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1st Central: Car Insurance reviews

Name: Car Insurance
Rating: 1.68 (860 reviews)

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1.51

Based on 860 reviews, last reviewed 6th Feb 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

10% 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

Almost got me arrested Opened a new policy in November, now currently February 2025. It turns out these scammers cancelled my insurance without telling me and allowed me to ... Read more Reviewed on: 6th February 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 (860)

Awful do not insure with this company

Took out policy.. after 14 days they asked for NCD proof which I haven’t been asked for by previous company’s for years. I thought I had 12 years but I only had 11 so they they have charged me £11.02 plus £50 admin charge. They state on their website that there is no admin fees. Clearly they do so miss selling policies.Customer services are not helpful, even spoke to manager. They should have requested this within 14 days so that I had the option to cancel and go elsewhere, which would have now been a lot cheaper. Do not use this company, avoid at all costs. Reviewed on: 20th December 2022

Tried to cancel a day after auto renewal

Should have caught it earlier but illness and hospitalised prevented this. They will charge a £50 admin fee so whilst I still might make a saving there is little point. Cx service not willing to help. Cost for the days insurance £1.91, total cost £51.91 Reviewed on: 20th December 2022

SCAM PREDATORS OPERATING ON COMPARISON SITES

As with everyone else I signed up to them as they came up the cheapest with decent reviews on GoCompare, all was fine until ONE MONTH later (after the cooling off period!) when they asked for further information, this was sent within minutes of their request, and a follow up telephone call to check they had everything they needed, yes they said. Another ONE MONTH later they decide the information is wrong and added an admin fee of £50, when I told them no way and I wished to cancel they added a £180 cancellation fee. They have now been chasing me relentlessly for nearly a year threatening ruining my credit record. I have lodged an official complaint about them with the ombudsman which i suggest you all do too. I don't know how they are still operating or why the comparison sites are allowing them to advertise on there????!!! Absolute SCAM operation, cowboys. Avoid at all costs! Reviewed on: 19th December 2022

Unhelpful and rude

Tried moving my Direct Debit from the 24th of each month to the 25th. You would think that was a simple request/process. I was advised that they can only move payments 6 days either side of the inception date. Annoyingly this would make managing my finances for the month awkward and simply by pushing the payment back 1 day would help with my admin! Chatted on the phone to Mogamat a team leader who cut me off (these things happen but no sign of trying to call me back - after all they confirmed my contact details plenty of times getting me through security, so they must have them!). I then live chatted Stacey who was extremely rude and cut me off. I asked to cancel the policy but was told one day into my cover I would be charged £50 cancellation fee. What happened to the 14 day cooling off period? Ultimately stay away, they are unhelpful and rude. I don't want to find out what the claim service is like! Reviewed on: 19th December 2022

The Worst Ever!

Sent out car to scrap yard after saying its going for a repair. Would not bring car back with all sorts of excuses. Finally the real reason was exposed as under their care our car was badly damaged! No courtesy car offered. No car for two weeks over Christmas. And for how long still. customer service rude and sarcastic. Cant seem to understand why we would be upset about the major damage to our car Reviewed on: 19th December 2022

A stressful and horrible experience. £150 'admin charges'. Nothing left after 45 days cover!

Beware, they will find a way to relieve you of your money in whatever way available to them. I was charged £150 admin fees (fines, or nice income). When I submitted a request to add my Partner as a named driver they insisted that unless I could tell them what day of the week 31 years ago she passed her test it would incur another £50 admin charge. They took all my money and I had no other choice than to cancel the policy ( It is illegal to have two policies at the same time ) as I needed to get to work on the Monday. They would not quote for my new car without any reason, they now had all my money! I got it insured for £280 with AXA including my partner without a problem. My £208 dissapeared and I still owe them £4.46p. Why GoCompare still supports them is questionable. Reviewed on: 18th December 2022

Total Scam merchants

Do not use this company they lie and cheat to get your money. The scam is based in Gibraltar but luckily they are held accountable by UK financial ombudsmen which is where you will need to go to try and get your money back if you are (probably) defrauded by this disgrace of a company Reviewed on: 18th December 2022

Taking payment when customer asked to cancel insurance policy while recovering from cancer

I am recoering from cancer treatment and noticed money taken from bank account, contacted 1st central and straight away as soon as i mentioned i thought insurance was cancelled and a mistake had happened the advisor went on defensive telling me i cant get any refund and cant put account on hold for 3 months whilst i recover. I asked to be put through someone higher like manager, when manager finally came to phone it was same attitude with a added cant suspend account due to ilness cant refund money and refused to give full name. This i find totally unacceptable and discusting especially as i was told to now cancel insurance i would also be charged additional fee of a £100 not taking into consideration my medical condition. This is not acceptable, i wont reccomend and suggest avoiding like the plaugue, bad customer service and over priced as had insurance renewal qoutes cheaper by half. Reviewed on: 14th December 2022

Avoid them

They increased my premium without any valid reason. Reviewed on: 14th December 2022

Unreasonable premium increase

Below is the excerpt from the document I provided to policy analysis. However they still charged me additional £180. Avoid them! "We can confirm that no claim was never made against the insurance and your no claims bonus was allowed. We can advise that we have never made any payments to your self or any third party's in regards to any settlements nor have we dealt with any damages relating to your vehicle or to any third party property. There is a single payment on the incident for a sum of £18.00 as you spoke with our out of hours team who are a company called Coplus who are are contracted to pay upon notification of every incident brought to our attention. We can confirm that this single sum payment of £18.00 is an administration fee only and should have no reflection on this incident. This should not have and impact nor hinder your insurance in the future." Reviewed on: 14th December 2022

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