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1st Central: Car Insurance reviews

Name: Car Insurance
Rating: 1.68 (862 reviews)

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1.51

Based on 862 reviews, last reviewed 11th Feb 2025

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

38% 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

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 ... Read more Reviewed on: 11th 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.

1st Central Car Insurance reviews (862)

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

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

No responsibility at all

The worst car insurance company , my vehicle was damaged when it was taken by them for a catalytic onverter theft for 1 month I am trying to get a response with no help , you cannot even speak to any managers they transfer your call here and there. The worst insurance company ever. Reviewed on: 12th December 2022

Scammers. Steer well clear

This company are a scam operation, plain and simple. I signed up via GoCompare, accurately completing all the info required. After the first payment, I get an email asking for some trivial "further info". I replied. They then email to say my account has been "updated" and there's nothing more I need to do. Along comes the 2nd DD and my premium has been unscrupulously doubled. An email received a day or two before (in very tiny print) tells me I gave inaccrate info about "Date passed UK driving test". BULLSH*T. Email queries demanding an explanation go ignored. I then get a cancellation email (in spite of not having asked to cancel) with a giant bill including "non-payment penalty" (again complete BS), admin charge, processing charge, cancellation charge amounting to several hundred ££. A Google search shows I am not the only one who's been tricked in same way. Don't be sucked in by the 5-star Defaqto rating. That only refers to affordability, nothing more. Reviewed on: 9th December 2022

DO NOT USE! - STUPID EXTRA CHARGES

Tried to cancel my policy as I sold my car - to be told that I have to pay nearly £100 in cancellation fees, didn't take into consideration the direct debit that had been paid, and was told this was refunded. Policy wording is vague in regards to Arrangement fees etc. Avoid at all costs, if you don't want them taking money for the sake of it and not explaining the reasoning. Reviewed on: 9th December 2022

Deceptive. Disorganised. Disgusting.

This company is disorganised at best and complete scammers at worst. They will do anything to take your money and tell you your policies are cancelled when they aren't. It feels disgusting that a company can do this and get away with it: A few years ago I had an accident where my car was written off, 1st Central paid out but refused to let me cancel the policy despite there no longer being a car for me to be insured on . They forced me to pay for the remaining 10 months of the year despite me calling repeatedly asking to cancel. 3 months into this I cancelled the direct debit because the situation was ridiculous and shortly after, debt collection letters started arriving. I eventually paid the 10 months worth of insurance money for a car I couldn't drive and didn't have. The policy auto-renewed and so to avoid a repeat of the hassle of the last 10 months, I stuck with 1st Central. Last month I sold my newer car and then tried to cancel my policy. I spoke to a lady on the phone who seemed to think there would be no issue with cancelling and then told me I was due £650 refund. I told her I was surprised and wasn't expecting any money but after getting off the phone assumed it was compensation for the amount I had paid them from before. She transferred the money and cancelled policy. Over the next few days I received multiple phone calls telling me I needed to sign for the money, that they were unsure if I was owed an extra £50, or if I owe THEM money. A few more days later I get a phone call saying she got it wrong, I shouldn't have been given the £650 and they want the money back. I told them I cant pay it right away because my account was in an overdraft when she sent me the money in the first place, so she would have to wait until I got paid. She said 'ok' but that meant she wouldn't be able to cancel the policy until she has the money back and therefore policy would resume and £70 will be taken from the account as usual in a few days. They said someone would be in touch to arrange a payment plan. Days went by and I heard nothing from the payment team, so in an attempt to avoid them taking even more money from my account, and in the hopes they would cancel the policy they told me they had cancelled 2 weeks ago, my girlfriend helped me pay back the £650. This was 7 days ago, today I received 2 separate texts from 1st central asking me for £72. I do not know if they have cancelled my policy or not. I don't know how I can possibly owe them any more money but the last time I refused to pay them they blacklisted me, affecting my credit score and whether or not I can get a mortgage in the future. It feels disgusting that a company can do this and get away with it. This company is disorganised at best and complete scammers at worst. They will do anything to take your money and tell you your policies are cancelled when they aren't. DO NOT use this company. Reviewed on: 7th December 2022

Dont use these

What kind of car insurance provides breakdown cover but not recover your car when it breaks Reviewed on: 7th December 2022

Horrible company

Set me up for an automatic higher insurance renewal even though the previous year I had no accidents. Decided to take payment with no knowledge and consent at all, plus charged me cancellation fee. Reviewed on: 7th December 2022

car stolen and now recovered

my car was stolen, but was recovered. I only know this because the police informed me. No contact from 1st central, the claim handlers Brownswords are even worst - do not use this company. Reading previous reviews about increasing the quote that also happened to me. Stay from this company Reviewed on: 7th December 2022

Don't Use 1st central - scam charges

I hope people read the recent reviews on this terrible company. I'm now £200 out of pocket because I was tricked into a competitive car insurance quote on go compare. I paid up front for a year's car insurance and after uploading my VC5 keeper document they alleged I'd put in the wrong date of purchase of the vehicle (2021 Not 2022) they wanted to charge me an extra £157 pounds for the error which is nearly a third of a year's insurance for me. They offered no recourse on this so i decided to cancel my insurance and take a £50 fine and go with another provider. It took me 4 calls to cancel my insurance they kept hanging up mid conversation after I had told them I want to cancel my policy. I wasn't rude or angry at any point. Reading these reviews confirms this company have a recorded of hitting customers with unfair fines on any technicality they can find. It would appear they have a whole department dedicated to it. It's hard enough to manage finances with a young family and cost of living without big companies trying to unfairly fine you a significant amount of money for a simple error. I'd advise anyone who reads this to stay away from this company and if you have insurance with them don't pay their scam charges cancel your account and go with a reliable firm even if it costs you more. If you do need to claim, I imagine this is the last company you want as your insurer if the worst was to happen. Hope this review prevents some else getting ripped off by this terrible company Reviewed on: 6th December 2022

SCAM KEEP AWAY

I completed details online but in their system everything came out differently and somehow after 5 days they called me to check the details. And it turned out to be a surprise that I had to pay 120 pounds for the changes because something went wrong and then I started reading the review and I found thats they way to collect extra money. Of course, if you want to cancel the policy, you have to pay 106 pounds. I paid £370 for the whole year and wanted to save £30 from my previous insurer. Keep away this is the scam with lots of negative review. Reviewed on: 5th December 2022

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