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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.66 (910 reviews)

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1.50

Based on 910 reviews, last reviewed 30th Jul 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

8% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

Latest highest rating:

5

Found you online,needed a cheap quote,you certainly... Found you online,needed a cheap quote,you certainly provided it.Thank you Reviewed on: 3rd June 2025

Verified source

Latest lowest rating:

1

quote changed from £500 to £750 in a week I tried to add my daughter to my car insurance and was quoted £503. A week later we agreed to add her and I tried several times to contact the insuran... Read more Reviewed on: 30th July 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 (910)

Extortionate Cancellation Fees

Charged £50 for cancellation… five minutes after taking out the policy.. I’m not exaggerating it was five minutes. Customer services said no way of waiving the fee, although he understood it couldn’t be sorted.. can I repeat it was five minutes exactly !! Reviewed on: 1st April 2022

Fraudsters

I paid the final payment and then they chased for cancelling fee whilst I left the country to come back to see that they had. "chased" for a payment that had been settled though they reported to the credit agency as outstanding and I have had a nightmare getting this sorted. I would avoid this company easy to get insurance nightmare to deal with afterwards. Not worth it! Reviewed on: 31st March 2022

Robbery

I have paid my car insurance premium in full in February for the policy start date on 2 March. This has then become legally binding and is contractual. They then turned around on 11 March and said they needed me to provide additional information which I have then done. They then said they needed to charge me extra £89.22 as a result of the information provided. This is illegal and blatant robbery. It is unheard of. I have already provided them with all the information they needed before the start of the policy. I have demanded them to remove the extra charge within 24 hours. Otherwise, I will resort them to the Financial Ombudsman and take them to court. Reviewed on: 21st March 2022

Nothing short of DISGRACEFUL

Nothing short of a DISGRACE! This company is nothing less of a DISGRACE! Empty promises and poor service. Completely unorganised and NEVER DO AS THEY SAY WILL. Have caused me so much more distress at a very difficult time and simply don’t care. Heartless, cruel and unprofessional. Reviewed on: 19th March 2022

Huge cancellation fees

Cheap until you want to amend or cancel policy, better off paying more and go with a more reputable company. Reviewed on: 18th March 2022

Best insurance company

Very efficient in making changes to the policy via the website and friendly customer services there if needed. Reviewed on: 17th March 2022

Charging for glitchy system

After paying in full for my insurance, they wanted me to send lots of info to them. They claimed me and my partner had put the incorrect dates for when we passed out driving tests. Tried charging me £90+ to change to correct dates. I thought to myself, it’s weird how they both are apparently wrong. I can understand one being wrong, but both.. somethings not right there. Looked online and seems they do this to lots of people, so it must be a glitch in their system or a total scam. Will never take out insurance with 1st central again!! Reviewed on: 16th March 2022

AVOID at all cost! They invent 1000 and 1 ways to take your money.

I was charged 65£ just so they update the date I passed my driving test!!!! According to them it has to match what's showing in the licence, they didn't care about the fact that the date shows in my EU licence is not the date I passed the test (date of my first licence) but the date I received my new biometric licence. They waited 2 weeks since I bought the insurance so i cannot cancel free of charge and then they asked for more evidence for me...it seems like they were trying to find a reason to put their hands in my wallet. At the beginning they said my NCD cannot be approved, when I walked them throught the ncd certificate they found the issue with the date that I passed my driving test 15 years ago!!!! Avoid and dont do the mistake I did in order to save a few pounds - go with a proper insurance company that care about their customers. Trust me, having peace of mind is more important than saving on car insurance. If they target you they will take money from you and you will feel that you have been robed. They are a joke. Customer service said that they need to charge me because they put it through a computer, like making the programs work extra for updating the date and month. They don't care about their customers!!! Trust the reviews you see on Google. Reviewed on: 14th March 2022

Avoid - opened a claim without my knowledge

After going over a pot hole and travelling home to my mums my car wheel completely came off and I was in shock. I pay for breakdown cover within the insurance - would recommend to never do this as they left me stranded and said they would not collect my car as I was using it for commuting and not SDP. I’m 20 and this is the first time in 3 years I’ve needed to ask for recovery team as my car was in the middle of the road. Instead I had to go elsewhere and pay extra for it to be moved after police knocked on our door at 2am asking if it is being recovered. The phone call asking for breakdown is now being used against me and they opened a claim without my knowledge which will most likely effect my NCD. My car is a write off and they still expect me to pay and won’t let me pause until I can afford a new car and finish my contact (even if price changes due to car). They are ignoring my emails but soon sent one when I cancelled my policy after my monthly payment came out a few days ago. Absolute disgrace I could’ve been left on a motorway and now they are using a claim I never asked for I just wanted my breakdown cover that I pay for! Reviewed on: 14th March 2022

VERY BAD COMPANY

I am totally dissapointed and upset with them. I will never go back to them even if they give me the cheapest quote in the world.... If you've been with them for 1 year, watch out, because they automatically renew your policy and charge you more, not less, as a "regular customer" :). Also they "refunded" my money back into my non existing account, that was closed 1 year ago. I had to through numerous calls and emails trying to explain to them that it makes no sence to charge me 1 year from 1 account and refund money into a non existing one. Total mess! Save your mental health and stay away from them! Thats why they are so cheap.... Reviewed on: 11th March 2022

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