Hammond Cars - Ipswich Reviews 1.031

We were given helpful advice and were not pressured into buying. We were able to test drive a couple of cars before we made our decision.

Great experience explained everything step by step, second time using them

It was very easy and the sales manager Paul was very easy going and not pushy

Very helpful friendly and knowledgeable and a fair price

Polite, friendly and knowledgable staff. A good range of cars. As a woman buyer, they treated me the same as my husband, which other dealers haven’t. There was no pressure to buy, just a relaxed and honest approach. I like the 30 return policy, if you find the car is not what you expected. Would definitely buy from here again.

I bought a car from this dealership which test drove well, but broke down completely on the drive home and was left dead on my driveway. After being recovered, a serious engine fault was diagnosed.

As a rural resident relying on this as my only vehicle, I asked for a courtesy car, which was flatly refused because it was a "warranty issue rather than breakdown." Left stranded and unable to get to work, I legally rejected the vehicle under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

While the dealership accepted the rejection and took back the keys/documentation, they are now unlawfully refusing to issue an immediate refund. They claim they will withhold my money for up to 4 weeks until the new V5 logbook arrives in the post.

Under the Consumer Rights Act, a refund must be issued "without undue delay and within 14 days" of an accepted rejection. Legally, they cannot withhold funds over a V5 document (which is not even proof of ownership). I have already notified the DVLA by post to backdate the ownership change, and the trade transfer could easily have been done online.

This company is lazy, shows zero consideration for the financial impact of leaving a customer stranded without their money or a car, and is operating in breach of UK consumer law. Avoid them at all costs.

Bought a MINI back in JULY 2025 and from the get go i should have walked away but as in alot of cases it was a case of " we need a car". The initial car we looked at was a non starter and had a slightly different body colour on 1 panel so we looked at the MINI and decided due to service history etc we would go with that.
After being told that if we wanted warranty we would need to pay for it in 1 go and up front on top of fees already paid, again red flags should have raised their heads but.....
Long story short, car has been nothing but trouble and has terminal engine damage after 3000 kms. Finance company Hammonds use are uncontactable and basically not interested either so now i have forked out yet more money for an independant inspection that confirms faults were there at point of sale suddenly Hammonds want to see the car for " their own inspection". Cannot wait to see how Hammonds try to get out of this one. AVOID at all costs if i were you

Had a slight problem with the finance side, but managed to sort this out quickly. The staff were very helpful and pleasant when I had questions.

Never heard of the company before, seen a car on line, and went to the address.
On arrival, was greeted by a young man, very polite and helpful, guided us to Reception.
Service was excellent, considering how busy it was in there, only criticism, it was very busy and noisy, and there wasn’t any privacy as we could hear other customers financial dealings.

Just bought a car from the Ipswich branch. This is the third time my wife and I have purchased from Hammond Cars (as we live in Norwich this was our first visit to the the Ipswich Branch). We were fortunate enough to find Stan. What an absolute legend he is. He was helpful, understanding, knowledgeable and clear with information. At times he found himself having to multitask as the office was busy. He was professional, polite and didn't miss a beat - an absolute delight to deal with and a massive asset to the company! Well worth the drive to Ipswich just to find Stan and the biggest site Hammond Cars have. With so much choice, this will definitely be our new site and sales person of choice. Couldn't be happier and highly recommended. Thank you, Hammond Cars!!!

My student daughter viewed a car last Saturday, price was £10,900, that night she made an offer and it was stated that they do not accept offers. On Sunday the price went up to £11,000. On Bank Holiday Monday she rang to pay the deposit, the phones had not been switched over and got through to a member of staff who said he was 30 miles from the office and could not take a deposit. No where on the website could we see that they were closing early, On Tuesday the price went up to £11,100, she put down a deposit.
Today we meet Stan who was really good and tried his best. The car was good and the staff were very helpful. But the manager refused to give the £11,000 price as he stated the office was shut. My daughter is on minimum wage and was using the funds left by her grandmother.
In summary great car, great service, nice welcome but all marred by the price gauging that has taken place.

The dynamic pricing only means your margin in greater. You have purchased the car already, so this increase just means your profit is £200 greater.

Your sales manager protects his Commision over the satisfaction of your customer. He did not even speak with me.

You say customer satisfaction is important, but you obviously don’t care as you are not prepared to do anything about this. I will contact your CEO directly and discuss this matter further. Please provide his email address

I have to say that the guy known as 'Stan' (aka Paul Stanley) was really very good, nice, helpful and so patient. Really great service from him. Staff in general very friendly. Thank you Stan

Paul was brilliant - very helpful and accommodating. Made everything very easy and had just the right balance of interactment.

Was interested in a car they were selling.Offered them a very near offer but they refused.Over the time while still shopping for a car I again tried to call them and see if they would accept my offer.If they did then I would have made approximately 2 hours journey to possibly buy the car. I have noticed the car for at least two weeks and is still there while writing this review! Looks like they are not interested even the car has been sitting there for days! Any way after reading some negative reviews about their service here I am glad have not bought that car!I am not trying to blame any car dealers for refusing offers!It is solely upto them.Many genuine potential buyers would try for discounts even for new cars and even many dealers would give discounts!

Lovely guy, pleasant and very helpful xx

I can say with confidence my experience working at Hammond Cars will be one to remember for all the wrong reasons.
The cars have too many issues to list with some not being able to be started or moved, and the treatment by some of the individuals is atrocious.
Particularly Peter Trigg Dudley who genuinely has amazed me as to how incapable and disrespectful someone can be towards his staff. His behaviour was highly unprofessional along with all the scrutinising, belittling and making you feel worthless and you need hand-holding to do your job. I would never dream of buying a car from here.
The management is appalling.

Darnell was an all round great guy, no pressure at all from start to finish everything perfect, happy with the car👍

I had a very good experience with this dealership, especially thanks to the manager (Philp). From the start, I was treated with great attention and professionalism, and the manager made sure I felt comfortable and well informed throughout the process. Although I initially had to visit multiple times because the car was not ready for a test drive, the situation was handled politely and professionally. Once everything was arranged, the experience was very positive. The staff were extremely helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable, answering all my questions without any pressure. Unfortunately, I could not proceed with the purchase due to the interest rate and the available color options. However, I truly appreciated the excellent customer service and would happily recommend this dealership to others.

Large selection of vehicles, helpful staff.

We reported an abnormal noise from the clutch / gearbox area of the car 4 days after purchasing it at the start of September. The car also suffered a significant number of other serious issues shortly after purchase, one of these being a complete brake failure resulting in the car overrunning a junction and only through luck nobody was seriously injured.

We took the car to our local garage (the garage Hammonds also use) and they said the issue was most likely due to a faulty clutch / DMF. This garage recently replaced the clutch / DMF on this vehicle with parts supplied by Hammonds. The garage believed the fault was due to faulty components that had been supplied and as Hammonds had provided them, then Hammonds would have to pay for the repairs.

Hammonds wanted another opinion, so we had to drive the car to a Ford garage an hour away in Norfolk because they didn't have a good relationship with the Ipswich Branch for investigative work / repairs. They changed the timing belt and tensioners, but this did not cure the abnormal noises. We paid for the aux belt to be replaced at the same time.

We sent videos of the noises to Hammonds and they agreed for further diagnosis back with Ford. I was not happy for 2 of us to do another two x 2 hour round trips and lose the car for another week. Hammonds agreed to send it back to the local garage and they used a stethoscope and again stated there was an abnormal noise from the clutch area and would require a strip down to confirm the root cause. They also supplied videos of the noises. Potentially 8 hours labour for the strip down.

The warranty team offered to send it to Ford in Ipswich but later retracted this offer, potentially once they realised the labour hours and costs involved at a main dealer.

They have also tried to suggest the noises may be a “normal vehicle characteristic”. As a time served mechanic of 35 years I can confirm they are definitely abnormal.

Other issues with the car were:

1. Failure of both wheel bearings. 1st one failed within the first week.
2. Complete brake failure.
3. Intermittent loss of all instruments and lighting while the vehicle is cruising on the motorway.
4. Failure of the cruise control - it tries to speed the car up when you press the brake.
5. Repeated faults with parking assist and collision assist.
6. Brake pedal switch failure.

We were initially advised we could drive the car with the noise while they worked on getting it sorted in the background. As the noise deteriorated we then stopped driving the car for nearly 3 months in the hope they would repair it.

Due to the significant nature of the faults, number of faults and cost to investigate / repair – we believe the car they sold is not fit for purpose and we requested either:

a. Refund minus approx £500 for the miles we put on it prior to them saying it was fine to drive.
b. Swap it for another vehicle of similar value.
c. Repair all faults with the car.

They offered a refund minus £2,300 for the miles (£0.45 per mile) we put on it which we found unacceptable and declined. They insisted it was fine to drive, not us. I drive approx. 500 miles per week and I didn’t request compensation for the 12 weeks I couldn’t drive it at their £0.45 per mile rate.

We also tried to resolve this matter via their complaints department but have not had a response, just relayed messages from the warranty person via his area manager. Sometimes up to 3 weeks between responses.

We raised a complaint with the Motor Ombudsman but they were unable assist because Hammonds are not members with them. We suggested they become members so we could resolve this or direct us to their suggested Alternative Dispute Resolution process - no response to this either.

We have been advised that our only option is to pursue this legally via the small claims process.

My advice is to avoid this company as they are not to be trusted.