Penton Motor Group Reviews 771

I purchased an EV from Penton in November 2023. While I absolutely loved the car itself, my experience with the dealership has been appalling. I was completely misinformed and mis-sold about the real-world range; specifically, I was never told how significantly motorway driving drains the battery compared to city driving. As a new EV owner, you rely on the "experts" to explain these nuances, but I was left to find out the hard way that the promised figures didn't translate to my actual usage.

Beyond the car itself, I was mis-sold a 3-year Penton service plan (3 MOTs and 3 services, price £599 at the time). When I brought it in for its first service & MOT , I was told the car only needs a service every 2 years - meaning they sold me a plan I literally I did not need.

The aftercare is the worst I’ve experienced. I drove out of my first service with a tire sensor warning, only to be told I’d need to pay £200 for a diagnostic check. It turns out they simply hadn't inflated the tires correctly during the service. To be asked for £200 to fix their own oversight is daylight robbery.

I haven’t even tried to contact them directly about the service plan because whenever I’ve tried to challenge them in the past, like I did with the tires, I’ve been met with nothing but attitude.

My advice: The car was great, but do your own detailed research before buying. Don't rely on what the sales team tells you about range, and challenge every "additional cost" they try to slide past you. Avoid this garage if you value honesty and respect.

Scott at Penton in Christchurch was very helpful throughout the whole process of purchasing a new MG4. He was very professional and not too pushy. Also the manager Joe Hughes was very supportive while Scott was on vacation. One of the smoother handovers I’ve had, everything was prepared in advance and ready for when I collected the new car and they even remembered the mats without having to be reminded. Very pleased. Thank you.

I needed a bigger car for my wheelchair Penton was doing a very good deal Scott was so kind helping out with the problems I had and sorted them and when I ordered the car he has been there wi th any questions I had by email. Picked the car up and everything went so smoothly put us at ease.

Jack was a extremely helpful and nothing was too much trouble, always happy to answer questions and with honesty.

Excellent service again from Jack, this is the 3rd car I have been sold by him now. Nick was also very helpful. Top team keep up the good work guys.

A great place to purchase a car. Everything explained in great detail. Switching from a petrol car to an automatic EV is quite a leap. Still learning many things you can do, but hey I can drive it. Sam Lever is an excellent car salesman.

We purchased our MG through penton and the after sales was non existence and will not buy anything from this company.
I wasn't explained how anything worked or offered any information about the service plans.
We have now brought our other car from another Citroën garage and the service Plan through another MG dealer

Excellent service. Thank you.

Very good service. Knowledgeable agent who helped me through the process of purchasing the car.

Sam was a lovely guy to deal with, very friendly and personable. Explained everything well, sourced guidance when needed (he is still learning the trade) but wasn't pushy either. Ben, Sam's manager was equally as nice. Definitely recommend dealing with these chaps. BTW, the car is amazing too 😁

Great experience buying our first EV the S5 at Penton.
Lovely people, knowlegable and very professional. Thanks you!

We dealt with Sam Lever at Pentons. He was excellent very helpful and polite. A long time since we bought a new car and Sam helped us tremendously along the way with the technology, paperwork and delivery. He was brilliant

This is my second car from penguins at Christchurch,both times dealt with scott,very happy with his approach and knowledge.happy to recommend Scott and pentons in general.Will go there again when I need to

Recently bought a car with my daughter and met Matt Notley sales executive. He was very knowledgeable professional and friendly. We did not feel pressured or rushed at all went for a test drive for as long as we wanted. All my questions answered I would buy from there again in the future all a very positive experience with plenty of hot chocolate to help :)

He was very knowledgeable and adept at knowing our requirements and answering our questions .Sam made the experience very easy and pleasant thank you for an enjoyable and satisfactory result.

Scott Player was really friendly to deal with and took his time to let me look around the vehicle and answer questions I had. Post-sale Scott was very accommodating and went out of his way to help fix some issues with the vehicle following collection.

I purchased a used car from Penton Christchurch and unfortunately it was during the really wet weather so there was no opportunity for me to view the car dry or in sunlight.
Because of this I asked if there was any damage to the bodywork I should be aware of as it was a 9 year old car.
Salesman assured me just the odd age related stone chip.
When I was able to eventually see the car dry a few days later it was apparent immediately that it had been poorly resprayed on the front wing and also part of the passenger door.
I immediately took it back to Penton to point this out and was told I could have my money back or change to a different car but they weren’t prepared to rectify.
I looked into my rights over the weekend and was advised to contact the garage in writing quoting the consumer rights act 2015 that I should be able to have the damage rectified or a refund and that my choice was for it to be rectified as it was really inconvenient to be without a car as we had tied the purchase in with the sale of our old car and were caring for elderly relatives.
Penton replied and said the car had been ‘aggressively’ priced so they were only prepared to refund. I got a quote for the respray and sent it to them but again was told refund only and the choice to refund or rectify was theirs not mine.
I felt very under valued as a customer and not once did they admit to selling me a car that was obviously not up to the standard of a mainstream dealer. I did copy the MD/Owner Robert Wilson into my emails but received no reply from him which I suppose gives an indication of how little they value the customer.
I looked into my legal rights and consulted a professional but just wanted this bad experience over asap and don’t need the hassle of a legal battle which I am sure they rely on being the case with most people when they keep offering to refund. I have returned the car and received my full refund which was all carried out in a timely manner but I was very inconvenienced as I lost money on car tax and changing my insurance and obviously had the added inconvenience of sourcing another vehicle. I will never purchase from Penton’s again and they have been very shortsighted as bad service stories spread very quickly locally and have a snowball effect amongst friend/family/colleagues. It surely would have been better to put the customer first and just apologise for their non disclosure of a defect at point of sale and offer to rectify the issue. For a large garage this would have been a small amount spent on the respray weighed up against the no doubt loss of future business from those who will hear my story and read my review. The car went up for sale the day I took it back for an increased price of approx 20% which is very odd as used car prices tend to go down not up (especially by such a significant sum) and they obviously hadn’t had time to respray the panels!!
I am sure that if they do bother to respond to this review they will just say I was given my refund but that really wasn’t the point as they have mis sold the car and not apologised or put me as the customer first. It seems quite sad really that we are able to be treated this way even though we have legal rights they are very time consuming to enforce and therefore the big guys generally end up winning as we don’t need the hassle and they clearly know this is the case.

Great customer service from Sam Lever at Penton Salisbury, I bought another Citroen C3. Very pleased with Sam's guidance through the process of buying another car and very pleased with the new car. S. Ede

This was a great experience buying a second-hand car. I would say the particular car - MG4 Trophy - sold itself but actually it was certainly helped by Scott who was attentive without being overly so and whose restrained selling style was appreciated. He was helpful with all my questions, being a newbie to total electric cars as opposed to hybrid. We talked through the options and he was very helpful with the additions too. He allowed me the courtesy of not assuming anything or telling me but responded to my questions which is greatly preferable! Thanks Stuart - and I will be back to Pentons in Christchurch.

Purchased our first EV (MG 4) from Pentons Salisbury. We are delighted with the car & the EV experience. Abi has been most helpful & patient throughout. Good deal on a pre reg. car The transaction went smoothly with good handover. Post delivery queries e.g first home charging, were dealt with by Abi promptly.