Recently bought a used car from Drive Vauxhall, Darlington. The whole sales process was good and I was bought the car complete with 12 months tax on it paid by Drive Vauxhall. However, a few weeks later I had a letter from DVLA requesting me to take out tax on the vehicle. Upon checking, no tax had been taken out by the dealer as agreed in the deal - and I had been driving the vehicle illegally since I purchased it! The dealer claimed to have bought the tax for my vehicle together with tax for several other cars at Darlington Post Office shortly after my purchase date. Enquiries with DVLA revealed there was a long drawn out investigative procedure that I could instigate but I needed proof that the dealer had actually bought the tax in the first place. The dealer agreed to send me this. To date I am still waiting and, as it has now been several weeks, I have given up hope of ever receiving any documentary proof. I can only presume that no tax was ever purchased and the '12 months tax' part of the deal never actually existed. As a result I cannot recommend anyone buys a car from this dealer.

Start from beginning phoned drive Vauxhall for seat arona they advertised visited Darlington branch test drove vehicle everything fine apart from brakes scraping saleswoman said only scrapping due to been stood on forecourt said she would service vehicle and get brakes looked at so went ahead purchased vehicle . Picked up vehicle 3 days later assured me everything sorted service . Brakes . And painted rear bumper. So paid for vehicle received keys off we go home straight away brakes scrapping had 20 mile journey home brakes horrendous didn’t get no better booked it in Halfords 4 days later Halfords said needs disk and brakes cost £380 contacted drive said bring vehicle back to garage would take a look at brakes asked see if had hire car said would have to wait 4weeks for hire car so couldn’t wait that long with faulty brakes so took it back 20 mile journey back to drive dropped it off 9.30 5 hrs later said car done spoke to service manger who told me brakes been stripped down and cleaned should be ok now. Couldn’t believe they only cleaned them as Halfords informed me disks and pads need replacement anyway soon as picked vehicle up scrapping on brakes contacted drive again said bring it back on Monday And no hire car again so another 5 hr wait then drive contacted me to say wrong brakes delivered vehicle won’t be ready till next day told them I lived 20 mile away so they did sort a car out for me to get home but couldn’t believe had to contact and take it back 2 times before would change faulty brakes - 7 weeks on no log book received phoned drive said look into it no one contacted me so contacted Dvla said hadn’t received change off ownership for vehicle I bought contacted drive again said look into it still never got back to me till I contacted for 3rd time they said they have now applied for log book for my vehicle so asked what happened to log book couldn’t give me answer just said we resolved problem for you and you should be grateful- well I’m not it will take a long time for this log book as Dvla closed cov19 so buyer beware off this dealership

I know someone from the dealership and my partner has bought from them before so I decided to use Sherwoods to buy my first car, I got a good deal and I was happy with the level of service, I'll be taking it back to them for an MOT in a few months. Personally I would recommend them.

Fantastic service, very friendly and no pushy sales pitch. Extremely happy with the service provided and the whole buying process was quick and efficient from start to finish.