Prestige Performance Limited

Having tried several garages before, i decided to try Prestige Performance this time at St. Albans. The reviews i read were very helpful in making this decision. I had a MOT and inspection 2 service for my BMW. Steve, Barry and team were completely professional and did not add any additional costs. they mentioned a few but also said that they could be done at a later date.

Staff were not pushy and I could trust the service. wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

Have been using Prestige Performance for many years and have never had a bad experience. It’s never great when a fault costs you more than you hoped to fix - but maintaining a car isn’t cheap and I’m convinced that they’re cheaper than the manufacturers’ garages.

Steve & Barry have been there for years and have always been efficient and welcoming. Personally I’d recommend.

Went to Prestige for MOT test. Was told headlamp was not working, querie broken. Was told it would take 2 hours labour to find out the problem for a cost of £184+vat. Then an extra £1200 to change the broken part if needed. Told them I was gonna get it fix myself. Went to Dp motors garage next door to have a second opinion. Got my headlamp fixed for £20 all inclusive.
Prestige: lovely/friendly staff but do not recommend them as I do not trust them. Will never go back!

I should have written this review sometime in February 2017 but I kept on procrastinating because I just wanted to forget about this garage because of the experience I had with them. However, I have always felt that other people need to know my experiences with Prestige Performance (PP) because my review might just help someone who is reading this. After all, that is what reviews are for.

Here is how it all started. I have a low mileage E38 740i which was built in the year 2000. That’s a V8 and at the time it had done just under 55K miles on the clock.

Late in December 2016 the car blew the radiator while I was away from home, so I called the AA to come and rescue me. The nice AA guy who came did a DIY job by covering the hole with some special glue and let it set in so that I could drive it home. He topped it up with water as well and he spent about two hours bleeding the engine to get rid of all the trapped air. He kept on telling me that these kind of cars need to be bled thoroughly or they would wreak havoc on you. So the plan was that I would drive the car home and then take it to the garage for a radiator replacement.

Unfortunately I pushed my luck a bit and drove the car a few days without taking it to the garage. A few days later the temporary glue came off and the radiator raptured again on the motorway. The AA came and rescued me again. I asked them to tow the car to PP since that was the nearest garage from my house. I had only ever used PP once before for my wife’s MOT and they seemed OK. We had only been living in the area for about two years, having moved from London.

The AA guy who towed me to PP had warned me that there had been no damage to any part of the engine since it had not overheated in any way, and therefore, I should be weary of anyone who told me otherwise. So PP replaced the radiator and I did not have to pay a penny because the fix was covered under my AA Breakdown Cover. The car was fine for a few days until the dreaded “CHECK COOLANT LEVEL” message started appearing on the dashboard. I was confused since there was plenty of coolant in the car.

I took the car back to PP and surprise surprise they told me that it had failed a head gasket test. Reading from the invoice I got back from them the amount I was charged for the investigation was £88 and the job was “Investigate cause of cooling system leaking and traced to cylinder head gasket failure”. Further the workshop notes read: “Cylinder head gasket failed £2900 inc VAT to replace both cylinder head gaskets including skimming cylinder heads”. Yes, they were going to charge me a whooping £2,900 to fix a problem that never existed! My heart was broken because my wife told me to get rid of the car - she does not have the emotional attachment that I have to it;)

Remembering the warning from the AA guy I decided that I would take the car back to my normal garage in Hendon where the car has been serviced since about the year 2006.
They investigated and found that the car had not been bled properly after the radiator had been replaced, hence the coolant level message on the display. They charged me less than £100 to fix the problem. I went back and told PP what had happened and all they told me was that they scanned the car with their machine and that was the result they got. Fair enough! I bet that even if I had the money and foolish enough they would have done the job and fail to bleed the car properly again. But let’s pause to think a little bit...a single AA guy could bleed the car properly while operating on the side of the road but a professional garage couldn’t. What does this tell us?
My car has done about 60K miles now and it’s had no head gasket problems.

Awesome crew. Definitely value for money, high standard of service and great staff.

First rate customer service!
Of all the trades I have used I would recommend Prestige most highly. I have used them during the last 15 years for a BMW, a Mercedes, and a Volvo. Their suggestions are customer focussed, they communicate clearly and always deliver the car back within agreed deadlines. Compared to main dealers they are more competitive on price, but it’s the customer service which really stands out.

Visited Prestige Performance for brake replacement on my 118d. Was very happy with the advice given regarding need to replace the brake disks as I had received inconsistent advice during a recent service elsewhere. They were able to carry out the work the following day as they had a cancellation, and a fair bit cheaper than a local dealer for the same spec of parts.

A series of issues with my Audi A5 which Prestige accurately diagnosed and repaired. The car now drives as well as it did when I first brought it. A well managed and professional business; highly recommended.