Customer’s car wrecked during test drive by Halfords employee

Ian Tubbs' Alfa Romeo was taken for a routine service at the firm's Autocentre in Shirley

Customer’s car wrecked during test drive by Halfords employee
Photo: Bigstock

A motorist from Birmingham has been left out of pocket and without his beloved Alfa Romeo after it was wrecked during a test drive.

Ian Tubbs contacted the Guardian after he took his Alfa Romeo Giulia for a routine service at the Halfords Autocentre in Shirley.

Mr Tubbs told the Guardian that Halfords refused to accept responsibility for the incident, after the staff member involved in the crash claimed the car was being driven at 25mph, and the damage was caused by a third-party vehicle striking the Alfa Romeo.

“The whole thing has been a nightmare,” he said, after Halfords played down the incident.

Further investigations revealed that the Alfa Romeo hit two other vehicles and a recovery vehicle, before railings prevented the car from entering a busy roundabout.

To compound his misery, Mr Tubbs’ insurers offered him £300 less than the car’s market value, while a puncture on his hire car resulted in a £600 excess payment to the rental firm.

Aviva has even increased Mr Tubbs’ insurance premium after the company made payments to the owners of the vehicles involved in the collision.

He said: “To this day I have had no meaningful apology, and no offer to compensate me for what happened.

“I have had to overpay for my insurance, pay to take taxis to get around. I’ve lost £600 to the car hire firm, and spent time looking for another car. I have been really shocked by way Halfords has behaved.”

A Halfords spokesperson told the Guardian: “We recognise the distress caused by the recent incident of a collision during a routine road test by our technicians. We followed the necessary procedures by notifying our insurance company.

“We’ve apologised to Mr Tubbs for the inconvenience caused and we’re working to resolve this matter directly with him.”

Source: The Guardian

2 Comments

  1. am i missing something here, why does Mr Tubbs insurer get involved ? as a bodyshop we are responsible for a clients vehicle whilst left with us, so surely only insurer to pay out would be Halfords insurer !! £600 sounds a lot money for one tyre on a hire car ?

    Reply
  2. Ian Tubbs sorry to hear this. As an ex colleague as of today I know that all the vehicles that go into Halfords are never looked after. They skimp out on servicing let alone any other jobs. Most of the times they don’t even change a simple oil filter and send the car out. To let you know from all the management that spoke regarding this incident it was actually Halfords that were at fault but as always they will always try and escape.

    Reply

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