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We’ve been contacted by Watchdog viewers who have purchased second hand cars from the car retailer Big Motoring World, and when problems arise with the vehicle in the first 30 days they were having issues when trying to return their car.

We spoke to Giulia from London who bought a Nissan Qashqai in September last year from Big Motoring World’s Wimbledon branch. She paid £16,200 in total including additional options and 3-year warranty. She was pleased with her new car until just 8 days later the vehicle had suddenly gone into limp mode and an engine management light illuminated on the dashboard. She reported this to Big Motoring World with photographic evidence of the illuminated light who inspected the vehicle, however Big Motoring World say that no fault had been found after multiple road and garage tests. When we spoke to Giulia she was in a stand-off with Big Motoring World as it said it couldn’t find a fault with her car and Giulia had lost confidence in the vehicle after it went into limp mode.

We also spoke to Gemma from Leeds who bought a Hyundai Tucson from Big Motoring World’s branch in Leeds in June last year. Gemma part exchanged her old car and paid £11,400. Gemma realised that after driving the car for a few days, it would vibrate excessively when going over around 40mph and it concerned her, so reported it to Big Motoring World. The company arranged for an independent inspection that declared it was due to a fault with a vehicle, which should mean that Gemma was within her right to reject. However Big Motoring World did repairs to her vehicle and even after this, Gemma said the problem was still present. Big Motoring World insisted that it needed to carry out further inspection into the issue. When we spoke to Gemma she was still going back and forth with Big Motoring World, 6 months on still getting mixed messages whether it was a fault or not, even though an independent vehicle inspector had deemed it so.

We contacted Big Motoring World and it said that Giulia’s car had no faults found after multiple inspections and road tests. It also said that it invited Giulia to collect the vehicle as no faults were present however she declined to do this, and she would be charged for the storage of the vehicle until she chose to collect it. Shortly after Big Motoring World, as a gesture of goodwill agreed to waive the storage fees. Big Motoring World said the vehicle was assessed by Nissan and it also found no faults. Big Motoring World acknowledges that the outcome is not the resolution Giulia was hoping for, however, it hopes that the 4 vehicle diagnostic inspections carried out and paid for by Big Motoring World since the date of purchase provides Giulia with the necessary reassurance that no faults could be found. Giulia told ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Watchdog she has since sold the vehicle for a £4,000 loss and is going to purchase a replacement after losing confidence in the vehicle.

In regard to Gemma’s case Big Motoring World said that a third-party vehicle examination company confirmed a minor vibration with the vehicle and the vehicle was booked in with its Aftersales Centre for repair. Gemma reported the vibration was still present and the vehicle was returned to its Aftersales Centre and a technician confirmed that no fault could be found. Gemma advised that she was dissatisfied that the vibration is still present, and whilst Big Motoring World believe it is a characteristic of the vehicle make and model, it appreciates that Gemma has been inconvenienced. Big Motoring World confirmed that it has agreed to accept Gemma’s vehicle to be returned, and has issued a refund and apology for the disruption she experienced. It considers Gemma’s case to be resolved.

Big Motoring World said in a statement to ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Watchdog:

“Over the last three years, we have sold over 120,000 used cars and across 2025 alone, we expect to sell around 70,000 cars. On average, our cars are 4 years old and inevitably this does mean issues will arise from time to time, despite our best efforts. When issues do arise, we are committed to reaching fair resolutions and we do our upmost to satisfy our customer’s expectations. Naturally, we are very sorry that we have fallen short of this in our interactions with Ms Bindi & Mrs Broughton.

“In 2024, we invested over £5 million on developing our customer support infrastructure and we expect this rate of investment to continue into 2025. We are also launching several customer focused products and initiatives early this year to help us deliver for our customers, including most recently subscribing to The Motor Ombudsman’s Codes of Practice. The Motor Ombudsman is the UK's government-backed, self-regulatory body for the motor industry.

“We are grateful that ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Watchdog has raised Ms Bindi and Mrs Broughton’s individual cases to us. We have been in regular communication with both customers over recent weeks and we have been working hard to reaching a fair resolution in both cases.

“We can confirm that we have agreed to accept Mrs Broughton’s request to return her Hyundai Tucson and we have now issued a refund and apology for the disruption Mrs Broughton experienced. Mrs Broughton’s case is now resolved.

“We have also been in communication with Ms Bindi and agreed to waive the storage fees incurred when she declined to collect her vehicle from our premises. Ms Bindi has not accepted our second offer to run an extended diagnostic road test, in an effort to get the reported fault to reproduce. Having previously carried out three diagnostic tests that found no fault with Ms Bindi’s vehicle we have facilitated and paid for a further independent diagnostic inspection with a Nissan main dealer of Ms Bindi’s choosing. The Nissan dealership Ms Bindi selected also found no fault with her vehicle and it has now been returned to her.

“We fully appreciate this isn’t the outcome Ms Bindi was hoping for; however, we hope that the four vehicle diagnostic inspections carried out and paid for by Big Motoring World since the date of purchase provides Ms Bindi with the necessary reassurance that no faults could be found.

“Customer satisfaction is our most important metric, and we remain determined to continue to improve all aspects of our customer experience.”

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