Caffyns Reviews 

Cayffns Ashford .never call back as promised and twice damaged the paint on my car they paid cost to rectify first time but unbelievably left it covered in bird droppings a second time damaging it again and didn’t repair the mechanical fault.Will never use again possibly ok for Sevice work but anything complicated forget it

Five stars. Although I’m fairly certain both Sam and I have aged during this process.

I live in Aberdeen. The car was at VW Eastbourne.

Most sensible people would probably have stopped the conversation at that point.

What followed involved several phone calls, several finance discussions, a hotel booking, a 600-mile drive and the mysterious disappearance of more than one perfectly good Golf.

Each time one disappeared, Sam simply found another.

Throughout it all, communication was excellent. No chasing, no pressure and, most importantly, no nonsense.

Every problem was met with a solution rather than an excuse, which is becoming an increasingly rare experience.

The handover itself was seamless. The car was immaculate, everything was ready and the whole process was exactly as it should be.

When you drive 600 miles to collect a car, you’re placing a huge amount of trust in both the dealership and the salesperson.

The journey home starts tomorrow, but I already know one thing. When the time comes to change this car, I know exactly who my first phone call will be.

Thanks again Sam.

I have recently purchased a car that I found online at Caffyns Vauxhall in Ashford.
I cannot give enough praise to the young sales person, Ebony, who helped me through the process.
From my initial enquiry to driving away happy she was a steady guide.
Her knowledge and professionalism was very reassuring. And no question seemed silly or glaringly obvious to her. Ebony was very generous with her time too, despite the paperwork taking us way past her ‘home time’, she never made me feel rushed or pressured. She took her time to explain the finance process, the warranty and all the bits in between.
I would most definitely recommend purchasing a car from here. And if you have a choice, ask for Ebony.

Looked at a V60 75plate at Caffyns Worthing which was up for £35995 and asked for a valuation on my S60, 22plate with £3700+ extras and only 17800 miles. Not only was the p/ex offer poor but I then found that the V60 I was looking at was £4000 cheaper on Autotrader for the exact same car including colour and mileage from another Volvo dealer! So with a poor offer on the S60 and a hugely inflated price on the V60 I decided to just inform other potential buyers to do your research before committing your hard earned cash to Caffyns Worthing. They have since dropped their price to £33995 but still £2000 more than the other garage.

I purchased a brand-new Volkswagen Golf from Caffyns Volkswagen Worthing expecting the level of service that should accompany a new vehicle purchase.

Within one month, I discovered a factory paint defect that had already started to rust. The issue was reported immediately and raised with Volkswagen UK Customer Relations under an official support case. After a poorly handled inspection and a failed warranty repair that introduced further defects, I exercised my rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and formally rejected the vehicle.

I sent my rejection letter to Caffyns' official complaints email address, the same address I had previously used to raise my formal complaint, and copied in the managers who had already been corresponding with me about the case. More than two weeks later, I have still received no response or even an acknowledgement.

I am now sending Caffyns a final notice before escalating the matter to the Motoring Ombudsman and, if necessary, pursuing legal action.

Manufacturing defects can happen. What matters is how a dealership responds, and in my experience, Caffyns has shown a complete lack of ownership, communication, and customer care.

I am a pensioner who still needs to work as a driving instructor, which has been my profession for the past 19 years, as everyone knows the state pension isn’t enough alone to live a relatively comfortable life.

When the time came to change my car, I decided that Caffyns should be a good bet as a well recognised major car dealership and I understood Skoda to be a reliable make of car.

The 2022 Octavia that was in stock at that time felt nice to drive and was a little step up from my previous car.
I understood at the time of purchase that, because of my profession, I would not be afforded a warranty (despite always having been given a warranty on my previous cars, and with VW, I was given the first 2 services for no charge) and although I felt very disappointed, I hoped that this shouldn’t be a problem as Caffyns were a well established company, and I had only once in all these years needed to call in a warranty.

Very shortly after buying the car I reported that the brakes were squeaking and that the auto stop start wasn’t working. Then a few weeks on from there I was getting the odd warning light/message appearing. I had the brakes checked a couple of times and they were found to be not worn and I was told that ‘some brakes do just squeak’. I paid my local garage to clean them but to this day they still squeak every time they are applied.

I was told earlier this year that the warning messages were because I needed a new alternator which I had replaced as a non original at the cost of £805.44. I was more than a little upset at having to pay out for so soon and have since been told that it shouldn’t have packed up.

My air conditioning hasn’t worked for months but due to insufficient funds I delayed getting it looked at. Eventually I booked it in for a re-gas, only to be told 2 hours later that it still wasn’t working and I needed to go to Skoda, something which at this stage I was reluctant to have to do. My car was taken in for a day by Caffyns to do a diagnostics and I was told that it is either the compressor or the wiring to the compressor but without having my car back in for another 2 days they are unable to tell me which it is. Either way I am still looking at a repair bill of between approximately £200 and £600 using GSF parts but I am not sure that this includes labour and my car will be with them for 2 days!

Whilst trying to save up sufficient funds to fix my aircon, in this heat having to drive with windows open and being forced to listen to my brakes squeaking has made for a very uncomfortable and disappointing driving experience.

I have been told by friends and the manager of the local garage I use to complain to Skoda because I and my car have become a laughing stock amongst my friends and family, and other driving instructors locally, with many people saying I have got a ‘Friday car’.
Skoda unfortunately said that because Caffyns policy does not give warranties to driving instructors, they are unable to go against their agent’s policy. However they said that if Caffyns decided to help me, they would share the cost.

I spoke to one of the managers recently who denied that they would get any help from Skoda, but offered to find me a good deal to replace my car as I have totally fallen out of love with it, or to try and keep the costs of fixing my aircon to an absolute minimum!
I was also told that this is not a problem I should have expected to have had and of course there is no way that my job could have impacted the aircon (nor the alternator).

I did think about the offer of changing my car but could not currently seriously consider purchasing another car from Caffyns. I have felt very disappointed in and let down by Caffyns as despite the staff I have dealt with all being very polite and pleasant, there seems to be little or no commitment to, and interest in, helping existing customers.

Outstanding customer service from the team at Caffyns CUPRA Worthing. My warranty claim wasn't straightforward, but they took the time to review it properly and ultimately reached a posititve outcome. Professional, fair and genuinely customer-focused throughout. A great experience that has reinforced my confidence in both Caffyns Worthing and the CUPRA brand.

Wonderful experience at Eastbourne Audi..

Due to finding myself in a horrific position regarding a new Audi Q5 purchase from Forces Car Direct/JCT600 Lincoln, I reached out to Eastbourne Audi for help.

They took management of the situation (which they didn't have to) and began the process of getting some of the rectification work done to the vehicle. Kept me informed literally on a daily basis (far beyond what FCD/JCT have done) and were empathetic, polite and understanding throughout the whole process.

Can definitely recommend A+

Darren from Sales and Ellie from Service were exquisite. Really played big parts in transitioning over cars. Thank you both. Shout to both and the rest of the Worthing show room team.

Brand new Audi Q4, owned for 4 weeks before it broke down, been with Caffyns for over 5 weeks now and been told that the spare parts to fix my new car are not available in the UK or Germany and no idea of when the parts will become available, generic emails to say that they are waiting on parts and lots of chasing by me for updates.

Not sure if this is an issue with other Audi dealers but Audi UK are equally as ineffective, have a brand new £50k car that's unusable!

The first and last time I will get an Audi, never again.

This is to matthew taylor at the Brighton branch!
I had a very good experience I’ve been with Caffyns for almost 3 years now and today I just got my new car they made sure I got exactly what I wanted made sure it was all perfect had very good communication and were very patient with me and my inpatient self😂 got the car earlier than expected and over all I’ve been very well looked after. (Matthew taylor) Brighton branch.

I purchased a new very dangerous and broken car from them back in November, after having it repaired for 3 months and still the emergency breaks still locking on for potholes and catseyes i gave it back.

They have said they dont have the equipment to investigate the issue, and are therefore marking it as resolved.

I am still fighting to get a refund after i hand deliverred a Notice of Vehicle Rejection on the 30th December 2025.

We are nearly 6 months after purchase and you are still fraudulently taking money out of my account for a car you have in your posession.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

I would give zero stars if I could!

I have never been so frustrated with a dealer in all my 20 years of owning cars.

From the purchasing process, I was messed around and should have turned away whilst I had the chance. The car was supposed to be ready on an agreed date (a week after leaving a deposit), serviced and mot’d yet I called the day before to find out nothing had been done and they pushed back the date a further 3 days.
Called again a day before to be told that someone had forgotten to put it through the workshop and nothing had been done again.
Picked it up finally (in the rain) only to find that a day later once rain stopped that they didn’t fix the paint imperfections as promised and they also hadn’t reset the service indicator inside the car nor updated the service book, so I had to take the car back. I noticed they hadn’t even topped up the washer fluid which raised my concerns if any servicing had been done at all.

After a week of ownership I became aware of a knocking noise from within the car, it did it when I first got the car but it became obvious it shouldn’t be knocking, so I took it back, they told me they couldn’t hear anything even though it was obvious! They fobbed me off and told me they lowered the tire pressures to fix the issue?!? Which is ridiculous, I used to be a mechanic and this was just taking the mick.

Not long after, as the weather improved the car had developed an additional noise, a clattering noise from outside which was very loud when going over holes and bumps on the road.
I took the car back a further 4-5 times for this, including taking out the mechanics who confirmed they could hear the noise.
Yet time and time again they reported they couldn’t find the issue or could apparently no longer hear it but then could hear it when I pointed it out to them.
I could see via the cars app that they spent the minimal time possible to work on the car, most likely because it was a warranty job.
In the process of their minimal investigations, they found it had missing brake retaining clips (which is a major mot failure) therefore should not have passed their initial mot, then on the last time they sheered a calliper carrier and spent more time focusing on that than dealing with my issues reported 5+ times. As that time they just left the car until the new part was in, fit it then told me they couldn’t find the noise, but they hadn’t looked into it!! It was clear they had no intention on finding this issue. They had also used the ‘lowering of tire pressures’ fob off on me a second time too, even though they had already done that and it was obviously not going to stop a suspension from knocking!!
The second to last time they had the car they had left it sat in their carpark for days, covered in bird poo which then damaged the lacquer on the roof, they also damaged the freshly ceramic coating by dry washing the car when it was there for 1 day and didn’t need cleaning, when I had asked them not to wash it.

Within my rights I told them that I wanted to refuse my car as I had reported the issues to them within the first 30 days of owning the car. They had not been able to find the issues reported, mostly because they were not bothered or didn’t want to spend the time to investigate. I was fully within my rights to return the car for a refund minus fair milage and yet they completely refused and told me to complain to the ombudsman
They also told me if I wanted rid then they would give me £8k less than I paid for it which was rock bottom p/x price as I had looked into it and other companies were offering £2k more than they were.

I would not recommend this dealer to my worst enemy, they are selling used cars which have clearly not been inspected and have faults, hoping you just put up with them. If you have any issues under warranty they will spend the minimum time looking at your car and fob you off with silly excuses, say there’s nothing wrong or just say it’s supposed to do that which is complete nonsense.

Save your sanity and buy somewhere else

I stopped using main dealers 20 years ago after experiences with Audi, but with an EV, an EX30, I can't drop it around to my local neighbourhood garage for repair. So I'm really pleased that Eastbourne Caffyns have such knowledgeable, helpful and responsive staff. From sales to service they have been first class so far. Mind you, I haven't seen an invoice, yet...

It has been an extremely pleasing experience dealing with Caffyns Volvo. Given that I am 150 miles from the dealership, the process has been seemless. Sales person Paul Masterson went above and beyond to ensure that I was kept informed at every stage of the purchase and is a credit to the organisation. The delivery/collection of vehicles was abley completed by Nigel who despite the prospect of a long journey home, took time to explain various features of the car. I would definitely recommend Caffyns.

I’ve dealt with main dealers for all my vehicles across multiple manufacturers. So far Caffyns are the worse of them all. My VW went in for a routine service and I was advised that the technician ‘had damaged some wiring’ during the spark plug change. Initially the advisor asked me to pay for the repair which I declined and advised that as they had confirmed the technician had damaged the car they should cover this cost. Common sense prevailed but the repair wasn’t completed correctly and this resulted in two coil packs needing to be replaced, again I was asked to pay until I reminded them of how the fault started and that I had an extended warranty. They then used the extended warranty to cover the costs of the repair which I felt was not appropriate. This took 3 visits and multiple days without transport. I asked Richard Walker (After Sales Manager) to contact me to discuss my experience and after a number of days I emailed him and finally got a response. The response to my concerns took no accountability and almost suggested I wasn’t telling the truth on how the problem arose, he missed the point. Unfortunately this experience results in me having lost trust in Caffyns to service my car. Beyond this issue the up selling attempted during service proves it’s just a money spinning play as my service plan covers what is VW required so be aware. Overall disappointing and the management don’t care about customer experience. Maybe the dealer principle will respond direct to discuss but doubt it.

Avoid Caffyns Audi Eastbourne.

I purchased an Audi RS5 from this dealership and it has been one of the worst buying experiences I’ve had. The car was delivered with multiple issues, including extremely loud and embarrassing brake noise at low speeds, air conditioning faults, and paint damage. All of this was reported immediately.

The car was taken back by the dealership, and I was told that multiple engineers had driven and checked the vehicle and could not find any issue. This was incredibly frustrating, as the brake noise is constant and obvious to anyone driving the car. When it was returned, the problem was still there and even worse.

What followed was even more disappointing. It was agreed that another Audi centre would carry out a proper diagnostic inspection. I demonstrated the issue in person to the technician, yet the inspection that was promised was never actually carried out. Instead, the two garages decided behind the scenes that a basic visual check from 3 months prior would be used to dismiss the problem. No report was provided and I was told the car was 'safe' and 'to standards' yet not one person decided to investigate what was actually causing the fault.

I have just had to have the car MOT'd and the brake discs were highlighted as needing repair and have been below the manufacturer standards for a while, which is what I had reported from the outset.

Throughout this process, I have felt completely dismissed. The focus has clearly been on avoiding responsibility rather than properly investigating and resolving a genuine issue that was reported on day one. Audi Eastbourne have insisted on using old footage of vehicle checks from previous owners rather than actually investigating an issue where they know they are at fault

This is not the level of service you expect when buying an Audi Approved Used vehicle, and I would strongly advise anyone considering purchasing from Audi Eastbourne to think very carefully, make sure they confirm and validate everything in video for you and that you do not accept the car if you find any faults on delivery especially, if you are purchasing from a distance as they will attempt to do everything they can to walk away from their post sale responsibilities.

Extremely poor experience from start to finish.

Don't put a car in here to be repaired. Could drive car in but they wanted to charge us extra to 'put it back together' for us to drive it out. Very poor customer service.

Don't use this garage. They want to charge me for something than they did for free before. They have increased the prices but the service is much worse. They removed the car wash station too so they don't wash the car like other Volkswagen garages.

Bought the car from them 4 years ago, recently asked for a quote for 3 repair items, I was told they would have to run a diagnostic check first and charge me £120 + vat for it, I said but I already know whats wrong with the car. I have an OBD device I know the fault codes and exactly what needs doing but they wont even quote a price without me paying for the diagnostic. Said they would speak to servicing and call me back but surprise surprise I never heard from them. By the way a complete diagnostic check using my OBDeleven device took me under 1 minute to do, you plug it in under the dash and get an immediate read out to your smartphone. I think it’s a scam for Caffyns even to charge for this at all.