temporary Reviews 6

RX07 KOH – Aston Martin V8 Vantage

My original review from early 2025 appears to have been removed, so I am reposting a revised and factual account of my experience.

I purchased an Aston Martin from Magari Automotive after it was advertised as being in excellent condition, with presentation photos that made the vehicle appear pristine.

Shortly after purchase, I discovered significant paint defects which became clearly visible once the panels were properly cleaned and degreased. In my opinion, these defects were not apparent during handover due to the condition and presentation of the vehicle at the time.

I was later contacted by another individual who had viewed the same vehicle shortly before I purchased it. They advised me that the paint defects had been visible during their viewing in daylight conditions and that the issues had apparently been discussed at that time.

I also raised concerns regarding mechanical issues involving the auxiliary belt/tensioner area. While discussions initially took place regarding repair work, the matter later became disputed.

Following extensive correspondence and a formal dispute process through the finance company, the vehicle rejection was ultimately accepted.

I appreciate that used performance vehicles of this age may show wear consistent with mileage and use. However, in my personal experience, the vehicle was not presented in the condition I reasonably expected based on the advertising and sales process.

I would strongly encourage any prospective buyer to:

inspect vehicles thoroughly in natural daylight, obtain an independent inspection where possible, and carefully review all documentation and warranty terms before purchase.

This review reflects my own experience only.

I would strongly warn anyone against purchasing a vehicle from this garage. I bought a BMW X5 in October 2025, and within a week the suspension failed. As we live 2.5 hours away, Chris offered a goodwill gesture to replace the parts, but we still had to pay for labour.

After this initial repair, multiple further issues quickly appeared, including battery failure, loss of power, tracking issues, and a rocker cover leak. Although these were addressed within the 3-month warranty period, the number of faults in such a short time is unacceptable and raises serious concerns about the condition of the vehicle at the point of sale.

In my view, this car was not properly inspected before being sold. It was cosmetically presented well, but mechanically it was not fit for purpose. Even after being returned as “fixed,” problems continued.

Chris was polite, approachable, and did try to help and resolve the issues. However, in my experience, the efforts made were not enough to make up for the ongoing problems with the vehicle.

They have also offered for me to return the car for any further issues to be looked at at a reduced labour rate, but I would rather not continue dealing with ongoing repairs.

I would strongly advise others to avoid this garage entirely, or at the very least bring an independent mechanic before considering any purchase. This has been a costly, stressful, and disappointing experience, and I would not recommend this garage under any circumstances.

Absolutely disgusting service
Absolutely disgusting experience with Mik from Magari phoned to enquire about a black Audi RS5 Mik was so friendly and said all the right things so I was happy to put down a £250 holding deposit on the promise if anything was wrong with the car or I wasn’t happy it would be returned upon paying the £250 holding deposit and doing some research on the the (gov.MOT) I noticed that it had just been through an MOT with advisory’s for extremely low tread on the front tyres and the front brake pads just scrapped through the MOT I contacted Mik and I honestly thought it would be as easy as him saying no problem we will sort that instead he became very rude and aggressive stating that he will not rectify any advisory work as it had passed the MOT this is a £19,000 car we’re talking about I was completely shocked at his behaviour language and complete unwilling to help worst of all he refused to refund my £250 holding deposit so I have now had to go through my credit card to get my money back messages back and fourth didn’t get me anywhere he was rude didn’t want to help then just ignored me!!! If I could rate Magari and Mik zero stars I would of done absolute headache and stress from the start!!! Never ever spoke to such a vile man!!! And I dread to think of what the after service would of been if i actually bought the car!!!!! Please be careful of Mik and this company!!! I very nearly lost £250 and they lost a £19,000 sale because they wouldn’t put right safety issues with the car (front brake pads and front tyres) I have all what’s app messages and recorded phone calls to back this up that have been sent to my bank!! Please AVOID this garage especially Mik !!!

Note: to give you an idea of the kind of operation you're dealing with here, I originally posted this last year, but after badgering me for MONTHS to take it down they finally found a way to have it removed: I had included names, which breaks guidelines.

So here it is, anonymised:

I recently had a pretty terrible experience with these guys, which resulted in me losing a £250 deposit.

I reached out about a BMW m135i. I spoke to a guy called G[redacted], who was very nice and gave me a good feeling, so I decided to go ahead with the purchase. But G[redacted] went away on holiday and I started speaking to someone else called M[redacted], and this is where things took a turn.

I found M[redacted] to be very fake and unsympathetic, like he was reading off a script instead of actually caring about good customer service. I explained that I need the car very soon due to a change in personal circumstances, but M[redacted] very unsympathetically informed me that for some reason, this car with ~25k miles on it would take over a week to prepare. There was no attempt to expedite the process, nor any apology for their lack of flexibility.

The few exchanges with M[redacted] gave me a super weird vibe, and to cut a long story short, I got the strong sense that they were hiding something and delaying so they could do some work on it or something; that perhaps there was damage that needed repairing or something like that.

So I decided to look more closely into their online reviews and found some really shady stories--precisely what I was afraid of: undisclosed damage that after being discovered, they refused to repair, and other similar stories; several accounts of bad after-sale customer service, etc.

So I decided to pull out of my purchase, knowing that I would probably lose my deposit. And as expected, I have been informed that they will not refund it because they "had to prepare the car".

So to clarify, transporting the car to their dealership and doing an MOT (which they would have done anyway) costs £250?

Yeah, I'd avoid this dealership if I were you.

AVOID AVOID AVOID 🚨🚨🚨

I Want to raise awareness on this garage , high end garage with high end cars but don’t let it fool you ,

I brought my car 3 months ago and in the first week it said it needed to top up minimum a litre . So I put a litre in , and a week later I go the same message

I asked the garage to get it in as my barbers is surrounded by car garages and said it’s not right and their known for turbos going and bottom end if their not looked after properly. They took the car in the whole day and told me nothing was wrong and oil consumption test shows I’m using normal what bmw stipulate on google . And that 0.25 litre was needed to get the oil back to the maximum but i got proof the very next morning I WhatsApped the car sales rep a picture of my dipstick are bare minimum.

Basically cut long story short . They’ve refused another garages findings including £700 I spent on bmw investigating the car and finding the high pressure turbo had shit itself and needed a new cam cover. They denied me to fix my car and get the car back in for further testing so I got solicitor and finance Company involved.

Lucky enough I kept all proof of emails and writing and that was enough for the finance company to tell the garage were rejecting the car.

As I drove back from bmw I was followed and I was told blue smoke was coming from my exhaust , so Ainars Stambergs top bmw mechanic by the way helped me massive and his knowledge is top class on bmw so I highly recommend him by the way he’s in littlehampton.

But Ainaars put camera in my cylinders and cylinder 6 has lots of oil in it and half the compression of what it should be , cylinder 2 also has a small bit of oil.

So basically the car needs a bottom end engine rebuild , new small turbo and cam cover.

With all this evidence the garage was refusing to help or fix the car and even with the finance company giving them a week deadline to collect the car and give me my deposit back their still refusing to take the car back .

Lucky enough ! Blue motor finance has been exceptional and have helped me every week this has gone on (3 months)

Do not buy from this garage. 🚨🚨🚨

I’m so lucky I financed this car and blue motor finance had my back they come and took the car off my drive and got my deposit and that back today

I was going to purchase a Maserati grandturismo from Magariautomotive, I test drove the car and agreed a price, dependant on the outcome of the MOT. At this point I paid a £500 deposit. The car failed the MOT ,it required major structural work as well brake issues and problems with the suspension so I decided not to purchase the car. Initially I said they could hold on to the deposit so I could put it towards another car, however after a couple of days to consider the matter I decided to change my mind and requested the return of the deposit. I have still not received my money back despite many attempts.
Their customer service is dreadful, it took me 3 goes to get a receipt for the deposit.
I was informed all calls were recorded and apparently my deposit was non refundable even though I changed my mind within 3 days.
The car I test drove did not have a current MOT at the time of the test drive, I was not made aware of this.
If you are considering buying from magariautomotive
Be very careful what you say and commit too.
Do not part with any money until you are 100% happy with the car.
Ask to see the MOT certificate of any car you test drive.
This was a dreadful experience and I lost £ 500 however it could of been a lot worse.