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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.71 (965 reviews)

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1.71

Based on 965 reviews, last reviewed 7th Jun 2026

100% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

8% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

11%

80%

Latest highest rating:

5

Just started my third year of car insurance cover wi... Just started my third year of car insurance cover with 1st Central. Good value for money, helpful customer service, clearly laid out website and easy ... Read more Reviewed on: 17th April 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Please avoid this company, money grabbers! I purchased car insurance and then found a more comprehensive cover for the same price, so within 12 hours decided to cancel whilst policy was pending... Read more Reviewed on: 7th June 2026

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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 (965)

Bad

This is honestly one of the worst companies ever, they send you a review to fill out literally just after you take the insurance out, so I’m sure you only have positive things to say. God forbid you ever have to claim, they have the worst communication, they send you around town and back and forth between teams. A lot of mechanics won’t do any of their repair work because they don’t pay them, so you may be waiting a VERY long time for their “approved mechanics” to fix your car. I had to find my own body shop repair and luckily they did the work. I had to get the ombudsman involved because it honestly was the worst service EVER. Reviewed on: 30th May 2023

DO NOT USE PLEASE

Worst customer service ever asked to speak to managers and a call to be listened to and they refused. Rude on calls and give wrong advice PLEASE USE ANYWHERE ELSE Reviewed on: 25th May 2023

Absolutely incompetent con men

Would not take my direct debit would not set it up after 4 months they tried to blame me and threatened to cancel my policy charging me obviously. My bank said they had never attempted to set up a direct debit this is a scam so you end up paying late payment fees and eventually pay a cancellation fee just to be rid of them . They made alot of money for doing nothing . Advisers are just kids no idea what each other is doing waste of time talking to them may as well bang your head against a wall .NEVER AGAIN. I have now changed to Churchill who are reputable and no issues what so ever . Reviewed on: 23rd May 2023

Avoid they just keep milking you for money.

Cancelled policy on Oct 22 for a car as I've got a van now and they don't cover commercial vehicles, fast forward to Feb 23 and I notice I'm still being charged. Contacted them they said I never cancelled at all. Cancelled there and then. Was assured I wouldn't get any Cancellation fees ec as they don't cover vans, had to then send them proof I had a van. Sent them registration and statement showing id purchased it. Apparently thats not good enough, I've now had them register a late payment against my bank last month and currently on hold to speak to a supervisor as the guy dealing with me had now said I need to provide proof now that I no longer own the car and he's asked for dvla or a v5. What is it with this company? They're making me jump through hoops hoping I'd just pay up. The late payment fee has already impacted my credit rating and they've also send an email dated today saying I have a month to pay or I'll have a default notice. I'm stressing out about this as I've already paid them for months it was supposed to be cancelled around £200ish and now they're still wanting £50ish whilst making me jump through hoops for them to waive the fee. How can company's operate like this? Is there an ombudsman you can complain to etc? Currently been on the phone for 49mins most of which is on hold waiting to speak to a supervisor... Reviewed on: 19th May 2023

Avoid

Got an online quote and went ahead with the quote. Couple mths later, we got an email asking for more money.(£600 more) called the company, who said they sorted this, and took loads more details from us. Again, it is not long after, another email asking for more money. This time, advising me they will either cancel my policy or take the large amount of money from my account. I've been trying to contact this company now all evening. This is becoming very stressful now. This company should be reported and investigated. Reviewed on: 18th May 2023

terrible company

they auto renewed a policy and i did not have that vehicle anymore they said id have to prove it before they would cancel when i sent proof they still tried to take money Reviewed on: 17th May 2023

Rubbish Company KEEP AWAY

Took out a policy via compare the market, all details correct including value of my car. I spotted a mistake with the value of my car, a couple of months in, which was under valued by over £2000. I asked them to correct the mistake and was refused. Was told I thats what I accepted when I didn't. Told them to cancel the policy as they are not covering what is needed and are refusing to rectify the issue. I immediately went else where. Now they are trying to still get money out of me. They can jog on. Found out afterwards that my son in law has also had trouble with them in the past. KEEP AWAY Reviewed on: 16th May 2023

Scam! Scam!

I've found 1Central on gocompare, everything was ok at first, they gave me a 31 £ / month insurance policy. I was ok with it and paid that sum for 2 months. Now I received a email that "Thanks for keeping us up to date and making a change to your 1ST CENTRAL car insurance policy." I didn't do anything to my car policy policy, didn't went online to change anything, didn't change car, or address... anything. Now they are asking 65£ every month. Is this even legal? Avoid please, don't go with those guys. Reviewed on: 16th May 2023

SCAM

The most ridiculous company. Signed up in March, they took money but never sent me the policy details. I phoned up and they said they had no record of me. They then took all my details and signed me up over the phone. A month later they asked for pictures of my driving licence which i uploaded. Then a month on again, i receive an email saying my insurance has been cancelled due to them finding out i am in a different occupation to the one on my account. I have not changed jobs so i phone them and she says she will stop the cancellation of my policy but that they have to 'amend' the policy to the correct details, which are the details i originally provided anyway. Now waiting for a call-back as said i am not paying for amendments for something they wrote. Huge scam, obviously enter wrong details so they can charge for a policy amendment. If i didnt amend the policy they wanted nearly £200 for cancellation fee!! For a policy i didnt even cancel. Reviewed on: 15th May 2023

Be very careful with dealing with this company

Be very careful with this company, they do not ask you if you want to auto renew, the opt you in without asking your permission. With my case a third party paid for my insurance as a gift and they auto renewed from their account without their permission, even though I didn't want their insurance. I explained this to them and they made it extremely difficult to receive a refund. So much so i had to register a complaint, their complaint handling times are 8 weeks for a response and this left the third party without the funds for a long period of time. Their response was lack luster and careless of somebody's situation. I would not recommend this company even of they are the cheapest provider you can find. They are cheap for a reason, specifically their poor service . Try the next insurer in the list, you will not regret it. Reviewed on: 10th May 2023

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