Car stereo fitting – any good experiences with Halfords?

Just changed the T5 for a car and want to upgrade the fitted stereo. DAB and bluetooth a must and TBH I like AppleCar Play so have had a look around and with BC discount Halfords are @£200 less than the local specialists – I know you get what you pay for but its a lot of money!

Anyone got any good experiences with Halfords – am in Cardiff if you can recommend a store

What car is it going in to?

Audi A3

How new?

If it’s one of the newer models then it uses CAN-BUS so worth having someone install it who knows what they are on about.

If it’s one of the older ones then it would be worth grabbing some adapters and having a go yourself as reasonably simple job.

2012 – I think it uses CAN-BUS so probably not a job for me!

AFAIK, from 2nd hand reports (never used them myself), Halfords cheap installation fees only apply if it’s a simple job. If it’s anything more than a head unit swap and wiring adapter they probably won’t do it.

I just had them fit a Sony DAB.  Some of the guys know what they’re doing, some not quite so much so.  I was glad I went there because not all of the bits and bobs are standard so there was quite a bit of nipping in to get a different connector etc.  Something I wouldn’t have got right first time.  Also they will have the tool to remove your existing unit – which saved me buying one.

The only problem I had (have) is that I ended up with a stick-on windscreen antenna.  The first issue was that the guy stuck the connector to the window pillar without scratching the paint back to metal.  They fixed that, but a stick-on isn’t as good as a roof mounted antenna.

£30 for wiring it throughout (also has a hands free phone mic) which took an hour.  Good value and my BC card got me 10% off everything.

They’ve confirmed the price – I suppose they make the money out of selling the unit

I’ve heard that some of the fitters are very good – I just wish I knew where the good ones worked!

I did my wife’s Golf for a similar reason – biggest issue was dismantling the dash enough to get the OEM stereo out without scratching things or leaving them creaking when reassembled. Actually fitting the stereo was a fairly simple job with the correct harness adapter.

Google maps might help as people leave reviews and some will mention audio fitting.

Halfords fitted mine. I think they did a reasonable job. It had to go back after a week or so because the DAB stopped working, and it’s currently (years later) stopped working again, but I think that’s the dodgy quality on the antenna plugs which would apply to anyone because they presumably all buy the same kits from the same Chinese factory.

It’s not easy to find a time when their fitters are available. We had to go to the next town.

Apparently it wasn’t a simple job, routing around all the airbags. An older car with more space behind the dash would be easier to DIY.

Buying all the bits from them is more expensive than getting them from eBay, but not £200 more. They’ll also spec up all the adapters you need, which is non-trivial.

I used to work at Halfords and it’s a very mixed bag.

Some of the fitters were brilliant and would be very comfortable doing any automotive electrical work.  Others?  Well I wouldn’t trust some of them to turn on a light switch.

On the plus side they are big enough that if they do muck it up they will get it sorted or pay a main dealer to get it sorted.

I would use them, but I’d be chatting to the fitter first to get an idea of their competence.

I had a head unit fitted by Halfords, should have taken about an hour, took nearly three! And then the bloke fitting it totally bodged the installation. When I finally bought a DAB unit around six or seven years ago I found a place in Westbury who could do it reasonably cheaply, although I bought the unit, a Kenwood, from Halfords, because they were in town and a good price. The bloke there asked who the hell had put it in, so I told him. ‘Figures’ he said with a heavy sigh and the whole rolley-eye thing.

For quickness I had the windscreen antenna fitted, because I was going on holiday and they didn’t have any external ones to hand, and stuck with it for a while, but then I had a magnetic one fitted, which is superb, there are very few places where the signal drops out. Not cheap, about £40 including fitting, but very well worth it to get the best from a car DAB.

Had good experiences (one very recent) with the fitter in Halfords Aberystwyth. Swapped an aftermarket head unit for a Kenwood with Apple CarPlay. Took ages and involved some degree of faffage. More than happy to hand over thirty quid for the privilege.

Have just fitted a head unit to a t5. Read up about what adapters you need. VW/Audi have a separate connector to run the Multi Function Display and steering wheel controls. The car will need coding to get this all to play nicely. I’ve nearly sorted it – have got nav, radio, air con and parking sensor display to work on the head unit and MFD, but can only get 70% of the steering wheel controls to work correctly.

Also check about your BC discount. They’ve changed recently to focus the discount just on cycling bits, but it really depends on the training level of the person at the checkout.