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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.67 (903 reviews)

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1.51

Based on 903 reviews, last reviewed 17th Jun 2025

400% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

17% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

Latest highest rating:

5

Found you online,needed a cheap quote,you certainly... Found you online,needed a cheap quote,you certainly provided it.Thank you Reviewed on: 3rd June 2025

Verified source

Latest lowest rating:

1

It feels dishonest and manipulative!! Avoid them!! I initially received a quote over the phone, which I agreed to, and even got a confirmation email with the agreed amount. Later, I received another em... Read more Reviewed on: 17th June 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 leave a review and share your experience.

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1st Central Car insurance reviews (903)

It is a scam company don't buy from it

I bought the insurance from this company to make a change on second driver name which it was clearly error of printing they requested over£270 when I asked to remove the second driver's name as I don't need it again they asked for same amount of money it is absolutely a disgusting company Reviewed on: 17th March 2023

Avoid this company like the plague

AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE. Unless you enjoy being harassed by text messages, debt collectors and threats of being taken to County Court for no reason. They lure customers in with a very low initial quote, once they have you hooked, they start putting on extra, disproportionate, unjustified and unreasonable charges. We took out an insurance policy with this company who then proceeded to demand extortionate extra fees for minor admin alterations (that may also be spurious), and made it impossible to provide proof of No Claims discounts from previous insurance company, despite spending 45 minutes on the phone trying to sort it out. They presumably also make money from their premium rate phone number as well! So they hiked up their demands for even more money because they refused to accept proof of a No Claims Discount. We wrote to them to make a formal complaint but did not receive a reply. We cancelled the monthly policy premiums, which with a normal insurance company would mean you are no longer covered and be the end of the story. However First Central seem to believe they can wring more money out of us for cover they stopped providing when we stopped payments and moved to another insurance company who accepted our No Claims Discount with no problems. We are writing to the Financial Ombudsman and Financial Conduct Authority, and Martin Lewis the Money Expert. Message to First Central: no need to "reach out to us" via Trust Pilot thanks. We have all the correspondence you have sent us; contemporaneous notes from the phone call we made to you when trying to submit our No Claims Discount proof, plus a copy of our initial formal complaint. We've got things in hand. Reviewed on: 17th March 2023

Danger - Do Not Fall For Fake Cheap Policy

Where do I start with this lot - 1st Central Insurance is absolutely hopeless and it appears to me in my honest opinion it is set-up as a scam to extort more money from you. They don't seem to have the same categories in certain things as the comparison websites so you take out a policy through a comparison site then they get in touch (weeks and weeks into the policy so you can't cancel without large penalties, someone has to look into the frequency of this practice definitely) and tell you something is different from you claim or state then it's a £50 admin and an increase to your premium - of course it's now more expensive than the other quotes around it a the time except now you'd need to pay the cartel to get out the policy. Classic tactics of seafront cowboys - look to for the ball in the cup trick next ! Reviewed on: 14th March 2023

Avoid

I changed my car mid policy, the new premium quoted was over double that of other insurance providers, when i contacted customer services and ask if they could match the alternative quotes they said its automated and cant be controlled. When I ultimately cancelled the policy they charged me and additional £100, £50 admin fee and £50 cancellation fee Reviewed on: 14th March 2023

Refusing what customers are paying for

When having an accident recently they have been nothing but unhelpful and refusing to allow me access to my personal accident cover which I’m entitled to and paid extra to receive. I am facing potentially 5 months off of work as well as multiple surgeries and serious injuries. They are crap with their valuations as well, well below market value which at the present time won’t buy anything. I won’t be renewing with them as they are ridiculous and quite frankly only in it for your money. Reviewed on: 10th March 2023

avoid this company

Had to claim when my car was stolen from my home. Chronologically- tried voiding my policy due to a colour change that I informed them off before getting the vehicle wrapped … then they took ages to pay me out, when they did it was £2000 LESS than its insured value… although this wasn’t an AGREED VALUE policy…. The car was an immaculate Mercedes top of the range AMG …. 7 months later the Ombudsman ruled in my favour and made 1st Central / Skyfire pay me a portion of what they stiffed me for….. oh and to top it all off …. I had 6 months left on my policy with them so when I got a new car they swapped it over and just before the policy was due to renew they sent me a quote of over £1800 to renew with them !! I went elsewhere and got a policy with the same level of cover and benefits for £669.00 with protected NCB … of which £69 was for the protection so my point here is , had I chose not to protect my bonus , it would have been £600…. How can they attempt to stuff me with OVER three times that amount ? these clowns are an absolute joke , will never ever use these again , been a nightmare , and I am still waiting to paid the difference they have been ordered to pay by the financial Ombudsman… Reviewed on: 9th March 2023

So so un-professional

My car was supposedly written off due to flood damage, the car was taken from the garage, by 1st Central, where I had taken it for repairs, without my knowledge. I then had to travel to the auctioneers to collect my personal belongings from the car. The car was brought to me on a forklift truck. The car has been at the auctioneer's for 6 weeks now and I have had no correspondence or pay-out from 1st Central, despite ringing them on a weekly basis only to be told that they need to inspect it. I will be taking this further as I need a car for work. The company have been completely un-professional. I do not recommend anyone using this insurance company!!! Reviewed on: 7th March 2023

AVOID!!

Don't waist your time with this company! There are many reasons to avoi them as you can see in all others customers reviews.. cannot do their job properly in any sens! Reviewed on: 6th March 2023

Awful

Absolute awful service. Like everyone else after paying in full for the year I was stung with additional charges or face paying cancellation fees. Was involved in an accident where there is CCTV which I myself had to chase up. Not the company. Communication is awful. They actually LOST my car and I had to threaten police involvement. Have been passed around numerous different garages for courtesy car - 6 days in and still no courtesy car. This company could offer me insurance for the next year for £1 and I still wouldn’t go with them ever again Reviewed on: 3rd March 2023

The worst of the worst

Dishonest and clueless. They had no idea where my car was. AVOID No wonder you can't leave a google review for all to easily see. Reviewed on: 3rd March 2023

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