Mathewsons Reviews 

Don’t bother waist if your hard earned money.
Vehicle prices are well over inflated, I’ve witnessed fabricated bids at live auction to increase prices.
You will not get a bargain here .

Derek give up being an auctioneer!! You are rubbish at it! You miss genuine bids repeat yourself time after time. Please stop saying bonny this a bonny that & also to be fair!!! The majority of reviews depict how badly you treat people unless your on TV. Give up please!!!

UPDATE
On the 28th April,my mini Mayfair didn't make the sales price at Mathewsons the Auctioniers.
So I asked for the car to be returned.....So it was returned by Mennell Motors.
When I received the car ,there was severe damage to the CHOKE CABLE had been ripped out with great force and had damaged the connections, + all of the spark plugs were badly sooted up which shows that the car had not been taken care of properly and problem damage had been caused + 2 cans of Castrol 20/50 were missing and I should like to know who did this.
Since that time I have had to rebuild the way the choke cable is set up,because the old plastic fitting was smashed,so the only option was to modify the fitting so that the cable would work properly.
Now after fitting the cable properly and cleaning the sooted plugs
The car is back to normal and running perfectly........!
Roger Thomas

They are not the caring, customer focused family business they appear to be on the TV show.
The Mathewsons are superstars and are only interested in stardom,
There are far better classic car auction out there.

I have been to both venues museum was shut no reason given, we went about a year later to Pickering to view a car, a staff member I spoke to (not a family member) was very helpful. So when I got home I registered for bidding, I enquired about a payment when registering my card I received an explanation from Paul. So this auction I tried to bid but it kept saying you need to log on which I had done. I emailed mathewsons got a reply from Jill saying she would call, basically because I asked a question regarding the payment they had removed my account as the trust had gone obviously there side. So I am banned from bidding ever again because I asked a question. They aren't interested in people just your cash.
Don't bother buying try elsewhere to big for their boots now

I have watched the TV series from day one and wanted to visit the Mathewson's garage. Finally arrived on Wednesday morning and was so disappointed. No cars on view to the general public apart from a few unloved BL Rovers, which I suppose is understandable. The shop is full of money making merchandise woolly hats, tee-shirts and cheaply cast signs being sold at garden centre prices. I spoke to the lady serving and was told to visit the other site (Pickering). On arrival at the Pickering site it was made clear with large signs that they didn't want visitors! 'This is not a museum' I didn't even try to gain access. Please note unless you have an appointment to view a car really don't bother. I wish I had read the reviews on this site before wasting half a day of my life. In future I'm sticking to bangers and mash.

Sent an email seeking further details on a lot for which very minimal information had been provided. Received no reply. I guess with the success of their TV show that they no longer feel inclined to provide even basic customer service.

Travel 150 miles to see cars to be told all on line now.and that they haven't opened it up since covid .had privilege off meeting Derek who was rude and didn't seem interested in talking to you .the shoo is just a money spinner most of memorabilia you can buy in cheap £1 shops .very disappointed

Shambolic!
Attended viewing for July sale with one particular lot in mind – Lot 396.
Turned up on second day of 10 day viewing (not 14 as it says on the website) to find the lot wasn’t at Pickering. After signing in a fellah came over and asked if he could help, after giving him the lot number he said he didn’t know where it was, it might be ‘over there’, it wasn’t – we later learned this was Dave Matthewson. (The management!)
We viewed all the areas and asked no fewer than 5 members of staff and were told variously ‘its not in here’, ‘I don’t know where it is’, ‘you must have walked past it’.
After a second round we returned to reception where the lady ‘who sits next to the fan’ was the only person who showed any sign of taking ownership of the enquiry, perusing the CCTV and putting out a Whatsapp message to staff ‘someone must know’ she said. This received no response whatsoever so we left.
As it happened we had the email address of the seller and alerted him to the problem. He contacted Matthewsons and was told ‘to maximise the profile of the vehicle it had been parked on the forecourt at Thornton le Dale! Setting aside the dubious logic of this decision, why did none of the staff that we asked know where it was? I can probably think of half a dozen reasons of why a Daimler Double Six would stick in the mind of someone interested in cars, how on earth they managed to ‘misplace’ this car is beyond comprehension. At best it is gross incompetence. Including Thornton le Dale there are 7 clearly definable areas where cars are stored and it would appear that the management of this outfit lack the wit to log where lots are parked ready for viewing – after all potential buyers can’t take them for a test drive so they aren’t going to move!
In addition, whilst sat in reception waiting for the Whatsapp response there were two staff – One on the phone which rang continuously, and a lady, at a time when we were making our query, another customer wanting to leave a commission bid, a queue out the door waiting to sign in and others wanting to leave and presumably as a safety measure needing to sign out. Needless to say they just dropped the high viz vests and left.
The reception was clearly overwhelmed and under staffed.
This is our second wasted 75 mile round trip to Matthewsons the last being the June timed sale and we then vowed never again but were tempted by this particular car but this time have definitely, irrefutably decided NEVER AGAIN!

DROVE 80 MILES TO LOOK AT CLASSIC CARS & TOLD WE COULDN,T LOOK AROUND COME BACK NEXT WEEK THATS 160 MILES WAISTED JOURNY I WOULD NOT BOTHER GOING AGAIN

Having previously talked with Paul Mathewson, I decided to sell my classic car through their auction.
I telephoned them to confirm they still had spaces for the July auction and I asked if they would collect my car (as they advertise). I gave them my details and was assured that someone would be in touch soon to arrange its collection. Twelve days later, with me still waiting for this collection I noticed their website said the July auction was fully consigned (meaning it was full).
A short telephone conversation with Paul Mathewson confirmed that they had not fulfilled their promise to collect the car and I would have to wait several weeks for the next (late August) auction. The car is a convertible - I wanted to sell it during the summer, but this chance is now gone.
Having run several businesses over the years I feel well qualifies to post this review.
Since Derek Mathewson "stepped back" this business has gone rapidly downhill. I now understand the often televised phrase "There is Dad's way and there is Dad's way" Dad obviously knew what he was doing - the new management team (including Paul Mathewson) plainly cannot cope or simply do not care. They have had it easy for so long they obviously think success is their right.
Parading on the television is obviously at the top of their criteria while customer service is at the bottom.
Keep well clear of this crowd. There are other classic car auctions that are cheaper and much more reliable and efficient. Go to one of them, at least you will not be ignored.

Made the 5 HR trip from Essex to Mathewson's. The site that is shown on TV. Is basically just a shop, didn't get to see any cars. The following morning drove up the road to the the other site, but still didn't get to see any cars, and as it was auction day, could,not see the auction either as it was a closed auction. I would have seen more cars visiting a local car show, shame, because I've been an enthusiast for 50 yes and watched the show avidly, but I,ll give it a swerve from now on, it's just a business.

Not very impressed at all - I was interested in a car coming up in the next auction so obviously wanted to see it first hand, but when I went to sign in was told the public could only view 2 weeks before, even thought they weren’t busy they just weren’t interested. It seems the public don’t matter anymore now that they are big on the television - it is such a shame that the human touch has gone. The shop is now just filled with loads of reproduction and the usual imported promotional tat - just left very disappointed

Well,l will explain what has happened.
I decided to sell the Mini mayfair automatic that I owned.
So I spoke to a good friend who owned SANSPEED at Bexleyheath and he said to get Mathewsons to sell the car,so I contacted Mathewsons and l was given a list of transporter to get the car up to Yorkshire to be into the auction for April. The transporters that I used were called Mennell Motors, they collected the car and at that time the carburetta choke butterfly was working ok + there were 2 metal cans of 20/50 Castrol oil in the boot of the car for the next owner + a work shop manual purchased from Mini Spares.
The car was sent via Mennell motors and l waited to hear what happened in the auction.
On the 28th April, l was contacted by Mathewsons and told that the car didnt reach my set price.
Two days later I decided to have the car returned, l was then told that I must pay an entry fee even though they had not sold my car (lot 78), so I paid the enty fee and then had to pay Mennell motors for the return trip, the next day at 10.40am.which was expensive
The first words from the driver" was that the choke cable has been vertually ripped out."
So the 2 of us had to manually unload the car onto the drive.
IT WAS AT THAT TIME IT APPEARED THAT THE CABLE AND CHOKE MECHANISM HAD BEEN SEVERELY DAMAGED,(so l used a plastic tie to latch the choke closed,then the car started easily and I was able get the car back into the garage with no problems)
NEXT l openned the boot of the car and guess what was missing, 2 cans of Castrol 20/50 oil +an expensive Mini Manual from Mini Spares
I am not best pleased by what has happened,but cannot prove who has light fingers and who is hand fisted.......and does damage.
I HAVE WRITTEN THIS TO WARN OTHERS,SO BE CAREFUL

Roger Thomas

If I could do less than 1 star I would! Just had my friends motor bike collected an hour and a half later than told, the guy was rude, arrogant and foul mouthed. Apparently he wasn't happy about having to get out of his van and do the job he is being paid for. Not a pleasant experience and I certainly wouldn't use Mathewsons.

A car that sells for 20k ; Mathewsons charge, both the vendor and the buyer, 7.5%+VAT ?

That’s the fat end of 4k to the company for 5 minutes on the hammer, for every car @20k. Above 20k, it’s another 5%+VAT.

To gain a seat ( standing only ) at the auction of choice, it’s £40 ?

Bearing in mind they are now making money from the tedious TV programme, only mugs should be anywhere near this business ?

It now transpires, that during the restoration series, fake callers are entertained on the various family member phones to push the production team to stupid valuations ?

Surely this is fraudulent ?

Just sold my 1989 Nissan Micra K10 for a good price. Had good coverage with 25 photographs and an interesting youtube commentary by Derek; the owner. Great communication from Paul, did not wait too long for his reply. They are now extremely busy.
There was I.T glitches on the day but it got sorted.
I also enjoy watching the TV programme "Bangers & Cash" which features Mathewson Auctioneers.
Very pleased with my sell, got a good price and beats selling by yourself on Ebay.

We travelled 4.5 hours to be told that the viewing closed at 12 and that it was on line or phone call only I would only buy a car if I could see it first