Vertu Motors - BMW Sunderland Reviews 

I bought my mini countryman, and would def recommend this mini centre, I was made to feel welcome as soon as I entered the doors, Lee wilkinson gave the best service I have experienced when purchasing a car, he delivered everything he said made my purchase stress free, I love my mini

After a deer ran out in front of of my 4 week old car on the motorway, there was only 1 place I wanted to take it (against my insurance company's wishes) - Vertu, Boldon. This place used to be great when I last needed a bodyshop in 2012.

The front bumper, grille, radiator and other sensors needed replacing, with a bonnet respray.

They were quick to get me in and provide a courtesy car. 2 weeks later I had my "new" car back. Before I drove it home, the bonnet alignment seemed off, it went back in for "adjustment" and I drove home. Next day, a car wash and close examination showed lots of overspray around bonnet edges, milky white lines in the lacquer coat, hologram/mechanical swirl marks in around 15 locations on the car bodywork (the bodywork other than the front end had been immaculate, with 2 coats of ceramic sealant).

The bonnet alignment had been a bodge with some rubber stoppers at the extremes of adjustment, but it could still be seen that the bonnet was misaligned when gaps between the adjoining panels were compared.

Andy, the bodyshop manager came out to see the car, with a colleague and agreed with the issues raised. They took the car again and brought it back "fixed". The bonnet had now been properly aligned, over half of the holograms were gone, and the bonnet overspray had been smoothed down slightly.

Still not looking "like new", so they took it again. All but 1 hologram now gone and overspray still visible when brought back, along with a clearly defined masking line where further rub down had taken place.

4th time, it was agreed (after 10 mins of discussion to try and dissuade me from asking for more remedial works) that a respray of the lacquer coat on the bonnet would be done. After the 4th time, the paintwork was finally as per expectations, but I need to reapply my ceramic coat.

2 days later I noticed a sharp nick on the edging bezel of my dashboard, which I'm convinced is from Andy's colleagues clipboard he had with him at every visit, and rested on the dashboard. I haven't had a front seat passenger since before the repair, and it wasn't there then. I have contacted the bodyshop and Andy by mobile and I'm just being ghosted.

The 3 sets of correctional work after the initial attempt demonstrate that not only was the standard of work quite low, the QC inspection afterwards is poor too.

The discussions seemed a little strained at times, but always polite, that's the only positive I can get from this experience.

Absolutely disgraceful people to deal with
have problems with fuel economy for over 18 months quite simply drops at random to about 13mpg
from the actual service manager today ,
my car at 20000 miles and two years old is old and worn resulting in the poor fuel economy

it might be tyre pressure

the price of petrol has gone up thats why im only getting 13mpg ,explain that one

the reason it changed after 18 months car was new up to 18months its old after that

i have changed my driving style

using different petrol stations

i cant say theres a problem just because i put in £30 petrol one week and £60 the next for same journeys same trips/mileage because the computer says theres not

best one i cannot know how many mpg the car is doing, well theres approx 4.5 litres in a gallon , you fill it up drive it check how far you have gone fill it back up then you have how many litres for how many miles convert it to mpg

now remember this man is in charge of your car when its in the garage and he thinks these are rational explanations

I could go on with excuses they have made but it would take too long

I must just making up problems for fun to waste my time taking it over to leave it and then pick it up again to be told computer says no

even the breakdown people said they were an absolute disgrace, the reply to this thats their opinion

but on a plus side i did not know my aircon needed recharged which they did while not finding out what was wrong with the car and they also found my battery was a bit low and kindly offered to take it in overnight to charge it for me but could not again fix the fault on the car

just as a final thing they also managed to change brakes while they had it which were changed six weeks earlier but could not yet again fix the fault on the car

should have looked at the reviews on here first I hope bmw uk do or even vertu group head office

this is an update to the reply
basically its a case of computer says no so it must be correct

absolutely terrible I dont keep putting a car in for fun

i have been driving for 45 years i can tell you when somethings wrong but you refuse to admit it

i know by how much fuel i spend from one week to another , i know theres something wrong when it can nearly double in the actual amount of fuel put in per week ,I drive the car day in day out i know when its not running right your staff without even looking at it tell me its tyre pressures or some other absolutely stupid reason you actually show how you think you can just brush over everything by stupidly stating we are rubbish on reviews on trustpilot but ok on google

well here i go to google to leave the same review and maybe everyone else will do the same

finally answer this openly on here
how did your technician last time say that what ever he reset should fix the problem (my imaginary fault) and if it started again bring it straight back

secondly are bmw car inferior in your opinion as i have been told on several occasions that an over 25% drop in fuel economy is due to a 2 year old 20000 mile car being old and worn your garages words not mine
I would like to hear your view when i put this to bmw directly as if it is the car was not fit for purpose to be old and worn at 2 years old

Purchased a new battery for my motorbike and when I connected it, it was completely dead. I tried to charge it but it wouldn't take any charge. I took it back and they refused to exchange it for another one. They said they would need to test it on my bike but I couldn't get the bike to them because the battery was no good. They would not accept the dud battery back as they claim it has to be tested on the bike. I explained that it had nothing to do with the bike - that was very clear but they would not budge. After talking to a Manager, I was no further forward and had no option but to purchase another battery at a cost of £110. I found this nothing short of disgraceful after being a loyal customer for many years, purchasing both bikes and cars from them.
17/7 update - after recieving a reply saying they would investigate my complaint, two weeks have gone by and I got the expected response - nothing! I belive they have no interest in investing my concern at all.
30/8/23 update - as I suspected, I have had no further contact from this company.
31/8/23 update - received a call from Selina Kirk, Service Manager apologising for the poor service and that she would take up my case and get back to me. Sure enough, she called me back and said she thought she had resolved the situation and would I make an appointment to go into the showroom and see her. This was arranged for the following day.
1/9/23 - I saw Selina today who had solved my problem and immediately issued me with a refund. Her customer service was second to none and this is obviously why she is in the position of Manager. She apologised and explained where she thought the system had gone wrong. I cannot thank her enough and left with a very different impression of Vertu to when I first had the issue.
Well done Selina and thank you for your assistance. I hope your excellent customer service rubs off on others.
This rating has gone from 1 to 5 stars.

Utterly incompetent. The car went in for a simple diagnostic and service. “A problem” occurred (a screw cross threaded, they blamed it on wear and tear?!?) I was told that they needed to keep the car for several days and now I am left without a car. Being told all courtesy cars where out on loan. There was nothing that could be done, as ALL of the managers where at a conference. I am a carer for my 96 year old father, who is registered blind and 88 year old mother, who is in a wheelchair, unable to get to them….. I am worried sick about their welfare. Vertu Sunderland are disgraceful as they are fully aware of this situation.

Car went in for service.
Drove car home and there was a vibration that wasn't present when it went in. Checked under bonnet protective coverings over brake fluid tank had not been secured back on. Phoned up told to come back in and get it sorted. Took car back assured it was done. Drove home still a vibration, checked was exactly the same as before. Took back in again next day, coverings fixed properly, however on driving home still a vibration.
Bonnet up again and looks like other areas not secured back together properly. Another visit back tomorrow now.
Also all service history on the idrive system deleted, and as it wasn't on BMW servers can't be put back on.

Let's all agree, in life things go wrong in all customer experiences. The important part is putting it right, the service I received from the Head of Business was fantastic! Dealt with my issues fairly and reasonably, with a resolution we both agreed on. Thanks Jeff!

Absolutely outstanding service from Sunderland mini, specifically Brooke and Charlotte. Came in on Monday and picked my brand new car up today, three days later. Friendly, made you feel at ease and did everything they could to help and accommodate our needs. Brooke was also amazing with our three year old when we originally came to the garage. Giving him cake and chatting away to him. Which is so lovely!!
They kept us up to date and it’s probably been the smoothest large purchase we’ve had thanks to great communication.
Huge thank you, we love our new car!!!!

What a difference a year or two make!!

I purchased a car here in 2020 (pre pandemic) which had issues (which I don’t mind, that’s life) but dealing with the correction of which was terrible! Constant battle, no answers, no updates.

However, I used the garage and “gave it a chance” as it’s now under the ownership of Vertu Motors and top marks!

Friendly, informative and extremely helpful! I had tyre insurance which I had paperwork to complete, they helped completing that, even the Service Manager got stuck in to help me (something which didn’t happen previously)

Massive thanks to, Stephen, Lauren and team, doing a great job!

Keep it up Vertu!

BMW vertu Sunderland

Stay well clear nothing but thief’s car went In to be fixed took a bit longer then expected due to faults needing rectified had left money in my vehicle but didn’t really expect it be taking but when car was returned to my shock money was stolen from my car makes it even worse the place it was people shouldn’t of needed to go into STAY WELL CLEAR OF THIS GARAGE