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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.67 (881 reviews)

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1.48

Based on 881 reviews, last reviewed 5th Apr 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

39% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

11%

80%

Latest highest rating:

5

Very good quote on car insurance, and recommended on... Very good quote on car insurance, and recommended on go compare site Reviewed on: 25th September 2024

Latest lowest rating:

1

Took £881 when by their own admission the insurance... Took £881 when by their own admission the insurance was cancelled. Then tell you it will take 10 days for the refund . Absolute disgrace . AVOID THIS ... Read more Reviewed on: 5th April 2025

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About this product

With 1st Central, you can insure a single car or opt for a multicar policy. There’s also a telematics policy.

As standard, you get up to 90 days free cover when driving in Europe. There are five policies to choose from giving different levels of cover: ValueOnline, Online, LegalOnline, PlusOnline and PremierOnline.

1st Central car insurance reviews help you find out what it’s really like to be a customer. If you’ve used 1st Central before, you can also ...

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1st Central Car insurance reviews (881)

Took £881 when by their own admission the insurance...

Took £881 when by their own admission the insurance was cancelled. Then tell you it will take 10 days for the refund . Absolute disgrace . AVOID THIS COMPANY . Reviewed on: 5th April 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Brian, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. If there’s anything you’d like us to look into for you, please contact us by sending an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk. Please include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley Response date: 7th April 2025

I wish I had read previous reviews before taking out...

I wish I had read previous reviews before taking out a policy with these scam artists. Their common tactic is to lure you in with a low quote, only to later demand additional documents based on fabricated claims. First, they asked for proof of my no-claims history, which I provided. Then, they suddenly claimed that an accident from three years ago—which I had correctly declared as non-fault—was actually my fault. This is completely untrue, and no other insurer has ever question... Reviewed on: 3rd April 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Jacob, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. All details on the policy impact the price of the policy we offer, if details are found to be incorrect we need to update them and this can impact the price of the policy. If you’d like to speak to the team about this process, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. Ashley Response date: 4th April 2025

Avoid at all costs

I purchased insurance 10 days ago. After making the payment, I contacted customer service to inquire if any additional information was needed from me. They informed me that nothing else was required. However, seven days later, I received an email requesting that I need to upload few documents, including my license and a no-claim bonus certificate, which I promptly did. They did not specify the number of years of no-claim bonus required, so I submitted a certificate covering thre... e years. When I followed up with customer service, I was told that only two years of no-claim bonus from the same provider were necessary, which I had already provided. Despite this, they stated that since I submitted three years and they had not requested that amount, I would incur an additional charge. Furthermore, there was a discrepancy with the date of my license test, and although I was initially told that any amendments made online would be free, I was later informed that I would need to pay £166 to correct the date. The requirement for a three-year no-claim bonus certificate, when only two years were needed, seems unreasonable to me. This situation feels like an attempt to extract additional funds from customers. When I questioned why I was not informed of this earlier during my previous call, the representative explained that she was from a different department. Regardless of the department, it is unacceptable to provide misleading information to customers. They clearly stated that online amendments could be made without charge, so I fail to understand why I am being asked to pay an extra £166. Essentially, it appears that they offer a lower initial quote only to request more money shortly thereafter. They attempted to deceive me by questioning why the previous quote indicated 9,000 miles while the new one only shows 5,000. I explained that I had a car previously, and the system automatically populated the data since I used the same comparison website. This time, however, we will not be using the car as frequently because my current job does not provide parking, so it will primarily be for social purposes. She persisted, asking why I had mentioned 9,000 miles before. I clarified that while I did mention that figure, I did not proceed with the quote they provided; instead, I opted for a different option, which is unrelated to this situation. It seems they will create numerous excuses to extract money from you, and the entire company appears to be a scam. I have cancelled my current insurance with them will never use their service again. Don't buy this insurance after seeing cheaper price, they are stealing customer's money using their trick to scam. I never seen before this kind of Scammer company who steal customer's money after making lots of unnecessary excuse. Date of experience: March 28, 2025 Reviewed on: 29th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Parth, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. All details on the policy impact the price of the policy we offer, if details are found to be incorrect we need to update them and this can impact the price of the policy. If you’d like to speak to the team about this process, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. Ashley Response date: 31st March 2025

Wouldn’t even quote for a renewal.

I was with this company for a year. I paid my premiums on time and without fail, when it came to renewing, they initially tried to add £150 a year to my premiums, despite me not having any accidents, not claiming or even contacting them. When I spoke to them to discuss this, they then said they couldn’t even quote me. If I’m not the sort of customer that insurance companies want then I don’t know what is! AVOID! Reviewed on: 28th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Dan, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We can't offer insurance to every customer and we are governed by our underwriters. If underwriting criteria changes in the year, this means we sometimes can't offer a customer a new policy at renewal. Ashley Response date: 31st March 2025

Scam AVOID AVOID AVOID

1 day before my insurance was due for renewal I rang up and spoke with a lady who it's fair to say English wasn't her first language. I asked her multiple times to change my policy to pay monthly rather than renewal in one lump sum. She assured me that she couldn't do it that evening as the policy was in 'processing stage' if i called back first thing in the morning i wouldn't be charged and would be able to change to pay monthly as the policy will then be in 'confirmation stage... Reviewed on: 28th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hello, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 28th March 2025

Exit fees everywhere.

Exit fees everywhere. I sold my car so needed to cancel. They charge a £50 arrangement fee, £50 admin fee and a £10 cancellation fee. Now I thought cancelling was a admin task. Reviewed on: 27th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Ben, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We advise of our cancellation fee when a policy is set up. We also advise of the £50 non-refundable arrangement fee. This isn't charged at cancellation, but this is a non refudnable fee from when you set you policy up with us. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 28th March 2025

You’re not really insured with 1st Central

Had my Range Rover stolen and found with missing parts. The experience of dealing with 1st Central was a nightmare from the very start, the vehicle was found by the Police on a Sunday, 1st Central offices were closed (with no emergency number) so I had to arrange my own recovery to avoid the thieves from returning and moving the car. The company created endless obstacles to delay my claim. I highly doubt 99% of the five-star reviews here are real — very dodgy insurance. When I ... Reviewed on: 25th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Ilyas, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 26th March 2025

DO NOT USE- DREADFUL SERVICE

I feel completely miss sold by this company. I have been treated in the most appalling manner. I have been a customer for many years and had a 14 year no claims bonus. I have never had an accident in over forty years of driving. I recently had a gate close on my car and called to see if I could make a claim. They wrote my car off so I decided not to make a claim. I opened a new policy to give my no claims more protection and was told I could retain my 14 years no claims. I opene... Reviewed on: 20th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Wendy, Firstly, I'm very sorry to hear of the passing of your husband. I hope you and your family are doing as well as they can at this time. I'm sorry to hear of the issues you've faced with your claim. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 21st March 2025

Be careful, rip of company, if you move house and us...

Be careful, rip of company, if you move house and use the online portal, they will still charge you £25 admin fee even though you are doing the admin work your self, also if you move to an area that is 100% safer and lower crime rate with less accidents then and also the use of a garage, then they will still bump your insurance up by 125-160. I have another car with an agreed valuation of 80k with Adrian flux, I went online and changed my address and Adrian flux have changed my ... Reviewed on: 18th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Francisco, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We advise of our admin fees when a policy is set up and we also advise of them here on our website - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/motor/payments-and-fees/what-are-your-car-insurance-fees-and-charges. The price of insurance can change with any amendment to the policy, this is due to different risk factors. We have this article that goes in to some o... Response date: 18th March 2025

SCAM SO AVOID, AVOID & AVOID

I am a current customer, had an incident on 12/8/24. They lied through out the claim handling process. They told me multiple times that they will send me an email BUT THEY NEVER DID so AVOID, AVOID & AVOID. Reviewed on: 17th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Arshad, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Let’s see if we can help put this right for you. Just give our team a call on 0333 043 2022 or speak to us on web chat which can be found on our website. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 6pm. Ashley Response date: 18th March 2025

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