Wilsons Epsom
Website: https://www.wilsons.co.uk
Phone: 01372 736 000
Address: Nonsuch Business Park, Kiln Lane, Epsom, United Kingdom, KT17 1DH
About company:
We are the largest family run new and used car supermarket covering Surrey, London and the South of England that has been selling cars for over 110 years offering our customers extensive choice, unbeatable value and a service they can trust in one location. We’re proud to represent elevent new car brands — Abarth, Alfa Romeo, Dacia, Fiat, Hyundai, Jeep, MG, Nissan, Nismo, Peugeot, and Renault — as well as stocking over 1,000 nearly new and used cars on site that you can browse online today.
We are always open to taking on new talent and are proud to offer jobs in Epsom to local residents. Interested in joining our team? Have a look at our careers page here
So, how did it all begin?
In 1904, Wilsons opened as one of the first driving schools in the UK. Florence Wilson and Howard Wilson saw an opportunity when a friend was fascinated by the new ‘»horseless carriage» he was driving, and they began offering driving lessons and later on started to sell cars.
Florence Wilson was one of the first female driving instructors in the country.
In the 1920’s, during the First World War, the Wilsons taught Australians and New Zealenders to drive army trucks in London in an effort to beat the enemy!
By 1930s, the second world war had ended and the number of car owners was increasing. Wilsons expanded and move on to a bigger site in Epsom
In 1946, Wilsons became the dealership with the largest self-drive car fleet in the UK. Most of the Wilsons children were taught to drive from as young as 5! In the 1950’s, Tony Wilson even taught CHILDREN to drive at school as part of a road safety campaign!
In 1953, Wilsons became a franchise dealer for Renault, and are the oldest Renault dealership still in business.
In 1958, Wilsons started the FIRST global motorhome sales centre and through the 1960s and 1970s, Wilsons was the largest global motorhome dealership, trading as Wilsons Motor Caravan Centre. They were selling over 2,000 motorhomes a year! We even supplied motorhomes to celebrities like Steve Mcqueen!
In 1981, Wilsons opened a stand alone Van Centre at 101 East Street in Epsom.
In the 1990s, Wilsons became a franchise dealership for Nissan and Peugeot, and in the 2000s we added Fiat, Vauxhall and Citroen to the Wilsons family.
In 2002, Van Sales purchased a larger site and moved to the London Road in North Cheam, where they remain today. Loads of Vans are family owned and run by the Wilsons and are committed to supply the best new and used vans on the market.
In September 2003, there was a fire in the Renault Showroom which caused damage to the Sales and Service departments.
However, not being the type to backdown to a challenge, as early as April 2004, just 7 months after the fire, Wilsons were back up and running and just over a year later Wilsons was back to full capacity. Despite such a traffic event, the business survived and continued to function in a show of strength and adversity.
In 2015 Wilsons added Dacia to the growing list of franchises, and in 2016 added Abarth, growing the FCA franchises.
In 2018, the business expanded again adding Nismo to the Nissan franchise.
In February 2020, the main showroom was completely refurbished and Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Hyundai were added to the franchise family.
In January 2021, Wilsons launched a new website, with a buy online option where customers can transact completely online, buying cars using cash or applying for finance completely online, and having it delivered to their homes when convenient for them, driving the business forward digitally.
In July 2021, despite the challenges from Covid-19, Wilsons added MG to the franchises.
Now, Wilsons have 11 New Car Franchises, over 1,000 used vehicles in stock, a stand alone Vans centre and are leading the switch to electric vehicles in Surrey. The business continues to go from strength to strength and is a market leader for car dealerships, who knows what the next few years will have in store!
Choice, Value, Trust. Wilsons. Since 1904.
I bought a Kia Rio 1.5 diesel as a quick stop gap Summer 2017 Within a few hours a serious defect appeared on the overrun where the engine flailed and bucked. I took it back the next day and I expected the worst.However Wilson’s staff where very supportive and positive. I received a courtesy car which was very flash and waited for the Kia to be repaired. Unfortunately after it returned from Wilson’s repair garage the car was worse .2nd gear could not be engaged. Wilson’s took the Kia back and I continued to use the courtesy car . I received a message about five days later saying that Wilson’s considered further repair to the Kia uneconomical and they would return my money. I can confirm that Wilson’s staff and management are very professional and supportive but selling a car that was a nail in the first place was stressful and inconvenient for me
Reading here, it seems that Wilsons is still the same old car dealer it was 20 years ago. When they treated us badly!! Avoid, please!!!
Purchased a Motability vehicle which was picked up in April 2022 and within two days I had reported 2 niggles/issues/faults. What has followed is almost 3 months of frustration, upset and stress in trying to get them resolved by a largely incompetent Service Department. My main issues have been, 1. Throughout the last three months Wilsons could have quickly resolved the problems. They chose not to. Instead, fobbing me off to both the car manufacturer and then motability. As an individual trying to deal with large companies is stressful. No-one wants to take responsibility. Wilsons showed zero goodwill and refused to help over something quite minor. 2. The car has been back to Wilsons on 5 occasions and their communication is shocking. He failed to contact me despite 6 separate promises to do so. I raised a complaint to Wilsons customer-care email and Broghan responded. She apologised and wrote “ With reference to our service department, I can only apologise for the lack of communication thus far and would like to assure you this is a priority” . I was passed to Benn the service manager to deal with but the service and treatment continued to spiral downhill. 3. The car went back in on a Friday and Benn promised to call that afternoon. He did not. I waited and waited. I emailed Broghan who despite promising communication would be a priority failed to respond. I then had to phone Benn the following Wednesday myself. 4. During this call Benn booked the car back in promising to replace the damaged unit (motability covering costs) and replace a component in the SatNav. He told me that Hyundai agreed to cover this despite the fact it was ‘quite expensive’ 5. Car back to dealership but informed at front desk that no work was to be done on the SatNav. I explained the conversation with Benn. Someone went to speak with him. He denied saying about the replacement part. He refused to speak to me directly despite two requests. Benn is a liar. So, my conclusion is that the Service Department are wholly untrustworthy. You cannot believe anything they say. A horrific experience and when they are prepared to lie to cover up issues then it’s pretty despicable. Deal with them at your own risk.