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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.66 (916 reviews)

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1.49

Based on 916 reviews, last reviewed 2nd Sep 2025

75% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

52% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

Latest highest rating:

5

Easy to apply, easily understandable Easy to apply, easily understandable Reviewed on: 11th August 2025

Verified source

Latest lowest rating:

1

NIGHTMARE!! I’ve been driving for over 20 years with a spotless record and no claims, but my experience with 1st Central has been nothing short of a nightmare. I... Read more Reviewed on: 2nd September 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 (916)

I changed the address to another one 200 yards away...

I changed the address to another one 200 yards away from the first one. They wrote that they would pay me 17 pence extra. But my renewal went up from £580 to £1,030, I called them and they said there was nothing they could do, that it was not their fault, while other insurance companies offer from £500 to £800 for the new address - full package with breakdown! Avoid 1st Central!!! SCAM Reviewed on: 16th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Damian, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 17th February 2025

Absolute scam of an insurance company - AVOID

Absolute scam of a company. I paid on a monthly basis, and when I went to sell my car, the cancellation fee was £75 - nearly double the monthly insurance. I will never use 1st Central again, and will be advising everyone I know to do the same. Pure greed Reviewed on: 15th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Will, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We advise of our cancellation fee when a policy is set up. We have this FAQ that goes in to what any additional fees might be for - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/motor/cancellations/if-my-car-insurance-is-cancelled-why-do-i-still-owe-money-to-1st-central. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 17th February 2025

Genuinely the worst insurance company ive ever deal...

Genuinely the worst insurance company ive ever deal with. i was only with them 26 days and they charged me £75 to leave them. i had to leave as they upped my monthly payment from £56 to £100.20, despite beig quoted £51.00 on their website! Reviewed on: 14th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Brooke, 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: 17th February 2025

Horrendous SCAM.

Horrendous SCAM. Decided they would add another £347 to the policy for a change of job, which was from working at a till in a Post office to Shop assistant working on a till. Have been advised to inform First Central of my intention to contact the FCA. Which I have done. Reviewed on: 13th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Bev, 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: 14th February 2025

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 insurance company. "Be very careful when buying insurance of this company. They were the cheapest online at the time on confused.com but they needed additional info AFTER the policy was set up. I called them , they asked me about my occupation and they said it wasn’t the right discription and proceeded to ask question after question. After finally slightly altering my employment details(very slightly altered that would never change the price on the website)they slapped me with another 130£ including an admin fee. Absolutely furious as now my policy is way more Expensive than the next best one on confused.com . They have you snookered because to cancel the policy they slap you with another fee so I stayed with them reluctantly because of this.they’ve lost a lot of my custom on my other vehicles as I’ll never use them again for anything so ultimately they’ve lost out.Never experienced anything like it in all my years of driving. Not a happy customer" Be very careful!!!! Reviewed on: 11th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi AM A, 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: 12th February 2025

Worst insurance company!

Worst insurance company! Have never had such a bad experience like with 1st cetral they wanted to charge me £640 for makinga change Reviewed on: 11th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Klaudia, 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: 12th February 2025

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 drive round for months without insurance! I’m lucky I was not arrested or in an accident. AVOID Reviewed on: 6th February 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Tom, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to [email protected] with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 7th February 2025

The worst experience and the worst insurance company.

The worst experience and the worst insurance company. My car broke down at the beginning of the insurance and they refused to suspend the insurance or even cancel it. I called for several months and every time they kept me on the line for an hour and told me that someone would return to resolve my problem as soon as possible. In the end, no one called me. I do not recommend this company at all. The worst dealings with customers. Reviewed on: 31st January 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Rajab, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to [email protected] with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 3rd February 2025

SCAMMERS Untrustworthy keep well away from this c...

*SCAMMERS * Untrustworthy keep well away from this company. Reviewed on: 30th January 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Benny, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. If there’s anything you’d like us to look into for you, please contact us by sending an email to [email protected]. Please include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley Response date: 31st January 2025

Will increase policy

Started my policy they then asked me for more information I provided said information they then hit me with an increase and an admin fee which resulted in my policy doubling. I tried to cancel and they made it so expensive to leave I ahd to stay. Will not be renewing with these. Reviewed on: 23rd January 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Garry, 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: 24th January 2025

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