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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.66 (913 reviews)

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1.50

Based on 913 reviews, last reviewed 16th Aug 2025

33% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

42% 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

Absolutely terrible experience. Absolutely terrible experience. I had an accident that was never properly investigated. Despite me reporting it to the police and even providing CCTV ... Read more Reviewed on: 16th August 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 (913)

TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I could give 0 I would, Please please please do not waste your time or money on this 'insurer'. This company is not an insurance company they are brokers who will scam you, rob you and affect you both mentally and physically. I have no idea how this business is still running with the amount of people they are scamming. Out of the blue they cancelled my insurance, they said they needed extra documents. I was not notified at all, neither by text, phone call or post to indicate they require additional infomation. The only way I found out about this was because I checked my bank balance and they had refunded my money for the month. I gave them a call to understand why I had been refunded and only then they told me my insurance was going to be cancelled on 08/06/22 11:59pm - I FOUND OUT 10 HOURS BEFORE THE TIME IT WAS DUE TO BE CANCELLED. They expected me to pull out the documents out of thin air. To avoid this tarnishing my good record I asked the policy to be cancelled and they kept passing me over person to person - I was trying to deal with this whilst I was at work. Then in the end I had to ask them to call me back and then the lady said she will at 6:00 after I finish work. 6:00pm comes and no one has called me, instead I got a lazy email to say 'sorry we cannot cancel your insurance and there is nothing we can do'. The 'analysis' had locked my account so i was unable to cancel the policy online. Even the website is extremely dodgy, they had added a fee of £135 on my account and it said once i make the payment my account will be unlocked. I paid it and it was still locked - luckily I had sent written proof that i want my insurance cancelled and this was the only thing I had to cover my back. I called this morning and spoke to a man who was also very useless and he did nothing to help me and he kept saying to me the insurance cannot be cancelled and he has spoken to his manager. Later i conferred with a family lawyer and they advised me that what they have done is unlawful and should be reported to the ombudsmen. I then called them and threatened them with legal action and notified them that I have also contacted ombudsmen. After this they changed their tune and agreed to cancel my insurance on my behalf rather than them doing it and tarnishing my good record. This has caused me an unbelievable amount of stress and anxiety. PLEASE RUN AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY - The few pounds and pennies you save going for this insurance will only last a month before they start slapping random charges on your account. I insured my run around car with them and for a 2005 mini i essentially paid approx. £200 a month with all the charges they gave me and i only had this insurance for 2 month. I own a BMW X4m and the insurance is no where as expensive. I must say I have learnt my lesson and I will definitely do research before looking for insurance. STAY AWAY LIKE THE PLAGUE. Reviewed on: 9th June 2022

sCAM ARTISTS

they will scam you out of more money saying a dot was missing on information you gave them Reviewed on: 9th June 2022

Bad customer service

They charge way too much for change of address. I raised a complaint and it took me nowhere. They did not care they would loose another customer. I can't wait when contract is finished and I will not renew it. I would recommend other people to be aware of this company. They claim to be cheap when you first take an insurance but if you change details during your policy such as address , etc they charge you more than 50%. Don't bother with complaints because they will not consider it. Reviewed on: 8th June 2022

Disgusting customer service

Never experienced such bad customer service. Will never ever use them again. Tried to make me pay over £500 just to change my address Reviewed on: 8th June 2022

Terrible AVOID

They are keep sending me texts that I owe them money. I emailed them back with my bank statement to prove I pay monthly by direct debit. In the end I've cancelled my insurance with them but guess what. I still owe them money because I cancelled!!! Over 200 pounds for fee. I'm fuming Reviewed on: 8th June 2022

Reliable company to work with

No bad experience still this moment Reviewed on: 29th May 2022

Utter clowns

Don't wast your money or your time they treat you disgusting Reviewed on: 24th May 2022

AVOID

Absolutely fuming! They are a pain from the start. Get held on hold for 20mins at a time for a phone call that took 1hour and 30mins. After that phone call the situation was NOT resolved. After paying money in full they tell me I have to send documents over after being with them 2 months then they proceed to tell me I owe another £451 plus an additional £50 administration fees. Seems they just add on money randomly. I have refused to pay any more after all I paid the full amount at a price that was agreed from the start! DO NOT go with this insurance if you want to save yourself the headache Reviewed on: 24th May 2022

Speechless

This is the most shocking customer experience I have ever received. I cancelled my policy and was due a £75 refund. I was not able to do this online as the bank details they held were out of date. I called and webchatted at the same time to explain this (I wasn't sure which one I would get through first!). I was told both on the phone and by web chat that their accounts team would call within so many days to take my new bank details to issue the refund to. This never occured. I received an email to say I will be sent a £25 refund to the card on file. I replied to explain I am due £75, and as I had said on the phone/web chat and that the bank details they hold are out of date. The response was that I am due £75 and they will refund it to my bank details on file. I replied again. I received an email today to say that the refund already was sent to my old account and they can do nothing more. I have tried to get through to their complaints team today. It's easier to get through a prison barricade. I was told eventually, after explaining the whole situation that 'the money has been refunded to the account on file and it takes 10 days'. When I said that I was frustrated at their lack of ability and understanding of the situation, they put the phone down one me. Seriously awful customer service. Typical computer says no behaviour. Please, please do not use this firm. I mean, how difficult is it to issue a refund to new card details? Reviewed on: 23rd May 2022

Tried to get my renewal quote

I received my renewal quote, it was a lot lower than expected which was great, I'd just moved house and was messaging them on their live chat, both to change the address and ask what the monthly payments would be for my renewal as the one I'd received though my email was the yearly payment. I changed the address no problem and then asked for the monthly payments for my renewal, baring in mind my new house is a 2 minute drive away from my last one, on a safer more out of the way street, my renewal price has gone from £664.52 to £1184.64. This is atrocious, I understand the system is going to calculate this all but a £520.22 increase for a street 2 minutes up the road from my last house is abominable. It very much seems as if the company is using the change of address, even for exceptionally small distances i.e 2 minutes, to drag the prices up. Reviewed on: 21st May 2022

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