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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.51 (952 reviews)

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1.51

Based on 952 reviews, last reviewed 4th Mar 2026

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

15% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

11%

80%

Latest highest rating:

5

Good and not too expensive Was looking for good value car insurance and found this one. Not too expensive and so far can’t say anything bad. Very easy to sign up. Reviewed on: 5th September 2025

Latest lowest rating:

1

FRAUDSTERS!!!!!!! BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!! DO NOT BUY!!!! In 35 years of using car insurance companies, I have NEVER been robbed/conned like this before! This company comes up as cheap but I can now see why, ... Read more Reviewed on: 13th February 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.

1st Central Car insurance reviews (952)

Review of the 1st Central, Car insurance:

Awful service

Son took out insurance online. Got an email saying they needed extra docs by a certain date,which son sent. Only realised they had cancelled his policy when he saw he had extra money in his bank. No communication of ANY kind telling him what they had done. Lucky he was off for a few days. He could have been done for no insurance and he needs a clean license. Simple txt or email to let him know before they sent the refund and it could have been all sorted. Absolutely useless. Reviewed on: 3rd May 2022

Money grabbers and useless

I sold my car and sent them the documentation from the DVLA to prove this. Instead of cancelling the policy it was renewed for another year, when I questioned why I was told it was because I hadnt proved the documentation in PDF or Jpeg form, therefore the cancelation wasnt accepted. To cancel the policy I would be charged the balance (10 months worth of payments) to do so on a vehicle I no longer owed. Out dated in there service, polices and will try anything and everything to get money out of you. Do NOT use this company. Reviewed on: 14th September 2022

The Worst Insurers EVER

They locked me out of my online portal by cancelling the wrong policy on there but not their system. They were told about this numerous times, then charged me to change my name even though I couldn’t change my details online for free, then apologised as they shouldn’t have charged me. Still didn’t fix the issue with online portal. A year of complaints about not having access to my online portal. My policy changed one day to expired so I couldn’t update payment details - I called and queried it. They said I had nothing to pay as it expired. Then debt collectors call. I do have to pay. I try to pay, I can’t because my policy isn’t active on the online portal. It’s revolved by the complaints team. They compensate me. Still nothing arrived. Now they’re calling me for payment again which I can’t make because I can’t access my policy? They’re terrible! They don’t communicate, incorrectly charge you, mismanage their own systems and deny access. I’d rather take the bus than deal with them again. Reviewed on: 14th September 2022

Scammers!!!

Be careful with this insurer, they don't refund all money before 14 days. Scammers !!! Reviewed on: 13th September 2022

1stcentral

Good value for money easy to join, renewal was less than last year. Reviewed on: 13th September 2022

Worst car insurance ever beware

Theyre getting the money to charge cancellation even if the policy havent started yet. Very poor customer service and trying to dig you more information to add and then charge you more . Ridiculous amount of money has been charged to our policy that is not even started yet. Worst car insurance ever and worst customer service ever, they will get money out of ur pocket . Admin fee and expensive charges. Too bad . Wont recommend at all and pls beware Reviewed on: 11th September 2022

The Deal will look attractive however

They will charge you huge administration fees - they will cease your insurace without warning for matters that they should know the answer to such as (transfer of no claims between policies) their online portal mostly doesn't work as it should. - do yourself a favour and go with someone with some street credit not mickymouse. Reviewed on: 7th September 2022

Worst insurance company

This is the worst insurance company I ever seen Reviewed on: 7th September 2022

AVOID BY ALL MEANS! absolute con artists! worst insurance company ever, over £200 charge just to cancel, over £380 to amend, do not go with these!!!!

Worst experience ever!!!!! tried to charge me £200+ just to cancel my insurance after only 2 months???!!! also massive hidden charges to policy when amending (which would have been only £10 extra per month in my situation), please be aware!! DO NOT insure with these cowboys. Cocky/threatening behaviour from phone operators who sound like are in another country, also it takes an age just to get through to them when you ring. Other insurers just updated my other policy on another car (same situation) hassle free without the £331 added premium and £50 'Admin Charge' or ridiculous £200 fee for cancelling, very unprofessional and very extortionate, an absolute disgrace of a car insurance company. Reviewed on: 6th September 2022

Con of a company- do not use

I paid around £300 for annual csr insurance. After 9 months I was told that I got the dates of my driving test (which was 20 years ago) wrong by a few months. They proceeded to charge me and extra £278. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY Reviewed on: 6th September 2022

Please listen to the poor reviews

Bad reviews are often written off as people having a whinge or a moan or a “Karen” moment … this is NOT the case with this company I have struggled for nearly 6 months, approximately 20+ hours in calls, emails, sourcing my own garage, contacting third party companies for clarification of absolute lies told to me by 1st Central … still to not even have had my vehicle approved for repair I am continuing to make payments as per my contract and all I get in return is stalling Please please seek another company for your insurance Reviewed on: 5th September 2022

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