cost from the part-exchange with my car. I then rang my garage, in Anthony's presence, and spoke to the proprietor with whom I have been a client (and friend) for 40 years. I was assured that as my car had only a 40k mileage rather that the 100k, a change may be feasible at 10 years, but at a cost of £300/£400.
5) When I referred to the much higher estimate proposed by Autotrader for my car to part-exchange, Richard Sampson challenged this in a most disparaging manner, criticising Autotrader.
6) As I was about to leave, I picked up my things and stepped away. I was astonished to find that neither Anthony or Richard stood up or offered to shake my hand to bid me thanks and goodbye. I leaned over to them to initiate a farewell handshake.
I felt I was treated appallingly, dismissively and disrespectfully.

My experience with Anchor EV (part of Anchor Cars) hardly deserves 1 star. My view is that this is home to some unethical or unprofessional people, or both. If I have to deal with them again for any reason (god forbid), I'll make sure that I'll ask that Steve, one of the sale agents in the EV side, is NOT allocated to me. Hear my story below.

I visited them on July 22 and test drove a tesla model y. Now I know some car dealers get a good potion of their profit from selling warranty and care package, but there must be a certain extent they go to to sell that to customers. Steve, strongly advised the car I test drove was not under tesla warranty. Now, given I already owned another tesla and know it well, I said "I'm fairly sure it still is". I asked him twice and each time he insisted the car's warranty has expired and made me buy the more expensive warranty package. I put down a £500 deposit and asked Steve what would happen if the sale couldn't go ahead. He said "we wouldn't take the deposit if we were unsure about it". I rephrased my question and said what if under some unforeseen circumstances it doesn't go ahead. He repeated the same response and never said it is strictly non-refundable nor he had me sign any form of agreement for the deposit. I went back home and contacted Tesla the same day, where they confirmed the car was in fact still under warranty. I phoned Steve asked for a refund and said that I don't feel comfortable dealing with Anchor EV anymore. Obviously, he refused to pay the money back and said it was non-refundable. I shared the screenshot of my communication with Tesla, and only then he agreed to proceed with the refund - it was July 23 by then. He also said that I had to come to their office for the refund to get fully processed, as their card terminal couldn't store card numbers!!!
Fast forward, 17 August, after 5 phone call attempts during that nearly 4 weeks, no refund. Each time they said Steve is one leave, or their accountant or the General Manager is on leave. This to me shows unprofessionalism even if we assume it was the true reason for the delay and was not a lie. Around 4pm on 17 August I sent them a "Letter Before Court" to set out my next course of actions. Guess what? Around 6:30 pm the same day and outside their normal hours I got a call from their General Manager saying that he is going to issue my refund. He also was kind enough to put things on me and say that he had to stay longer and deal with my refund instead of being on his way home at that time!!! During the call, the General Manager admitted that Steve got frustrated on me after I cancelled the purchase and so he didn't processed the refund and delayed it (deliberately) - that's the unethical behaviour I talked about. I received my refund on 19 August, AND GUESS WHAT, I didn't need to go in person as Steve suggested. I guess he wanted to make me pay as much as possible for cancelling the purchase and asking for refunding of the deposit I was rightfully entitled to, because of the incorrect information he provided to me in the first place (deliberately?).

UPDATE:

After the business's response, I feel obliged to provide an update, clarify few things, and further warn potential future buyers.

1) It can be seen that they are playing with words and are providing more false info. Their response to my question about if the deposit can be refunded if the purchase would not go ahead for any reason, was exactly I put between quotation mark - word by word. If the business has any evidence showing that they explicitly and clearly said the deposit was non-refundable under any circumstances and I agreed into it, I'd welcome that being shared or emailed to me. They have my contact details but the problem is there is no evidence because they never said it.

2) They said I cancelled the purchase the next morning. That's another false information. I cancelled it the very same day and I have the WhatsApp communication to prove it.

3) I am not sure why the business mentions things like "despite the agreed terms..." (which never existed) "...we ultimately returned your deposit in full". Yes, it was only after 5 calls and issue of Letter Before Court that they returned my deposit in full.

4) I am also not sure why the business said in their response things like "You also told us that you had placed a deposit with another dealership...". Yes, I paid a deposit to Car360 because I was in hunt for my next car, but their lender was asking for documents that I couldn't provide. I paid the deposit to Car360 on Aug 4th and received it back on Aug 8th - without any phone call or Letter Before Court.

5) Whilst we're at it, my poor experience with them doesn't end there. I listed my car via Carwow and they happened to be the highest bidder. Carwow reviewed my docs and said the dealer will be in touch. Yet, the last message from Anchor, "leave it with us."

Great customer service from Amy, would recommend!

Extremely disappointing experience with Anchor EV Cars, Reading.

I purchased a Tesla Model Y that was advertised as having 33,731 miles. After purchasing it (paying for it in full), I discovered from the MOT history that the vehicle had actually recorded 39,747 miles — a 6,016-mile discrepancy.

Anchor Cars subsequently acknowledged in writing that “an error has been made in advertising the vehicle.” Given the material difference in mileage, I felt the vehicle had been significantly misrepresented.

What made the experience worse was the handling of the issue. After delays and poor communication, I was offered just £350 as compensation, later increased to £400. I found this offer frankly insulting given the scale of the mileage discrepancy and the inconvenience caused.

I ultimately decided not to proceed with the vehicle and requested a full refund. Anchor Cars did agree to cancel the purchase and refund the £26,440 paid, which I appreciate, but this does not change my overall experience as I felt I was misled & customer service seemed to evade me once I had highlighted the issue.

For a vehicle of this value, I expected accurate advertising, proper checks and a much higher standard of customer service. Unfortunately, my experience with Anchor EV Cars fell well short of those expectations.

I would NOT recommend to my friends or family.

Appalling experience with this company. On collection of the vehicle I received paperwork to say that the vehicle had been fully checked over and was all ok. Less than a week later I discovered it had an oil leak. I booked it in at my local garage which was agreed with the dealership and Anchor cars were made aware of the cost and date the works were being completed due to me being a new mum I wanted to ensure no delays with payment on the day. Instead I waited hours after my vehicle had been repaired, chasing Anchor cars to make payment. I had a newborn baby with me and needed to get home to feed her. After numerous phone calls I was told Chris the manager was dealing with ‘other problems’ and was promised a call back - which I never received.
The balance was finally paid and l drove home with a very distressed and hungry baby due to it being past her feed time. Anchor cars were also due to refund me for the oil I had to purchase to ensure my car didn’t break down up until it was repaired. Again I was promised that it would be in my account by today (12/08/26) but still nothing. This company is not interested in customer service at all. Do not use this company!

We looked at anchor cars and anchor ev as they had the car we were interested in for what seemed to be a steal.
Attended to view the car on a Saturday and whilst looking around the car there were obviously dings and marks. Knowing it was a second hand car we weren't bothered by any of the little bits but the sales man just kept promising that everything would be cleaned up and repainted before we were to pick up the car (the car needed a new wing mirror so hence the paint being mixed and being told it would be repainted) they also advised that they would refurbish the damaged alloys on the vehicle. We went into the sales office to talk finances and purchasing the car. Ran through various finance options (obviously for commission purposes) but we were not interested in this and asked for best cash price without having any of the cosmetic replacements work (apart from the wing mirror). We physically could not purchase the car outright without being forced to buy an extra warranty for £350. So the listing price for the vehicle was wrong if a warranty had to be purchased for the car to be sold. We eventually settled on the price and agreed to all the promised cosmetic works for full price as it wasn't worth not getting them done if the price didn't change.

2 weeks later, after having to chase for updates, my car was finally ready. I was advised that the wrong mirror had been ordered by they would get that changed over. No big deal. They were on it. We arrived and I was excited. Couldn't see the car anywhere. We signed paperwork and then the car was brought to us. The only work that has been completed was the alloys which weren't done very well and no paint work. We had confirmed in writing what was requested and promised during the sale. Also the car had not been charged as promised. Luckily we had enough to get home but not enough for going out in it like I had planned.

It was arranged with the sales team that they would collect the car again when the correct wing mirror came in and they would do the cosmetics as well. The car was collected a week later and we expected it to be gone a couple days. It was brought back mere hours later with only the mirror changed and no paint done. The driver also kerbed the wheel when trying to park at my address. We called immediately to anchor and whilst explaining the situation the drivers drove off so they couldn't take the car back with them.

It was arranged to be recollected a couple days later and finally some of the paint work was done. I was fed up of asking for more than they could do but was promised. I was just excited to finally have my new car.

Less than 4 days later a huge high voltage fault appeared in the car and I had to take the car to a main dealer for them to investigate.

They could not determine the fault and advised me that the car was unsafe to drive until they could determine the issue and it could take months.

I was heartbroken after paying such a sum for a car I could no longer use. So we complained and that's when Adrian got involved.

Very quickly Adrian had some solutions ready to go and was more than willing to discuss the potential repair with the main dealer as well.

We decided to attend the site again to look through their stock and find another vehicle to our liking. Adrian had obviously spoken to the main dealer as well and he could understand my frustration and my sadness around the whole experience. He made himself fully available for us on a Saturday and nothing was too much of an ask. He pulled out all the cars we were interested in but also did not crowd as we were making our decision.

I did chose another vehicle and after discussions regarding my experience, Adrian arranged for a whole charge and delivery to me (by two very lovely gentlemen who I did not get the names of who were also aware of my experience) the next week as well as some extras, and as I sit in my new lovely car that feels a little bit like it was meant to be (I won't get into it), I am constantly now saying 'i love my car'. I was also very impressed with the contact he gave me after he was supposed to have finished for the day when he saw i had phoned him.

So all I can say is, a terrible experience was turned into a much much better experience thanks to care and professionalism of Adrian. Thank you very much for everything you did for us.

Well, what can I say, a wonderful experience from initial contact to driving away in my new car. Stephen was excellent & can highly recommend them. First Class.

Pre-purchase - took a few days to confirm bank transfer payment was received - having asked for it a few days ahead, left me uncomfortable I’d paid a large sum of money, and had neither a new car or acknowledgment my money was received- minor annoyance, but could be better.

Pickup - vehicle was not charged as promised - could be an honest mistake/oversight, just meant that the first thing I had to do was charge before driving home - they apologised and said they would refund the charging cost (am yet to see it) - way to dampen the excitement of collecting a new car

Pickup - they had not done the new MOT they promised as part of the sale, so it had 6 months instead of the 12 I expected - I was offered the option of coming back the next weekend, or bringing it back another day for an MOT - both far from ideal

Post-sale, having to come back for the MOT - glad I checked, despite the promise from sales, was no vehicle available to borrow for day of MOT, so had to rearrange as couldn’t wait

Post-sale - am yet to recover the charging cost on pickup day.

Edit: still chasing…

We came to Anchor Cars with intend to look around for a new car. Julian McKenna wend above and beyond to deliver best possible service. He provided us with a lot of information about the car and every add on we received. He was friendly, informative and very professional. In the end we left all happy with a new car in our name.

Fantastic experience at this dealership. A huge thank you to Amy for being pantient with me throughout and answering all questions promptly. Highly recommend

1 Star – Extremely disappointing experience

I travelled all the way to Padworth to view and test drive a Mercedes that I was genuinely interested in buying. When I arrived, the engine was already warm, so I wasn’t able to carry out a cold start. I wasn’t too concerned because I intended to have the vehicle independently inspected before completing the purchase.

The biggest issue came when I was ready to buy the car.

I was happy to pay the advertised price. I wasn’t trying to negotiate, and I had already secured a pre-approved finance agreement from one of the UK’s leading finance providers at a single-digit interest rate. I arrived fully prepared with my own spreadsheets, calculations and budget.

I was then told that if I wanted to pay outright or use my own finance, I would only be able to buy the car if I also purchased their premium warranty package, costing around £900. I was told this was company policy. I found this completely unacceptable. Whether a customer wants an extended warranty, or where they choose to buy one from, should be entirely their decision.

Because of this, I asked them to provide a finance quotation for comparison purposes only.

They then presented what looked like a discount of around £3,000 on the car, but the finance offer came back with an interest rate that was well above the single-digit rate I had already been pre-approved for, despite my excellent credit profile. As they worked through the numbers, I compared everything against the calculations I had already prepared and quickly realised that the apparent discount didn’t represent the value it first appeared to.

They receive commission when customers take finance through their panel of lenders, and based on the finance quote I was offered, I think they deliberately inflate the interest rate for commission and to make the money back from the supposed "discount"

To make matters worse, I spent around three hours at the dealership, well past closing time. At one point, the salesperson, Julian, was having a disagreement over the phone with his manager in front of me, which only added to the unprofessional atmosphere.

I eventually walked away feeling that my time had been completely wasted.

On the way home, I went onto the Mercedes-Benz main dealer website and found the same model in a higher Premium Plus specification, with lower mileage, for only £300 more than the Anchor Cars vehicle. It came with the reassurance of buying directly from Mercedes-Benz, including a manufacturer-backed warranty and a straightforward, transparent buying experience. I completed the purchase the following day without any pressure, hidden conditions or unnecessary add-ons.

Ironically, Julian called me the next day to ask whether I was still interested.

I won’t be returning to Anchor Cars. My advice is to read every part of the deal carefully, compare finance offers independently, and make sure you fully understand any conditions attached to the sale before making a decision.

Treat your customers better when things go wrong. Disgraceful

What a lovely experience buying a car from Anchor EV. We called before going in and were totally honest about just wanting to look at a few cars to see the difference sizes. Kieran was great more than happy to oblige. When we arrived we went into the showroom just to check the cars we wanted to look at... One of the cars we had originally planned to look at we changed our minds there was no pressure at all to look at it.
Another car was at the other site (not a problem) as it didn't say on the website which site it was at and Kieran had another one for us to look at which was exactly the same especially as it was just for sizing. He had also said he would phone the site and let us know we were visiting if we wished.

As it happens when then saw a different car which we felt suited our needs and we decided to buy a car there and then.
The whole experience with Kieran and Anchor EV was so relaxed and dare I say enjoyable.
They also offer a warranty which includes MOTs which can be carried out at either site...
A very positive experience at a local family garage.

Very happy with the car itself and overall pleased with the purchase. The vehicle has been great so far.

My frustration was mainly around communication rather than the car. After agreeing the purchase there was uncertainty around preparation and delivery timing and I often found myself chasing for updates. After delivery, communication around a couple of follow-up items and settlement/goodwill resolution also took more chasing than I expected.

Issues were eventually resolved and the Accounts team were helpful, but overall the process felt harder than it needed to be. Better proactive communication would have made this a much stronger experience.

Recently purchased a car and was dealt with by a lovely man called Chris, his knowledge was superb! Customer care at its highest level, even checked in with me a a couple of times after the car purchase to see how it was all going. High recommend, five star service

From the moment I walked into Anchor Cars I didn’t feel pressured in buying a car. Stephen was very professional and when I took the car for a test drive he was reassuring and calm with me as I was anxious as not having driven in the UK for 11 years. When I picked up the car there was a minor problem which was dealt with immediately. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

The sale went ahead without a problem,with John who was very helpful and professional.
Many thanks
Stephen Alexander

After purchasing a Ford galaxy titanium x from anchor cars padworth I paid an extra £400 for a car treatment protecting the cars paintwork & interior leather.When I got the car home I noticed that the car was not even washed before being treated or the leather seats cleaned.
When I requested a refund for the incorrectly applied product the refused only offering to clean the car which was too late as the paint protection product by williams was already applied ( or not ) by the state of the vehicle I would say not.
Future customers be aware of this experience and very expensive mistake.