Fastlane Autocare Avis 

I paid this “business” £250. The service was not delivered and my money was not refunded despite multiple requests. I have reported this business to Trading Standards. I have also observed this business delete and recreate its Google account multiple times, which I believe is done to remove negative reviews and hide their track record. I would not recommend them to anyone. This happened in 2021 (to this date) but I just got reminded of how disgusting they treated me through photo evidence and they shouldn’t get away with it. I’ve read MANY reviews with similar pains in the past.

I brought my car to Fastlane Autocare to have the infotainment system checked, as I was experiencing issues with it. I explained the problem to the receptionist, Ellis, who told me they would need to run a “full diagnostic” on the vehicle to identify the cause. When I asked about the cost, I was informed it would be £102 for the first hour.

At that point, I asked whether they would be able to accurately diagnose the issue—and potentially fix it—while the car was already stripped down. Ellis reassured me that they should be able to pinpoint the problem.

However, when I brought the car in, it was back out of the garage in less than half an hour. The response I received was:

“Lost communication with infotainment system. All intermittent codes. Suspect issue with the infotainment system and radio itself, as it does work but cuts in and out as and when it wants to. Advise an in-depth strip down of the radio and info system to find out exactly what's not right.”

This vague explanation told me nothing new—I already knew there was an intermittent fault. I voiced my frustration to Ellis and asked whether they had even removed the unit to inspect it, but I was told that one hour wasn’t enough time to do that.

I then asked if they would reimburse me half the charge, since they had only spent about 30 minutes on the car. Ellis refused. I asked to speak to a manager, who told me that to get a clearer idea of the issue, I’d need to book a five-hour diagnostic at a cost of £510. Only then could they tell me “for sure” what the problem was—not including the cost of any parts needed for the repair.

I explained to the manager that the total value of the car is likely no more than £1,800, and I found it unreasonable to spend that much money just to obtain a more accurate diagnosis. His response was simply that it was up to me.

After that, I contacted two other companies (Range Rover Services and Manchester Car Audio) for a second opinion. The first told me they could have stripped the unit out within an hour. The second offered a two-day diagnostic for a total of £120. Both companies advised that, given the car’s age and value, the best and most cost-effective solution would be to replace the entire infotainment unit—which would also provide an upgrade.

In light of the above, I strongly recommend avoiding Fastlane Autocare. In my experience, they were neither professional nor transparent.

very pricey

I have written about my horrendous experience with the Happy Camper Store/Fastlane Autocare in ST Helens. The experience has just become even worse. A quick recap: I paid Happy Campers/Fastlane Autocare an exorbitant £2100 to repair the leaks in my roof. They were supposed to do this in jan this year. Got the van back and found it was still totally leaky. Brought it back in August this year and they promised to do a proper job, then screwed me over with other repairs I needed done so I decided to leave, thinking at least they have repaired the leaks. But after the heavy rainfall lately I found out my van is still very leaky. I wrote to the Happy Camper Store/Fastlane Autocare and this is what, the delisted director of the nearly delisted Fastlane Autocare (check Companies House) wrote back: "As explained at the time, we also provided you with a list of advisories for additional work that would benefit your vehicle. You chose not to proceed with those items, which of course was entirely your decision. Unfortunately, the conversation became increasingly hostile despite our efforts to remain transparent." This is their scam method: they tell the customer they told them more work needs done, then they do a bad job and then refer back to the "extra" work. They are CRIMINALS and need to be arrested. Contact me on ruthhopk at gmail dot com if you want to join the class action I am preparing against them. Let's take this idiots down, they have been exploiting people for too long!!

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Mark Roberts
Local Guide·35 reviews·4 photos
AVOID THIS COWBOY OUTFIT. They tell you the price for the job then call you back and change the price from £300 to £700 so you pay that , then couple of days later I receive a call from Matt who doesn't have a clue and reads of a script and …More

Graham Basravi
Local Guide·78 reviews·86 photos
a month ago
Went to Fastlane on recommendation from a family member who raved about how brilliant the team here were, and I was not disappointed!! …More
Photo 1 in review by Graham Basravi
🙏1

Stephen English
5 reviews
a week ago
New
Unfortunately had a very bad experience with this company.
I booked in for a diesel injector diagnosis on my Vito van which I was charged £174 after vat for this appointment. The tech turned up in a tyre van and spent …More

🙏❤️3

Summer Harrison
3 reviews
2 weeks ago
New
The customer service here is impeccable. Matt, who worked on front desk, really took the time to help me, he made sure I understood everything that was going on with my car to great detail. Im only young, and know frankly nothing about …More
🤯1
Mark Roberts
Local Guide·35 reviews·4 photos
23 minutes ago
New
AVOID THIS COWBOY OUTFIT. They tell you the price for the job then call you back and change the price from £300 to £700 so you pay that , then couple of days later I receive a call from Matt who doesn't have a clue and reads of a script and tells me my car needs a nother part and it's now another £1000 so I collected the car had it put in another garage and all sorted for £55 so never did need all the £700 + £1000 work doing. Had to leave a one star just so I could leave this review but would give them a zero if possible. I am reporting them to the motor ombudsman and trading standards as I have proof the work they said my car needed it doesn't .

Do not use for diagnostic issue on a Jaguar. Told them the issue, BCM went corrupt after the battery voltage dropped. Unmovable bit they said they could fix it. After 5 hrs diagnostic testing £500, they then said to fix it would be a new BCM at £3300. Got the car back, sent the BCM of to a jaguar specialist (took me 20mins to remove) who cleared the corrupt data for £120. Got the BCM back within 2 days. Installed it back into the car and then loaded up all the modules back into the BCM, took 2hrs. Car is fine with no faults. They might be good at changing tyres and servicing cars but haven't got a clue about engine management systems and corrupted Modules and more importantly what the customer wants!

Did a pre purchase inspection with these guys. They failed to pick up on a failed waterpump, leaking rocker cover gasket, fuel pump issue and more...would completely avoid as you can probably tell from all the reviews here...

Poor experience. Initially wanted to charge me a 5 hour diagnostic (close to £500) to look at a malfunctioning boot mechanism explaining they need to check all the wiring . It was clearly a mechanical issue with the locking mechanism which was identified and sorted very quickly by another garage.

They were also looking to sort some dash warning Lights that had appeared stop they did a diagnostic and identified it as a wheel sensor issue. I had to pay for the diagnostic and New wheel sensor stop this did not resolve the issue and they told me that it was actually a wiring issue that had developed between the time of the diagnostics and change of the wheel sensor. They advised it would cost me a three hour Diagnostic. Overall, I’m very dissatisfied with The service. Would not recommend and I am taking my car elsewhere

STEER WELL CLEAR !
I paid for a campervan service, new leisure battery (100 amp) and a check on all electrics in living area.
After having the van for over eight hours, without consulting me I was told they had fitted a smaller battery(80amp) as bigger one would not fit.
When I arrived home non of the electrics were working. When I removed panel I found loose wires and taped up wires and a blown fuse. They obviously hadn't looked at it. When I took it back they said it would be £800 to correct but they would knock £100 off. Even though I had already paid near £700.
This garage is a rip off 😪

I can't believe after nearly 5 years this company is still in business let alone still ripping off innocent people who think they are getting their cars fixed
They "fixed" my car in January 2021 it broke down a week later with the same fault
They actually admitted to using a faulty part and that they would order a replacement
After nagging them sending letters and emails for 6 months they finally turned up with the wrong part was promised they would order the correct part
To cut a long story short I continued to contact them by phone and email
They have ignored me and I still have a broken down car on my drive
Mechanics and staff keep leaving as they don't want to be associated with this company

Stay clear of these rip off merchants. I had to take my car (discovery sport) to diagnose it because the boot wasn't opening properly. All I needed to know was the issue with it...they came back and told me the issue was the boot strut and that they had found other issues totalling around £5500. They wanted to charge me around £1500 just to fix the boot and wanted to charge for 4.5 hours of labour once I new the issue i could fix it myself and it took me half an hour so why they was trying to charge me for 4.5 hours is a joke. I wasn't willing to give the diagnostic to my warrenty as they are rip offs ill take it to another garage to see the issues they was trying to say. Plus they kept trying to hound me constant phone calls til I told them they're a joke and rip off conmen and that I wasn't giving their diagnostic quote to my warrenty the only place I'll be passing that onto is trading standards.

Mark , you need to own up to your mistakes before they Eat u alive.... you are the owner of a mechanical business, yet you never finished college. Stop scamming people behind the scenes. Pay your debts and move forward .....

my car has a leak in power steering pipes i took it to a garage that i have used for years they checked the vehicle and diagnosed leaky power steering pipes but they could not get the parts and my usual merc garage couldn't do it till mid July so i took it to fast lane autos st helens they said they needed to do a diagnostic check i said i know where the leak is and told them, i had to pay £102 for the dio they phoned me after 2.5 hours and said they needed to set aside 5 hours of labour time at £85 plus vat per hour to fined the leak even although i told them where the leak was the whole job would have been close to £1000 what a scam.

Stay away stay away
Only put 1 as can' put 0 .
Took my ford camper van there as heater was not working.
Told me they would have to put it onto the computer.
But my van is a old van and is unable to get a computer reading .which was 200 pound when I went to pick it up they charged me another 100 pounds saying they had looked it over and it needs 1300 ponds for welding .
Went to another garage told me they couldn't put my van on the computer to check it as it's an older van and it's unable to be done .
And did all the welding which was done really good and charged 500

MOT scam.
I took my car to fast lane in Boundary Rd yesterday for an MOT.
The guy came in told me that it had failed as it needed new front discs.
I had the car to the main dealer in February for a health check and was advised that I could do with new front pads, which they fitted at my request.
The discs were fine, getting a green symbol on the checklist.
Since then I have only put 1000 on the clock, so according to Fastlane it had gone from green to MOT failure.
As he told me the result he immediately said that they could rectify the problem, i.e. fit new discs for £600.
I then took the car to another testing station where it passed with no comment about the brakes.
This is clearly extortion and this place should not have accreditation as an MOT tester.
The only reason I gave it 1 star is that I didn’t know how to give zero.
I wonder how many other customers have been defrauded in this way.
They picked the wrong person to scam this time, watch this space.

Would give no stars! Shocking stay away wish I read the reviews. Thousands later and no vehicle. Charged for all kinds that wasn’t needed not on the vehicle. Stay away from here. Just seen a post a guy 6 days ago took him 2 years and bailiffs to get his money back

Avoid them like the plague. Taking my vehicle there was the biggest mistake of my life!

Has a new clutch and flywheel, constantly rang me up trying to get more work out of me. There had passed its MOT 2 weeks prior. A few days after collecting my car it wouldn’t start…..battery hadn’t been reconnected properly and the black cable from the battery to the starter motor wasn’t connected properly….car now in a reliable garage having the work I paid well over £2500 for now being checked!!

AVOID AVOID AVOID. DAYLIGHT ROBBERS. Got a quote for my motorbike to be collected, have a service and MOT and be delivered back. The quote I got was reasonable for what I had asked for UNFORTUNATELY it turns out the quote did not include the delivery back. When they rang to say the bike needed new Fork Seals at £552+VAT I told them to forget it and return the bike. Imagine the SHOCK when they told me it would be another £189+VAT to deliver my motorbike back. Collection, Minor Service and delivery back cost me £644.40.
I RECCOMMEND YOU STAY AWAY FROM THESE MODERN DAY ROBBERS.

‘Happy Campers’ concentrates on mobile servicing of campervans, motorhomes and the like. The operation ‘Happy Campers Store’ based in St Helens was dissolved on 28th November 2023 but they are still trading under this or a similar name and appear to be part of the ‘Fastlane Autocare Autocenters’ group which is based at the same address. It looks as though this group operates a number of motor vehicle service operations. Companies House states that the operation Fastlane Autocare Ltd has had various warning statements against it in recent years.
This review of ‘Happy Campers’ is a result of one experience with the organisation. They were commissioned in March 2025 to complete a habitation report on my motorhome. I encountered various problems and here are summaries of three of the major issues.
First, I paid in advance for the habitation report - £334.80 – and an appointment for the inspection was arranged at the place where the motorhome is stored. I arrived on time at 1030, and waited over two hours for the technician to arrive. No warning and no explanation were offered by Happy Campers and when I contacted them about the inordinate delay, they said it was due to traffic problems. I have serious doubts about this explanation given that the technician said that he had come from a previous job some 95 miles away.
Second, due to illness and the motorhome being in storage, it took me a while to check the technician’s findings, the most serious of which was a reported faulty boiler and no heating. This surprised me because the boiler was working as it should when the motorhome was stored for the winter some four months earlier. On checking, I discovered immediately that the boiler is working fine in all respects. I have no idea why but the Happy Campers technician was completely wrong. There were other shortcomings in the report but this was the most serious alleged problem – a problem which could be very expensive to diagnose and repair.
Third, subsequent email communication with Happy Campers has got me nowhere. Their emails are usually incoherent but when sense can be made of their replies, they are evasive and obstructive, looking for any opportunity to avoid responsibility for poor customer service. Very often, they simply ignore my comments and they offer statements which are very questionable if not outright falsehoods. One example here would be their suggestion that I might have had the boiler repaired between the technician’s visit and my complaint about errors in his report – effectively accusing me of lying. They have refused to acknowledge any responsibility or to consider any recompense.
I was sorely tempted to pursue Happy Campers via Trading Standards and the Small Claims Court but have since decided that I have already wasted far too much time as well as money dealing with this organisation. I now wish very much that beforehand, I had taken a look at the overwhelmingly negative online reviews of ‘Happy Campers’. My hope now is that this summary might serve to warn others to be wary of Happy Campers, and perhaps the whole Fastlane Autocare Autocenters group.