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1st Central: Car Insurance reviews

Name: Car Insurance
Rating: 1.67 (869 reviews)

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1.49

Based on 869 reviews, last reviewed 9th Mar 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

19% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

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

Do not use Clearly states no fees to change policy. I unf had to cancel and got charge half the yearly premium. Emailed and get nothing back. Do not use Reviewed on: 9th March 2025

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About this product

Here at Smart Money People, we collect 1st Central car insurance reviews from genuine customers, to help you make an informed decision about your next provider.

1st Central was founded in 2008 and has been growing fast ever since. Specialising in car insurance, the brand offers a variety of products with different levels of cover, including a telematics policy for newer drivers.

When choosing a new policy, take the time to ensure it is suitably robust and meets all of your needs. Do you want breakdown cover included in the policy? Do you need legal cover? What about cover for any medical expenses that may occur after an accident? Working out your priorities before searching for a policy can make the selection process much easier. Check out our 1st Central car insurance reviews to find out what others think.

Have you had a car insurance policy with 1st Central? Whether good or bad, share your experience with the Smart Money People community to help us increase trust and transparency in financial services. Were you satisfied with the price of the premium? Did you have any interactions with the customer service team? Leave a 1st Central car insurance review today to help other drivers just like you.

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1st Central Car Insurance reviews (869)

Absolutely the worst customer service

They are the worst, The worst customer service I have received so far in UK. They didn't help with solving claim that wasn't my fault even though I have asked for help multiple times and agree to go court. Client service service is really bad, the man over the phone was rude and didn't help me at all. In the end, becouse my bank has revoked my debit card and send me new one, my monthly payment didn't come thru, when I noticed that (3rd day after payment day) I called them and they told me that my policy is cancelled. When I asked them to just continue my policy and take new payment details thety told me that they can't and here is how much fees they added (even though I still wanted to stay with them): Arrangement fee £50.00 Default fees (for any late payments) £15.00 Cancellation fee £50.00 115 pounds for 3 day of missed payment it was almost 2 months of insurance fee, insane! Reviewed on: 8th November 2023

Worst Customer Service ever!

This has been an utterly appalling experience with their customer service! I was appalled by the fact that I wanted to terminate the renewal of my insurance. After being a loyal customer for two years, paying a reasonable £88, they abruptly decided to charge me an exorbitant £270 per month, citing increased repair costs. What's even worse is that they never bothered to inform me about any auto-renewal, and shockingly, I found out that you can't even cancel it through an email, buried in their terms and conditions. Upon receiving an email about the renewal, I promptly informed them that I had switched to Admiral, and that's when things went from bad to worse. They had the audacity to demand an additional admin fee for the cancellation. To add insult to injury, I had a terribly unpleasant encounter with one of their chat support agents. When I politely asked for his details, he simply closed the chat without any response. In summary, I would strongly advise anyone to stay far away from this company. Their customer service is not just bad; it's shockingly unprofessional and unacceptable. Reviewed on: 7th November 2023

Appalling Service, Cancelled Insurance Without Warning

We were off to a very rocky start right from the beginning. I was given a deadline to submit my documents, I sent 5 SEPARATE EMAILS with my documents, they told me I didn’t send any. I have the emails as proof I did actually send them. When I finally spoke to someone, customer service wasn’t good or helpful. They said if I didn’t supply the documents, they would cancel my insurance and charge me £72. I had told them I had sent 5 different emails with the documents, the lady I spoke to told me I hadn’t cause if I did, they would’ve had them, despite confirming I sent them to the correct email. I finally managed to get it sorted by screenshotting each individual document and sending them individually. I’ve had the insurance for 3 months and have woken to an email saying my insurance has been cancelled from the 1st November effective 23:59…. and wanting to charge me £115 for an outstanding balance, even though I’m up to date with my payments. I got this email on 1st November at 10:15pm while I was asleep. So woke up to get ready for work at 4am and saw I had no car insurance. No warning, no letter, no pre email and no phone call. Just a cancellation email at 10pm at night. Call lines don’t open until 8am, so they’ve left me scrambling to try get cover so I can get to work. I’ve now had to take out another insurance with a different company so I can get to work, but will now have to spend my day trying to get this sorted. I’m beyond frustrated and upset, this has been so incredibly stressful. 1st Central has used bullying tactics from day one, threatening to cancel my policy, charge me £72 if I didn’t submit my information (WHICH I DID MULTIPLE TIMES) and has just cancelled my policy, without warning and is now charging me £115. I should’ve gone with my gut feeling and backed out after speaking with customer care, but who wants to pay £72 on top of what you already paid. It’s appalling service. Reviewed on: 2nd November 2023

AVOID TRIST THE OTHER BAD REVIEWS

Awful company! They were fab all last year, never an issue. Found them through compare the market, reviews were good and they were the cheapest quote. When it came to renewal the price went up by 38% despite there being no changes since I took my policy out, this I accepted because there were good so far and I didn’t want the hassle of finding a new company. Due to my own stupidity I was caught speeding and therefore received a speeding ticket in the post; annoying a few days before my auto renewal. Immediately I tried calling them but due to long waits I used their web chat (definitely glad I did now!). I notified them that I had been caught speeding and that I will be getting a fine of £100 and 3 points on my licence, that I wanted to make them aware so they can update my policy as it will auto renew in a couple days time. With this she asked for the SP code. I politely informed her that I had only just got the FNP letter so I have to send my license off and choose to accept the points (at the time of my renewal I technically had no points on my license as I had not yet accepted them and was in the window to appeal etc). She therefore said she couldn’t put this on the system and that I need to call when the points have been added I queried this saying I don’t want to get in trouble that I’m trying to let her know I will have points but she copy and pasted the same response and left the chat. I left it just kept checking DVLA for when my points have been added every few days so I could call them back. Unfortunately a a couple weeks after I found out some devastating news about my child. Due to this I was at the hospital for 10 days. During this time I got an email to send documents to them before the 24th… it was the 1st so I had time to wait until I was home. Was already a month into my policy when I checked DVLA again and saw points were finally added. It was past opening hours and on a Friday so I added the documents as asked as I was finally home to do so. With this included the one notifying them of the speeding code and that the points were finally added. These were put for review and accepted. Thought nothing of it until 16:55 last Friday (bare in mind their opening hours are 9-5 mon-Fri) saying I did not inform them of my speeding ticket and that I put my date of passing my test incorrectly (I never put a date it, only how many years I’d been driving! So THEY had put the date I accepted the quote as the day and month and used how many years I put to calculate the year- I will say they had my licence number from when I took out the policy AND when I renewed). They claim they’ve tried several times to contact me- they hadn’t and I have proof of this in my correspondence section (thank god!) and In the email they upped my premium yet again by 800 a year. They gave me until the 3rd to contact them else they’d cancel my policy. I will add that whilst I DID notify them, they also put down I incurred said points 3 weeks prior to me even getting caught and used the wrong SP code! One min after I got an email saying my policy is cancelled!!!!!! So 4 mins before they closed for the whole weekend! Saw it unfortunately later due to being at work. I called today and she tried to accuse me of lying until I threatened with the ombudsman in which she suddenly found the transcript where I notified them and when I uploaded the documents! Said they haven’t cancelled my policy but have applied to! Told them to shove it, paid the £97 exit fee and gone with a cheaper company! After looking at reviews there has been 10 other instances where they have done this in October alone!!!!! That’s only on one website too! They may be cheaper on comparison websites but honestly this has cost me a lot more to cancel and get a new policy elsewhere! Customer service is awful! Reviewed on: 30th October 2023

Take the money and run. AVOID

My car was reversed into by a female with insurance from this outfit. This was March 2023, it’s now October and still not resolved, they have taken 3 months to respond to correspondence from my insurance. Meanwhile I’m paying double on my insurance as it has renewed in this time and counts against me as my fault as not resolved. Company obviously take the money and offer minimal service! Reviewed on: 27th October 2023

They're the worst insurance company in the UK

They're very unhelpful. They fty and find avenues to increase your premium and they won't let you cancel your policy. My advice is to pay another provider upfront more and NOT have to deal with 1st central hassles. Reviewed on: 26th October 2023

Cruel people

My son had insurance with these , He added me & his mum as named drivers . His driving for 4 weeks was impeccable returning 98 & 99%. . I had forgot to download the black box app as was waiting till I was going to drive the car . This minor oversite resulted in them cancelling his insurance. We’re now in a situation of having very few companies willing to insure him . We were paying 1st Central £2500 , now we have 1 insurer quoting £4600 whilst everyone else wants £12000 . Tried talking to a very rude person who flatly refused to discuss our situation. For someone that was already struggling to be crucified like this due to his dad forgetting to download an app is appalling. Avoid avoid avoid . Reviewed on: 23rd October 2023

Appalling policies & customer service- avoid at all costs

I won’t go through at length the issues, but do not go with this lot. Tried to charge over £100 because my purchase year (which was actually a name change from a family member to mine) was the wrong year, despite me offering to send the original V5C as proof. They weren’t interest and wanted their 120 pounds instead. Cancelled my policy then and there. Reviewed on: 23rd October 2023

Policy analysis

I had the unfortunate luck to chat with Scottish Stephen today from policy analysis. It was like talking to an idiot who was not interested in listening to me. He was like the character from little Britain "computer says no". Once both my policies are finished next year 1st central will be getting nothing from me again. This is how they treat long term customers. No common sense Reviewed on: 20th October 2023

Hustlers

They will cancel your policy themselves then chase you for money like harassers, if they do this to you get financial ombudsman. Horrendous company Reviewed on: 19th October 2023

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