City Electric Vehicles ( CEVE ) Avis 29

I was quoted £180 for repairs after my car allegedly failed its MOT. What made this particularly concerning was that the vehicle had received a thorough service just one week earlier and had covered fewer than 100 miles between the service and the MOT.

After being informed of the failure, I asked if I could collect the vehicle, but was told it would not be available for approximately another hour. When I eventually arrived, a video was recorded and subsequently shared with me which, before starting the recording in the owner's words, was produced to "cover themselves."

Given the circumstances, I sought a second opinion from a main dealership. Their inspection concluded that the part in question had not perished, as had been suggested. Instead, they believed it showed signs of very recent damage. They repaired the issue at no charge by bonding the damaged area and expressed concern about how the damage had occurred.

The vehicle subsequently passed its MOT at another testing station without issue.

As a result, I have spent considerable time, effort, and additional money dealing with a problem that, according to the dealership, should not have required the work originally quoted. I am extremely disappointed with the experience and would not feel confident using this garage again.

CEVE are currently refusing to return our van despite having it for 15 weeks. The van was taken there on the instructions of a warranty company and we were quoted by CEVE 4- 6 weeks. There customer service is non existent, no one ever answers the phone, when you can get hold of them they promise to call you back but do not and then they moved and didn't tell us where they had moved to. They bought the part to fix our van prior to the warranty company agreeing it and now because the warranty say they could have got the part cheaper and we are refusing to pay the difference they are refusing to give our van back. Police report made, and legal proceedings now started for return of van

My vehicle was towed there & whilst it was there a long time waiting for a reconditioned part to become available, I was also away a lot. When the part became available everything moved very quickly & my Lexus 07 runs like a dream. I’m happily taking my car back for an MOT as they’ve done a good job on it.

I broke down on the motorway and CEVE sorted recovery of my car and fixed all problems within a few days. Very good value and great customer service. Been going here for years and this makes it best garage. Thanks guys!

I have used these guys numerous occasions for both my company van and family car. Always gone above and beyond to fit me in especially when desperate for my work vehicle for obvious reasons. Problems are always resolved at a more than reasonable price.

Service was was quick and very friends I highly reccomend!

Thanks guys, just had MOT done, really easy booking, friendly staff, all done nice a quickly. Will be using you again, especially with your move to Galleywood.

Based on my experience, I would strongly advise against utilizing this service. The vehicle was initially recommended by the AA and subsequently towed to this garage. The repair process was significantly delayed, with the vehicle remaining at the garage for two months. A month was required simply for the initial diagnosis, which resulted in a quote of £4,000 for a new gearbox. Communication proved challenging, as phone calls were rarely answered. Furthermore, obtaining necessary parts was consistently delayed. Ultimately, I transferred the vehicle to an alternative garage, who successfully diagnosed and resolved the issue for £200 in a day, for a gearbox software reflash. Highly disorganized and questionable knowledge base.

Very unsure about this company, this is the type of garage that leads to mistrust and uncertainty. Recommended for repairs by AA under warranty. I had a minor oil leak from under my car. Took it to CEVE in the morning, they charged £120 for a diagnostic, and advised that the problem should be covered by the warranty. Heard nothing all day, only to be rang at the end of the day that they would need to keep it overnight and look at it the following day...fine.
Following day, heard nothing all day, chased them up in the middle, advised that it was up on the ramp being looked at. Nothing again until 5.30pm, when i'm told "its all done", had to get a cab over to make in time before they closed due to the short notice.
They told me when i got there, it was all done, and handed me the key, they also sent me the invoice straight away, and advised that i would get £60 back from the diagnostic cost as i was under warranty. I had to ask them what was actually wrong before i left and they the advised that they 'believed' it was the gasket, what work was done on it they didn't say.

The following day, i noticed my car was still leaking oil from underneath, contacted CEVE and told them that this was the case. They advised to bring it back. When i took the car to them the following day, they advised me that actually the type of problem was not covered by warranty, as such i would incur the cost, and advised to leave the car with them so they could have a look at why it was still leaking. Midway through the day, i spoke to them on the phone, to be told the following needed replacement:
Rocker cover gasket
Oil Sump
Oil cooler

and would cost me £1127 (minus the diagnostic price).

Question begs to be asked;
why was that not detected on the first try?
what work was actually done on the first occasion?
why is it now not covered by the warranty?

Sure enough i didn't authorize the repairs, and have gone back to the garage where i bought the car, awaiting their diagnostic.

Whilst CEVE's diagnostic and price may be completely genuine, the manner in which they conducted themselves leaves it difficult to trust them, and i cant shake the feeling like i was about to be conned.

As a final sting, i asked for the quote for the work they proposed and despite constantly promising to provide it, they still haven't, even stating that they 'haven't got a receptionist' as a reason. Again reinforcing the feeling that they are trying to con money out of me.

I would steer well clear of this garage.

My daughter had problems with her vehicle
It was towed to this garage as recommended

They had the car for a very long time and it didn’t progress at all

No one answers the phone

Only way to get a call answered is call from a withheld number

Seriously unorganised garage and I wouldn’t return or recommend anybody!

I wish we read the previous reviews here before using

23/9/24; My EV developed a charging problem.
AA Homestart recommended CEVE and escorted my vehicle to the garage.
14/10/24; Diagnostic completed, quote received and accepted, and part ordered.
23/10/24; Part received.
31/10/24; Was informed part fitted and tested and ready for collection.
1/11/24; Collected vehicle and paid balance of bill. (The cost of the part having to be paid prior to ordering.)
1/11/24; As car returned with less than 30 miles range, placed on charge as soon as I arrived home.
Charging fault still present, as though nothing had been fixed.
1/11/24; Contacted CEVE. Vehicle had to be collected due to insufficient charge to drive it back to the garage myself.
As I had already paid for the repair I was promised priority, a courtesy vehicle and delivery to home address when work properly completed.
8/11/24; Requested use of promised courtesy car and was informed it had been sold. CEVE then offered a rental car, but none were available. Subsequently I was informed that my transport issues were not the concern of CEVE.
28/11/24; Informed CEVE were unable to fix the problem, and my car was to be subcontracted to a Vauxhall dealership for diagnosis. This was to be at no additional cost to myself as the garage had to honour the repair that I had already paid for.
19/12/24; After a 3 week wait for a main dealership appointment, CEVE informed that the part they had fitted and tested had proved to be faulty, and replacement part had been ordered.
4/1/25; Part arrived? Garage gave contradicting dates for this event.
The part was fitted but CEVE were unable to "code" it which surprised me as they are an EV specialist.
21/1/25; After 10 days of attempting to contact the garage with no response. I was informed by CEVE that the problem remained and needed to be subcontracted back to Vauxhall again. Another long delay for an appointment.
13/2/25; Vehicle with Vauxhall.
20/2/25; Informed vehicle fixed and ready for collection. I reminded CEVE that in November home delivery had been promised. I was assured this would be organised.
21/2/25; 3 Calls made to CEVE to establish details of delivery. Due to the lack of response, I resolved to travel to the garage to collect in person. This involved over a hour on public transport. On arrival I learned my car was still with Vauxhall. I was told I needed to see the owner and he would with me in 20 minutes.
One and a half hours later he arrived, and I was taken to Vauxhall to retrieve my car.
Contacting CEVE by telephone was a painful process. It usually involved several attempts and a long wait.
Advise to prospective customers, I found that calls are answered more rapidly if you either withhold your number or use a number not registered in their system.

Great reliable garage. Really know their stuff. First class service. 👍

Left my car in the middle of the road for 3 days, would of been longer if I didn't have the car removed. AA recommended so they should look at the car within 48 hours, no contact but told the AA they hadn't been in but the "boss" told the AA driver where to park the car. Apparently according to another boss its a 2- 5 week wait for diagnostic work. No transparency, no contact. I would never recommend or send a car here.

Fitted a new clutch on my Mum’s car. Really impressed with their customer care, thorough work and the price!

I took my car to the garage after it broke down due to the slave disc breaking. It was listed as an AA approved garage.
It took CEVE a long time to diagnose the fault (which they didn't do correctly the first time). On further inspection, the car needed a whole new clutch kit. Bear in mind they charged £100 to diagnose the fault. The car was with them for five weeks before I eventually gave up and had a second garage collect the car and take it to their garage. They had the car back on the road within six days.
I do note that they specialise in electric cars whereas mine was a petrol ICE hatchback but they failed to rectify a clutch fault. They put in a replacement part and broke it within a mile because they didn't correctly diagnose the fault.
These issues combined with me chasing frequently for updated was frustrating as progress appeared to be very slow. The parts were at under warranty and the warranty company were waiting for CEVE requests so they could approve.

Overall it was a very slow service which they couldn't rectify and I didn't have a car for five weeks. Perhaps it was also my fault for going to them with an ICE car although the AA did not suggest that the garage choice was inappropriate and CEVE were happy to take the job.

Staff were friendly enough when I called so they get a couple of stars for that.

Recommended by the AA.
My Fiat Doblo went in for a rail fuel sensor and fuel filter. Having my van for over 2 weeks I picked it up and drove home. Mason was always polite and helpful until I questioned the part he put in my van. Following day the engine management light came back on and went back into limp mode. I decided to call the AA and they diagnosed the fault as the rail fuel pressure sensor and the EGR Valve so I decided to go to a different garage. So the new garage changed the sensor and I told them to keep the part so I could be reimbursed from CEVE and show Mason the part they said had been changed. Turned up at CEVE and they were busy, showed Mason the part and said this is the part the mechanic has just changed. He looked at it ,ummmed and aahhhhed and called over the guy who supposedly changed the sensor. He said this part looks new, ,I was shocked because prior to this on the phone he said he would reimburse me for the sensor, instead he chucked the part on my engine and told me to F... Off. No way to run a business, Don't use this place they keep your vehicle for weeks on end . ,then chuck you under the bus. You know what Mason keep my money coz you're biting off more than you can chew.

Having been a London cab driver for over 20 years and using many many different garages, and living in London I find my self in Chelmsford Essex having through word of mouth hearing about CEVE and I must say personally I will Not Use Another Garage,this is special place where the all the Team are absolutely on point.
I have no hesitation in recommending CEVC they are approachable,knowledgeable,Sincere and Importantly good value in times where every body knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
My opinion use them and see for yourself.

They had my car as the AA ‘recommended’ them. They had my car over 3 weeks and after no contact… me having to chase them constantly… they quoted me £2047 for a new turbo.
I had the car moved to another garage and it transpired that the turbo was not broken, it was a completely different problem, if I had paid them the £2047 I would have still had a car that wasn’t working…also the people that work there are rude and unhelpful.. if I could give zero stars I would… never use this garage

I had a windscreen replaced by another business, after there were a few issues with my vehicle. It was clear that a wire had been cut during the windscreen replacement process based on some research on my car. The windscreen business is not an electrician and recommended that I go to a garage who can fix the electrical problem.

My appointment was at their opening time of 9am, my car was not taken until 9:30am, a business should stick to their appointment time especially when they had 5 days notice. I received a call later that my car was only booked in for an hour (I was told it could take all day and was not made aware the booking was an hour) they offered to work on it for an extra hour… Keeping it for over a week they worked on the car for 5 hours, and could not find the problem. They recommended that it would be too expensive to keep working on the car and that the wire cut would’ve been far too small to notice or maybe water damage. Over the phone, the price was told to be £400 and that was with a discount that they had added. I went to the business to retrieve my car and the price was £480. I had to go get cash for the price to be lowered to £400.

After hearing I was charged £400 and nothing was fixed the windscreen business offered to come take a look because this didn’t sound right.
After reading my invoice
(plug in diagnostics and report, remove and refit: headlining to inspect windscreen aperture and antenna electrical terminals, remove and refit: A-Pillars to inspect windscreen aperture and wiringl, remove and refit: Windscreen wipers, scuttle panel and under bonnet trim to access the lower windscreen aperture to check wiring., remove and refit: Rear fog light to check wiring bulb and bulb holder, checked fuse boxes for rear fog light fuse and relay, continuity test carried out on wire from fog light to fuse box, body control module inspected for water ingress - no visible signs of water ingress / witness marks)
the windscreen business decided to remove my windscreen entirely to see if they could find anything by the dashboard that would not have been visible without the windscreen removed. After removing the windscreen the headline dropped (previously removed by CEVE) and the cut wire was found in minutes and was very obvious.

I went back to CEVE and I stood in reception and listened to them criticising me for not getting the windscreen guy to fix it in the first place (they were unaware that I was standing there for a minute). It was very tense and I felt very uncomfortable because as a customer I just wanted to sort out this issue. I showed them the photos of the cut wire they said that they had checked behind the headlining carefully and they did not find anything so the wire that the windscreen business found must’ve been hidden or trapped within the windscreen and therefore CEVE would not have been able to find it… However when CEVE showed me their photos of my vehicle, after lightly increasing the exposure in a photo you can see that the wire was not trapped and was exposed after taking out the headlining. CEVE seemed apprehensive to believe that was the wire that was cut. I’m no car expert but based on the colour and position of the wire in the photos from the garage and the windscreen business, simply comparing the both of them you can clearly see it was that wire. They still deny that they missed this wiring and claims that the windscreen would’ve needed to be removed entirely… despite the fact that the photos show that the wire could’ve been easily accessed and fixed because it was behind the headlining that they had already removed. Perhaps it would’ve been easier to see the wire with the windscreen removed, but the wire was still accessible and clearly was not checked thoroughly.
A non-electrician found the problem and fixed it in under 5 minutes, they removed the windscreen because they believed that maybe the damage was hidden but then saw an obviously cut wire with the headlining dropped and so CEVE should have spotted this problem. I understand that the money is for the labour worked on the car, however if properly inspected, this problem should’ve been found in under an hour which would’ve cost me around £80/£100.

Context: I’m 21 years old, I was not able to get to my job for over a week because of this issue. This situation was very stressful and I did cry because I was losing my job, I paid £400 for seemingly nothing and I was told my car was worth scrapping because it would be too expensive to continue working on. “Screaming” is a very highly exaggerated description that CEVE tried to describe me as having in a previous review that I took down to reword after talking with the business.

Reply: the windscreen did not need to be taken off to fix the issue- pictures on my Google review prove this the cut wire is visible and accessible in a photo they took!!

I didn’t have direct dealings with this company, but my daughter was unfortunate enough to have booked her vehicle with them.

There was an issue with the windscreen and some electrical wiring. They had the vehicle for a week and worked on it for 6 hours without finding a fault eventually advising that the vehicle was best being scrapped. We had the guy who fixed the windscreen find the fault within 40 mins. The issue was obvious and should have been easy to see (it did not require removal of the windscreen).

I had to phone them myself on a few occasions and they never returned calls, I always had to chase.

have subsequently contacted them to make a complaint and they (unsurprisingly) have failed to respond. They were unhelpful and unprofessional throughout and I would not recommend
Their services.

There appear to be some great reviews on here. My advice would be don’t risk it and choose any other specialist