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1st Central: Car Insurance reviews

Name: Car Insurance
Rating: 1.68 (857 reviews)

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1.52

Based on 857 reviews, last reviewed 23rd Jan 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

24% 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

Will increase policy Started my policy they then asked me for more information I provided said information they then hit me with an increase and an admin fee which resulte... Read more Reviewed on: 23rd January 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.

1st Central Car Insurance reviews (857)

Review of the 1st Central, Car Insurance:

BEWARE!! Ludicrous charges! THEY DO NOT CARE!!

Took out insurance and over a week later they asked for proof of NCB and proof of claims. Asked my last insurance provider for this. When I didn’t get them in time they charged £175. I had told them I had contacted twice to get these documents. I decided to cancel after nearly 4 weeks and for this I was charged £156, minus my first payment, despite their website saying it’s a £10 cancellation fee after 14 days!! Very impersonal service and completely ridiculous charges!! Felt as though they grabbed me with a cheap quote and then added on extras to make money. My monthly payment went from £37 to £55!! Felt like dealing with robots whose job is to add money on excessively!! Wish I’d read these reviews first!! Reviewed on: 29th November 2024

Reply from 1st Central Hi Katharine, 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: 2nd December 2024

Terrible advice, terrible service

Called to insure new vehicle. Was advised to reactivate my expired policy (£307) and then change car details to new car (£212). Called back the next day to rectify this obvious mistake only to be told there was nothing they could do. I cancelled the policy immediately at a personal cost of £82. Absolutely appalled. Reviewed on: 26th April 2023

Ridiculous policy change prices

Awful, just awful. They quote cheaply but my goodness the adjustments are absurdly priced, complete rip off! Beware!! Reviewed on: 26th April 2023

Zero stars!!!

This insurance company is a MISUNDERSTANDING! The liquidation of the damage through no fault of my own takes more than half a year. Nobody replies to messages. No workshops in the area - yes for 4 months. The payment of compensation make problems and the other contracting company decides whether the indicated body repair shop can do it. They do NOT pay on time for repairs to the body repair shop. Workshop without payment will not return the car. Replacement vehicle problem, only for 2 weeks. Reviewed on: 21st April 2023

Charged an extra £280

Good luck getting any customer service. I Was subject to cloned plates in 2019, cloned vehicle caused a crash. Have a letter from police confirming. Every insurance company I have delt with use the letter to ignore the "fault collision" except this company! Now charged £280 for the privilege of having plates cloned, won't accept any evidence its nothing to do with me! Can't wait for the insurance to expire so I can go to a proper company. Reviewed on: 21st April 2023

Do not recommend

After the policy had been purchased and on the day of the policy starting they requested documents such as DVLA check code, pictures of driving license and a copy of the NCD, all went through fine and got approved. They requested a phone call so they could run through details with policy holder which is fine. On the call they proceeded to question the job titles which we had submitted for all 3 drivers, essentially saying that the jobs didn't exist and asking invasive questions about what we do at work and what type of job it is, etc, also asked questions about how many days a week the car is driven, how many miles a day, etc which we could not give accurate information for as the car is used differently every week, proceeded to give us an average mileage and said that didn't match the amount we had taken out on the policy (it was lower than the mileage on the policy), eventually the person on the phone 'had to make amends' to our policy and ended up charging us extra on top of our policy (in that extra amount was a £50 administration fee!!). We decided to cancel the policy as this extra fee now put our policy higher than other premiums with other companies, the call handler was incredibly rude and condescending and offered no help to rectify the issue. Reviewed on: 20th April 2023

Avoid like the plague

Would give them 0 stars if I could!!! Went for this insurer as they were competitively priced, but wished we hadn’t now! Sent two texts asking for documents and that they sent an email with the details. No emails were received. We emailed them and asked what documents. No response. Next thing we know we receive an email from them advising the premium was increasing by £23 a month due to the changes we had made. We had made no changes. After 2 unhelpful web chats one of which was ended by them they advised they had done a check and I had 3 points on my license (I have no points). Asked for a copy of my driving license and my partners and a copy of a DVLA access code for me. Provided this for them to say it had expired (it last 21 days and they tried to access it in under 24 hours it had not expired). Sent them a new one but then they wanted one for my partner as well. I did this and then they put me on hold for a long time to reverse the previous changes they made to the points. They then came back and said the day we past our tests did not match so the premium would be £10 more than it was previously quoted a month. Utterly ridiculous when you don’t put a date in when applying and just the month and year. Asked to speak with a manager to get the fees waived. Waited 30 mins on hold to get through for them to tell me this was not in their remit and would need to submit a complaint. What’s the point of having a management team when they can’t do anything! Just another way to infuriate your customers. I have already submitted a complaint yesterday when this all started due to the amount of time wasted, stress and anxiety caused and their standard of customer service. Also emailed them with details of my complaint and have received no acknowledgment. After the additional time waster today will send a further email and hold with bated breath for a response. Wish we could just cancel but at a charge of £169 that is not financially doable! Working in insurance myself I am so shocked at their service they really shouldn’t be running. Feel I will need to take this further to the FOS when they finally respond to the complaint and make it my mission to ensure that no one I know ever takes out insurance with them. Social media will be the next outlet to let as many people know to avoid! Reviewed on: 19th April 2023

Avoid at all costs.

Insured with this company in Feb, today received email claiming I am unemployed despite being in full time employment and my Dad, who is a named driver, is not an air con engineer but a motor mechanic! Total rubbish and accusing us of lying on the application. They are now cancelling the policy and demanding full payment of over £2000.00 or will send in bailiffs. Absolutely avoid like the plague. Reviewed on: 19th April 2023

Terrible Customer Service & Hidden Fees

We cancelled our car insurance 220 days into the policy and were charged a ridiculous amount which couldn't be explained by their customer service teams, as well as a heavy amount of interest + cancellation fee. Their staff were unhelpful and borderline rude, clearly an offshore call centre with no real ability to deal with their customers and don't value customer retention. Stay away. Reviewed on: 17th April 2023

Lure you in with cheap price then ask for more information and double it.

Took out car insurance with them on annual price was £394. They asked for more information so I called them. We have never been able to find my partners job on the drop down so put it in what we thought was the nearest thing. They decided it was something else and raised the price by £300!!!! When I said I cant pay it at once I would have to pay monthly as on maternity leave they said I couldn't pay monthly as had taken out an annual policy. So I asked for a refund so I could get insurance elsewhere and they took £140 in admin fees off my refund! Avoid at all costs!! Reviewed on: 17th April 2023

Good luck if something goes wrong they will not help!!

It's a shame I can't write my full review on here but all I can say 1st central will treat you like nothing, they will neve call you back, they will make you do all their work, none of them have communication with each other , you will have to explain everything to each individual you speak to. Good luck with getting your curtesy car from them. Avoid them at all cost. Don't get food by other good reviews they trick the customers into leaving them Good reviews. Reviewed on: 14th April 2023

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