Write a review

Newsletter

Go to business site

1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.72 (970 reviews)

View other 1st Central products

1.72

Based on 970 reviews, last reviewed 17th Aug 2026

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

140% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

11%

80%

Latest highest rating:

5

Just started my third year of car insurance cover wi... Just started my third year of car insurance cover with 1st Central. Good value for money, helpful customer service, clearly laid out website and easy ... Read more Reviewed on: 17th April 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Absolutely terrible It is hard to describe my experience with this company than anything other than an absolute clown show. Since starting my policy on July 29th, I have... Read more Reviewed on: 17th August 2026

Read all reviews Write a review

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 leave a review and share your experience.

Review 1st Central: Car insurance now

Help others make smarter decisions by sharing your own experience.

Write a review

1st Central Car insurance reviews (970)

Absolutely terrible

It is hard to describe my experience with this company than anything other than an absolute clown show. Since starting my policy on July 29th, I have been receiving the welcome every once every 6 hours, without fail, up until now (August 14th). I have tried 4 times to contact support and explain this to them. The first 3 times I was fobbed off saying the IT team will be contacted to resolve it (they haven't). The 4th time the agent didn't seem to have a clue what my policy was, was very rude and unhelpful and started quoting document dates that were factually incorrect. Next year, no matter how cheap these lot are, I will make sure I use a different company. Absolute disgrace and still my issue isnt resolved. Reviewed on: 17th August 2026

Reply from 1st Central Hi, Thank you for your feedback and for choosing 1st Central. 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'll use your review to help improve our services. Emily Response date: 18th August 2026

AVOID this company

I had to make some changes to my policy, so I contacted the company to request the amendments. The revised premium they quoted was almost three times higher than comparable quotes I received from other insurers for the same level of cover after making the exact same changes at the same time. I explained that the new premium was significantly higher than their competitors and asked whether they could offer any discount or review the price. They refused. As a result, I decided I wanted to cancel the policy. I was prepared to pay the cancellation fee, but I was then told I would also have to pay an additional "rearrangement fee", which, according to the agent, is part of their terms and conditions. I was even informed that part of this fee would still apply if I cancelled during the 14-day cooling-off period. I have never come across anything like this before. My experience left me feeling that the company attracts customers with a competitive initial premium, but once you're a customer, making even simple changes can become extremely expensive. If you then decide to leave, you may face multiple fees that make it costly to cancel. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this company. Read the terms and conditions very carefully before taking out a policy, especially the sections relating to policy amendments, cancellation charges, and rearrangement fees. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. Reviewed on: 30th July 2026

Horrendous! Cheaper for a reason.... what a scam!!!

Horrendous! After 3 weeks into my insurance with them, they contacted me to say they had increased my mileage a year as they have access to all previous the data from price comparison sites and on one previous quote I had put in a higher mileage. Then they rejected my no claims certificate and said I owed them almost another £900 - upon calling, I was then interrogated on the telephone for a whole hour as to my daily habits, I cancelled and went with a reputable insurer. After 30 years of driving, never known anything like it! Reviewed on: 17th July 2026

Absolute scam. Avoid this awful company.

This company has been absolutely awful to use and has caused my family so much unnecessary stress. It almost feels like a scam at this point with how they manipulate information just to clear files off their desks. The accident happened in mid-November. My car was written off the exact same day and picked up less than a week later, but dealing with this company since then has been a total nightmare.Their handlers completely mismanaged the file from the start. They explicitly told us it was our fault, entirely ignoring our independent witnesses and evidence that was heavily stacked against the third party. Even the person handling our case openly admitted to me that the other driver was reckless, yet they were still going to put us fully at fault. I had to fight them, kick up a huge fuss, and launch a formal complaint before they finally investigated, admitted their initial outcome was completely wrong, apologised, and corrected the case to non-fault over a month later. After that failure, their engineering team rushed through a lazy total loss write-off based on automated algorithms. I was completely kept in the dark; I was never given the option of salvaging the vehicle, and nothing was properly explained to me at all. It was just dictated to me that the car was being written off with zero transparency.I have now received a Dartford Crossing charge for the vehicle and discovered it was auctioned off in January and passed a full UK MOT check in February. This explicitly proves the vehicle was completely, safely, and economically repairable. We had a bit over a year left of payments on that car, after which our long-term plan was to buy a second car for our family. Because of their errors, we are now trapped paying for a replacement vehicle, unable to afford a second car in the near future, and completely blocked from looking for one now as we should have been. I am warning other people to stay far away from this awful company. Absolutely do not use them, this has been months of stress, they have consisitently misinformed me and they are scammers! I am so sick of the constant stress and manipulation of this company Reviewed on: 13th July 2026

Reply from 1st Central Hello, 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 2055 or speak to us on web chat which can be found on our website. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm. Emily Response date: 14th July 2026

Absolute DISGRACE!

Absolute DISGRACE! DONT WASTE YOUR TIME, MONEY OR ENERGY ON THIS THIEVES AND CROOKS. Reviewed on: 18th June 2026

Please avoid this company, money grabbers!

I purchased car insurance and then found a more comprehensive cover for the same price, so within 12 hours decided to cancel whilst policy was pending. They charged me £25 fee for a policy that was not due to start for 3 weeks. The T&Cs were not clear of the charges and they refused to waiver. I have reached out to Financial Obudsman and I suggest anyone with similar issues does the same. They should not be able to get away with charge fees, without making it clear. Really poor customer service, please avoid this company. Reviewed on: 7th June 2026

RIP off company AVOID they contact you after the 14...

RIP off company AVOID they contact you after the 14 day cooling period and try and charge you another £400 Reviewed on: 4th June 2026

Genuinely terrible experience changing car mid term

I had a genuinely terrible experience trying to change my car mid-term with 1st Central. Before renewing my policy, I knew I would be getting a new car within a few weeks. I compared quotes for both my current car and the new one in advance, and 1st Central appeared competitive for both, so I proceeded with them. However, when the time came to switch vehicles after receiving the new registration, I was quoted a fee that was higher than the entire 12-month premium just to make the change. I challenged this over the phone, but both the call handler and their manager simply repeated scripted responses and offered no meaningful explanation, blaming the underwriters and stating there was nothing they could do. My only option was to cancel the policy, which resulted in me paying £140 for just 26 days of cover. I then insured the new car elsewhere for less than what 1st Central wanted just to amend the policy. This experience felt completely unreasonable and suggests a business model that penalises customers once they are locked in. To add insult to injury, the call ended with “please consider us for your next car,” which I found quite tone-deaf given the situation. I will not be returning and would advise others to be cautious. Reviewed on: 3rd June 2026

My experience with 1st Central was extremely disappo...

My experience with 1st Central was extremely disappointing. When I needed to make a claim, it was not accepted, despite paying for insurance and following the policy requirements. I also constantly received warnings that my insurance could be cancelled because of my black box score. No matter how carefully and responsibly I drove, it felt impossible to achieve the score they wanted. The system seemed unfair and created a lot of unnecessary stress. The whole experience left me feeling that I was being penalised despite trying my best to drive safely and comply with the terms of the policy. Based on my experience, I would not choose 1st Central again and would not recommend them to other young drivers. Reviewed on: 31st May 2026

Honeslty worst insurance company ever over charging...

Honeslty worst insurance company ever over charging me on a vehicle that’s is not in use refusing to swap my policy to another car that is in use without charging me a fee of 1k to 2k. I tried to cancel the policy as they are already charging me 200 and something a month for a car I have told them about months ago is not driveable!!!!!!! Regardless of that they continued to keep charging me. I will now be taking this up with financial ombudsman. Reviewed on: 26th May 2026

Do you have a different 1st Central product?

Share your experiences with products to help others make smarter financial decisions and learn more about different products available. Write a review

Alternative products

Breakdown Insurance
from AXA 3.86 from 4 reviews
Motorhome Insurance
from Safeguard UK Insurance 4.16 from 3 reviews
Cycle Insurance
from A+ Insurance 4.06 from 1 reviews

Want to see more from 1st Central?

Breakdown cover
from 1st Central 4.40 from 16 reviews
Personal accident
from 1st Central 3.47 from 5 reviews
Home insurance
from 1st Central 0.00 from 0 reviews

View all products

Join Smart Money People

Keep up to date on ratings of your favourite businesses. Find out about our awards and write new reviews with ease

Create an account

News, guides and insight from our team

View resource hub