Hugo

Jun 24, 2025

WARNING AVOID AVOID!!! Cars with hidden Faults, No aftersales, No Support, Hidden Admin Fees, Forced return through Finance Company, Once the car is driven away its your problem.

I purchased a Land Rover Discovery 5 from Hilton Car supermarket Milton Keynes on 14th Feb. Turned out to be one of my biggest regrets. It is astonishing how such a large company can get so many things wrong. • Poor sales process • No aftersales • Email responses within 4-10 days • 84 Phone Calls • Only way to talk to member of aftersales is by calling sales team & forcing them to put them on the phone • Phone system that cuts you off after 20 minutes of being placed on hold • Advertising Cars with hidden faults • Fines issued after return of vehicle due to ownership not being transferred • Hidden admin fees • Was in possession of the vehicle for 8 weeks & only able to drive it for 3 weeks • No offer of a courtesy car or compensation given whilst car off the road • Forced to file a formal complaint with finance company to force a roll back on the transaction Once I purchased the car I had it for just over a week then the problems began. On 21st Feb the engine light came on. I immediately called Hilton, I got an immediate response & they told me to take it to the local garage to put it on the diagnostic & they will pay for the costs. It was an issue with the ad blue, the fault was resolved. I thought great they will deal with any issues quickly & promptly, I didn’t realise how wrong I could be. I drove the vehicle for 2 more weeks until 4th Mar where the real problems began. The car went into limp mode. I tried contacting Hilton for 3 days with no answer. So, at my own cost called the previous company who had diagnosed the issue to see if the car was broken & unable to be driven. They fortunately were able to come out being local & said to not drive the car until further inspection. At this point the further issues that had arisen with the vehicle. • Adblue system error • Not a clean start from the push button as if the starter motor was struggling • The car starting then the rev counter bouncing & car ultimately dying • Car going into limp mode with error message 'restricted performance' I called Hilton on 7th Mar to inform them of the new issues. Over that week I called Hilton over 20 times & had no response to my emails regarding the issue & how to resolve them. The vehicle was finally transported to the local garage on the 17th Mar who by the 21st had diagnosed numerous issues with the vehicle. Hilton had at this point taken 10 days to respond to my initial emails on the 4th to 7th Mar after I informed them the car had been taken for inspection. • It required 4 litres of oil, ¾ of the oil missing from the engine • Heavy oil leak from the timing chain gasket seal • Timing chain tension being too loose causing the inlet valves to open at the wrong time • Turbo not spooling to required pressure • The underside coated in Waxoyl to cover up corrosion The garage recommended that due to all of the issues, the lack of oil in the engine, the Ingenium engine being plagued with these issues, the only real fix is to replace the engine & turbo with new items. They also provided photos of the underside of the vehicle & stated the oil leak had clearly been going on for some time! I emailed Hilton on 21st Mar stating that due to all of the issues above that the best course of action would be to have the vehicle recovered & returned providing a full refund. It then took from the 21st to 30th Mar to get a response including 3 emails & 19 phone calls. 31st Mar I informed Hilton they needed to collect the vehicle or I would get it recovered to them & they would be liable for costs. They finally collected it from the garage on the 4th Apr which I was not informed had happened despite talking to numerous employees at Hilton office on 7th & 8th Apr, they seemed to think that the car had not been collected & informed me that it was due to be picked up on those days but couldn't confirm due to lack of drivers. The whole company seems disorganised chaos where they don’t even know or keep track of inventory they possess. I was yet again waiting another 6 days until the 10th Apr & 8 phone calls to receive an update on the rolling back of the transaction. I finally had to force a roll back on the transaction by raising a formal compliant with the finance company on the 10th Apr as they said they have not received any communications from Hilton in regards to rolling back the transaction. All this time accruing more interest on the finance taken out. The deposit & additional charges incurred during ownership were finally returned on 11th Apr. However, this was not to be my final dealing with Hilton Car supermarket. On 22nd May I received a fine for £135 in regards to the vehicle which I had not had in my possession for over 5 weeks at this point meaning they had not transferred ownership. The fine being for a SORN vehicle being kept on the road. The Vehicle E7FJS is back up for sale with no mention of corrective work what else are they hiding on other cars!