SMC Motor Group Avis 

Took my Seat to SMC Woking for an MOT and it took nearly 2.5 hours to complete, once it was finished I had to wait 30 minutes to be told it needed a tyre, which was over £100 more than competitors and then had to wait a further hour for the tyre change. Service was not brilliant and felt like it was an inconvenience to them. Overall not good and

will not take my car back.

Truly the worst company I have ever had the misfortune of dealing with.
SMC Aldershot.
No customer service exists with this god awful organisation and as for customer care ,I am not even sure they could even spell it.
I collected my Renault Arkana today after it broke down on 27th April 2026...I will do a separate review about the Incompetence of Renault UK in this fiasco.
The car was returned filthy with cobwebs all over it as well as completely covered in sap....and met by the rudest person SMC could find.
This company needs to avoided at all costs.
If there was an opportunity to give no stars or minus.. they would be minus 50
Please dont buy from this organisation.
The arrogance of both Renault and SMC is breathtakingly unbelievable.
Liam O'Neill

This relates to SMC Aldershot, however I also emailed their head office for assistance.

If I could give less than 1 star I would.

My experience with Dacia SMC Aldershot was extremely disappointing and resulted in six months of unnecessary stress.

I purchased a vehicle based on representations that were made to me during the sales process. After taking ownership, it became clear that the vehicle was not as I believed it had been described. When I raised my concerns with the dealership, I was initially advised that I could return the vehicle. However, when I later attempted to do so, I was informed that this was not possible and was directed instead to the finance company.

What followed was a lengthy dispute that took over six months to resolve. During that time, I had to repeatedly pursue the matter through formal complaints processes. The dealership disputed my account of what had been said during the sale, despite the salesperson involved no longer being employed there.

Ultimately, the matter was considered by the Finance Ombudsman process who upheld my complaint. The vehicle was returned and I received a full refund. This outcome speaks for itself.

My main disappointment was not simply the original issue, but how it was handled afterwards. Had my concerns been dealt with fairly and transparently from the outset, a great deal of time, stress and effort could have been avoided.

I appreciate that mistakes can happen in any business, but customers should be able to trust what they are told during the sales process and expect concerns to be addressed promptly when things go wrong.

Based on my personal experience, I would not choose to purchase another vehicle from this dealership, and would not recommend them to anyone else. Thee dealership were given numerous opportunities to help resolve the issue but wouldn't, I also found the man who said he was the sales manager to be extremely rude, patronizing and unhelpful. I can only assume from the response that they cannot identify my case they must have many complaints of this nature.

Dealt with Collins Okoli and was really impressed with his experience and really assured me with the financial side of it. He made it quick and simple and answered all my questions so very professional. I have been with Renault for while now and the whole team are very professional and especially the service team who i have dealt with the most and Sam White who helped out with the new car too.

Highly recommend this business.

I recently both sold a car to and purchased a car from this company, and unfortunately the overall experience was very disappointing.

John, the salesman, was friendly and pleasant to deal with throughout. However, there were multiple issues that made the process frustrating and, at times, misleading.

On at least two occasions, I arranged to view specific cars, only to arrive and be told they were unavailable. Instead, I was shown completely different vehicles. This also happened with the car I intended to purchase. I had paid a deposit and arranged for it to be brought from storage so I could test drive it, yet when I arrived, a different “similar” car was presented instead.

I later discovered that the car I had placed a deposit on was not available because it was being used by someone driving it elsewhere in the country. This also meant the mileage was inaccurate. In addition, the mileage listed on the website was significantly lower than the actual figure, which was dismissed as a “website error.” I would strongly advise anyone considering buying from here to check the odometer themselves and not rely solely on the online listing.

There were further issues with test drives not being honoured despite prior booking, which led us to raise a complaint with management. We were offered a tank of petrol as a goodwill gesture, which felt inadequate given we were in the process of spending £17,000 on a car that was not even available as agreed. In the end, we only proceeded because we were able to negotiate a discount.

Finally, after part-exchanging my previous car, I received a parking ticket for it. I had been told the dealership would handle the tax and SORN, but this had not been done. I would strongly recommend ensuring you SORN your vehicle yourself before handing it over.

In summary, while John was polite and personable, the overall experience was poorly managed and frustrating. I would not recommend this dealership based on my experience.

Unfortunately a very unsatisfactory experience dealing with Chris regarding the purchase of a second hand vehicle from Southern Motor Contracts Limited. After our initial conversation he offered the car for £46k but he then came back after speaking to his “Director” and increased the price to £47k once we were interested. He also said he wouldn’t sell the vehicle without notifying us but we found out that another customer was booked in to look at the car today and was sold to them so we were clearly being kept in the background. Be careful!

I do not even know where to begin, less than six months after buying my car, and with only 2,000 miles driven, multiple warning lights suddenly appeared while I was driving on the motorway. The dashboard lit up with alerts, which was extremely concerning and forced me to pull into a service station. Renault Assist was unreachable, and it took a long time to speak to anyone.

When I finally brought the car in, they carried out only a quick check and said they could not fit the car in for a full diagnostic for another week. Despite not knowing what caused the warning lights, I was told the car is “safe to drive,” which does not feel reassuring especially when they have said it could be one of 30-40 things or maybe nothing at all! I do not feel safe driving this vehicle at all!

Customer service was equally unhelpful and refused to provide a replacement vehicle until the car is officially booked in. As a loyal Renault customer since I was 18, I find this level of service extremely disappointing and I am left feeling angry, upset and concerned!

A very frustrating and worrying ongoing experience

Bought brand new Renault Megane ETech and found a dent on the passenger door 2 days later confirmed as press imperfection, had absolutely no help or resolution from customer service or dealer, been told it’s within manufacturer’s tolerance, although no wording for this is available and my car is devalued as a result.
Feel like I’ve been made to feel like I’m the one in the wrong.

I was browsing cars with a view to part exchange. Shah greeted us straight away and was very helpful without being “pushy”. He showed us several cars and allowed us a test drive. After long visit I eventually bought a B Max which is super. I love it. The whole experience was just great thanks to Shah - great Sales Executive. Thank you

My partner purchased many cars from Geoff. Went there just before Christmas. Didn't recognise one person. Was told by a member of staff Peter steve and james service manager gone,new company taken over. Didn't feel welcomed the same. What was a once a nice place to buy a new car now gone the new owners I'm told from Hastings have virtually destroyed what were nice people to do business with before.

In my opinion - worst garage ever. I took my car in for a standard service and then was told that sump plug would now not lock in place after service. I was quoted almost £600 to replace a plastic sump. I called them the next day as I saw I could get a non OEM part for £26 delivered but they said I would still have to pay for the part at £300 which did not even include a gasket and they hadn't even started any work. I then had the work done by an independent garage the next day which included a gasket and it only cost £160 plus the SMC part cost at £300. I will never be taking my car to an SMC garage again.

Update:
I have just seen SMC's response to this review - we will never be back to you as a company after too many issues at Aldershot and Woking so please donate free MOT and 10% off works to charity.

The only reason I brought a car from SMC Woking last year is because they were family owned business and offered nice services such as - a free pick up and drop off, free car wash after service, free courtesy car for warranty repairs.

SLM brought the company recently and took all of that away. Turned a premium brand like CUPRA into one of their other cheap brand, with cheap service levels and started charging for everything.

Every service centre I've used previously including Citygate offered a free wash and vacuum. SMC charged me £16 for it last time.

Tried to complain multiple times and got a lecture on how they did it to save money.

Why would I ever buy a car from SMC again? New owners brought a family owned business and ruined it. Nice work!

SMC Aldershot are a joke. The incompetence and complete lack of any consideration for a customer is apparent. I booked my car in for a simple camera replacement on my Renault Austral and arrived first at 08:00. At 15:00 I got a call saying they could not do the work as they were 'shirt staffed'. Almost like I did not matter and why at 15:00 did they relalise this ? they would have known but instead wasted my time, money and leaving my car with them for a day.
If anyone gets to read these sometimes useful reviews, learn one thing, dont ever buy a car from SMC. They do not care about you.

Brought a brand new Zoe from them in 2022 - nov 25 needs a new engine - hapless gary from this branch has no CLUE about Renault warranties or the consumer right act “ I’ve been selling cars for 30 years “ , “ the Zoe motor needs an oil topup every year “ (it’s a sealed for life unit)
Luckily my local Renault dealership in Dartford knew the score - new warranty replacement of the motor in 3 days time
GO ELSEWHERE

My wife and Purchased 2 new Renaults 2/3 years ago .I took mine back for its annual service yesterday. They NEVER answer the phone the car was NOT valeted as promised it came back in a worse state than when I took it, carpets covered in dirt.
I think Renault need to seriously look at the service being provided by this garage, all the good reviews here are about sales. I f you are thinking about buying, consider where you will go to get it serviced.
I will never spend any more money with this garage.

Went to SMC Renault Aldershot today, Tried to get a good deal like most people but all they seemed interested in was to tuck me up with all these insurance products. A whole list of them! Turned me off from buying the car from them in the end.Just too pushy for my liking.

My sons took his five year old Dacia Duster in for service & MOT. They renewed his front discs and brake pads (43k miles) which is considered a normal fair, wear & tear (£393.56) bearing in mind the mileage. Service (£379.17). They put it in for MOT and failed it for a loose seat, I reiterate; the car is just five years old and apparently this is a common fault on this vehicle. Add the VAT £154.55 makes it a total of £927.28 and now they also want to charge him £727 for a new seat with a 4-6 week waiting time for the replacement seat. He wanted to take his car for a professional second opinion on seat, after waiting 56 minutes for his car they told him they couldn’t get his car out as another customers car was blocking it in and the service engineer commented that he thinks the mechanic had gone off with that customers car keys in his pocket and that he’ll have to come back tomorrow. In 41 years of vehicle engineering including running one of the largest workshops in the UK I’m just flabbergasted at such service. They reluctantly gave him a curtesty car to get by but he now has to lose more work time due to administrative issues outside his control. Note, my son has never noticed any movement in his seat and he has never ever used the vertical adjuster just the forward and backward slide.

I visited this Renault dealership today with a genuine interest in purchasing the new Renault 5. I spent 15 to 20 minutes carefully looking at various models, sitting in the front and back seats, checking the boot space, and generally taking time to familiarise myself with the cars on display.

All of this was done in full view of two available salesmen at the back left of the dealership (as you walk in) who were not busy with other customers or on the phone. They were simply chatting amongst themselves and looking at their computers. At no point during my visit was I acknowledged, greeted, or offered any assistance.

Even when I approached one of them to ask where the toilets were, I was given an abrupt response, but still no offer of help or even a basic enquiry as to whether I needed any support with my visit.

This level of indifference is inexcusable in any retail environment, let alone one where customers are making such significant purchases. Based on this experience, I will not be buying a car from this dealership.

Truly disappointing service.

Bought a Dacia Bigster from SMC with the help of Neil and Conor. After several failed attempts at different dealerships Neil and Conor made the purchase fast and painless!

My wife and I have purchased a number of cars and had them serviced by SMC in Weybridge - they always offer a professional & friendly service, particularly - Tony & Chris. They are a great example as to why we have been regular customers of SMC. Keep up the good work.