Write a review

1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.67 (890 reviews)

View other 1st Central products

1.51

Based on 890 reviews, last reviewed 7th May 2025

300% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

59% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

Latest highest rating:

5

Very pleased with quote I received and they were ver... Very pleased with quote I received and they were very helpful Reviewed on: 5th May 2025

Verified source

Latest lowest rating:

1

Disgusting company . Disgusting company . Don't except ncd on a van to a car even though they it says they except it from a commercial vehicle took my deposit then they tr... Read more Reviewed on: 7th May 2025

Read all reviews See your 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.

1st Central Car insurance reviews (890)

Review of the 1st Central, Car insurance:

Great company to be with always happy to help.

Great company to be with always happy to help.will try and get you the best deals .fantastic customer service Reviewed on: 4th September 2024

Reply from 1st Central Hi Claire, Thank you for your review and for choosing 1st Central this year for your car insurance. Ashley Response date: 6th September 2024

Con company

for I went ahead with my renewal policy and I got an email asking for my car logbooks . so I called them up to ask why . and they said that I needed to prove how long I’ve owned my vehicle for so I asked why and they told me there was a discrepancy on how long I had all my vehicle as last year policy it said 6 years and now this year policy it says I’ve own the vehicle for five years . which then they informed me that my insurance premiums are going to go up so I asked why would it make a difference on how long I’ve had my vehicle for as long as I’ve owned it and I am the registered person for when I am insured with you and they basically said I am a higher risk to loan money to for the shorter time. I have own a vehicle and I am a lesser risk to loan money to for the longer I have owned the vehicle . so basically I am a higher risk to loan insurance money too if I own the car for five years and I will be a lower risk if I’ve owned it for six years, which I find mind-boggling it shouldn’t come to how long somebody’s own a vehicle for to affect your insurance quote so one star review . The person I spoke to basically had an attitude constantly telling me to cancel. so I have cancelled my policy and now you have lost a £500 a year policy for something stupid as to telling me that because there was an error made by one year on how long I’ve owned the vehicle for you were gonna put my insurance premiums up . whatever error this was on one year it should’ve just been corrected and not affected my premiums so thanks for 1st central but you’ve lost my customer. This was the second year I had been with you as well I’ve also had other vehicles insured with you as well. I definitely won’t be using you…. When you go online there is a box to say you don’t own a vehicle yet if you check that box and get your quotes then go back and then instead of ticking that box but put in your owned the vehicle for 10 years the insurance quote is still the same there is no risk factor on lending someone money for the insurance quote . It’s About how long you’ve owned a vehicle for that is a credit check which goes on your credit record, they don’t do a credit check on you based on how long you’ve ordered a car for. Reviewed on: 11th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Mike, 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: 12th March 2025

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

Reply from 1st Central Hi Craig, 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 that there is no admin fee to change a policy, but there might be a difference in premium. We also advise of our cancellation fee when a policy is set up. We have this FAQ that goes in to some details on our this - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/motor/cancellations/if-my-car-insurance-is-cancelled-why-do-i-still-owe-money-to-1st-central. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 10th March 2025

Hidden costs

Hidden costs so ended up paying £100+ more, not to mention even more for cancelling. Really disappointing and also confusing telematics. Reviewed on: 6th March 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Rach, 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: 7th March 2025

Brilliant price. But very poor Customer Service

Brilliant price on comparison site. Went with them and put partner on policy. Kept getting emails and messages, tried hardest to upload driving licences and DVLC check. Came back with extra charge for partners SP30 of nearly £90 and £50 just to change the policy details. Yes the manager tried to help but to know avail. Yes it was my fault for my error but to cancel policy was £107 so I just had to pay as I'd lose more money than the extra. Pure greed as a company and I see many complaints and wish I hadn't gone with 1st Central. I won't use them again, they've lost my custom next year. They say they pride themselves on customer service. Many others would disagree.!!! Reviewed on: 25th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Karl, 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: 26th February 2025

I changed the address to another one 200 yards away...

I changed the address to another one 200 yards away from the first one. They wrote that they would pay me 17 pence extra. But my renewal went up from £580 to £1,030, I called them and they said there was nothing they could do, that it was not their fault, while other insurance companies offer from £500 to £800 for the new address - full package with breakdown! Avoid 1st Central!!! SCAM Reviewed on: 16th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Damian, 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 comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 17th February 2025

Absolute scam of an insurance company - AVOID

Absolute scam of a company. I paid on a monthly basis, and when I went to sell my car, the cancellation fee was £75 - nearly double the monthly insurance. I will never use 1st Central again, and will be advising everyone I know to do the same. Pure greed Reviewed on: 15th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Will, 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 have this FAQ that goes in to what any additional fees might be for - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/motor/cancellations/if-my-car-insurance-is-cancelled-why-do-i-still-owe-money-to-1st-central. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 17th February 2025

Genuinely the worst insurance company ive ever deal...

Genuinely the worst insurance company ive ever deal with. i was only with them 26 days and they charged me £75 to leave them. i had to leave as they upped my monthly payment from £56 to £100.20, despite beig quoted £51.00 on their website! Reviewed on: 14th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Brooke, 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: 17th February 2025

Horrendous SCAM.

Horrendous SCAM. Decided they would add another £347 to the policy for a change of job, which was from working at a till in a Post office to Shop assistant working on a till. Have been advised to inform First Central of my intention to contact the FCA. Which I have done. Reviewed on: 13th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Bev, 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: 14th February 2025

Seems that's it's not just me experiencing the same...

Seems that's it's not just me experiencing the same thing. I just read this review. The same think happened to me. Sadly, it's quite common with this insurance company. "Be very careful when buying insurance of this company. They were the cheapest online at the time on confused.com but they needed additional info AFTER the policy was set up. I called them , they asked me about my occupation and they said it wasn’t the right discription and proceeded to ask question after question. After finally slightly altering my employment details(very slightly altered that would never change the price on the website)they slapped me with another 130£ including an admin fee. Absolutely furious as now my policy is way more Expensive than the next best one on confused.com . They have you snookered because to cancel the policy they slap you with another fee so I stayed with them reluctantly because of this.they’ve lost a lot of my custom on my other vehicles as I’ll never use them again for anything so ultimately they’ve lost out.Never experienced anything like it in all my years of driving. Not a happy customer" Be very careful!!!! Reviewed on: 11th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi AM A, 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: 12th February 2025

Worst insurance company!

Worst insurance company! Have never had such a bad experience like with 1st cetral they wanted to charge me £640 for makinga change Reviewed on: 11th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Klaudia, 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: 12th February 2025

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

Caravan Insurance
from Caravan Guard 4.95 from 3556 reviews
Car insurance
from Sainsburys Bank 1.55 from 156 reviews
Car insurance
from Geoffrey Insurance 4.29 from 290 reviews

There's still more to see!

1st Central has a range of products available. Check the ratings of each product to find the right one for you. 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