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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

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1.51
Based on 957 reviews, last reviewed 17th Apr 2026
100% increase in 5 star reviews
in the past 90 days
53% decrease in 1 star reviews
in the past 90 days
See only 5 star reviews
11%
See only 4 star reviews
5%
See only 3 star reviews
2%
See only 2 star reviews
2%
See only 1 star reviews
80%

Latest highest rating:

5

Just started my third year of car insurance cover wi... Just started my third year of car insurance cover with 1st Central. Good value for money, helpful customer service, clearly laid out website and easy ... Read more Reviewed on: 17th April 2026
Jade's avatar
Jade

Latest lowest rating:

1

Do not use this provider for your car insurance I’ve had a very poor experience with this insurer. They failed to respond to three or four of my emails, and despite requesting a call from management... Read more Reviewed on: 10th April 2026
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Sherene
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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 (957)

Still waiting for repairs 6 months on!

1
1st central car insurance are absolute liars with no care for customers. Had an accident in November and, up to now, they give endless excuses as to why repairs haven't started for a claim they accepted. Raised a complaint via resolver and considering taking them to small claims court as well Reviewed on: 27th April 2022
T Shu's avatar
T Shu

Dreadful company with a Useless South African call centre .

1
Complete catalogue of problems with my daughters car insurance. Wrong registration number in the first place . Then she was asked to upload V5, driving license, No Claims proof and get a code from DVLA. - not one upload worked on the site. Their Call centre ( which is in South Africa) is hopeless, very difficult to understand them plus they can’t help you at the weekend because ‘policyanalysis’ only works week days. So you can’t get anything changed over the phone. The online account was locked . So completely useless. God knows if it was an accident to report ! My daughter needed to change car details that day. It meant she wouldn’t be able drive to training for a new job. Ended up buying new car insurance from Admiral who were brilliant. Now 1st Central want £95 to cancel ! What a rip off company. Reviewed on: 26th April 2022
David 's avatar
David

Awful company

1
Awful company. Rip off and too focused on making money. Staff are rude too. Reviewed on: 23rd April 2022
Tessa Dewdney's avatar
Tessa Dewdney

Fraudsters

1
Do not use this company lie to you on the phone con people out there money and claims wow if your reading this use another company Reviewed on: 21st April 2022
Jay Dablio's avatar
Jay Dablio

Worst insurance company

1
Being charged 180 pounds to cancel my policy that's just ridiculous... im disgusted... also huge fees for online changes...AVOID Reviewed on: 20th April 2022
Andrei Ichim's avatar
Andrei Ichim

Rip Off

1
Avoid they try to charge you extra after 30days they create small deviation to how you filled out form Reviewed on: 14th April 2022
Mark Hudson's avatar
Mark Hudson

ROGUE TRADERS

1
This company warrant investigation for dubious practices. It is essential that this company gets referred to the relevant authorities. If you find yourself being subject to 1st Choice dubious practices report them. The more referrals to trading standards, ombudsman etc. Even report them to well known consumer programs put them on the radar. It then cannot be put down to one off experiences. There is nothing transparent about their transaction. You will be fleeced, you will be penalised you will be cornered, you will be intimidated you will be trapped. There mode of operation is to charge for anything and everything and you'll be none the wiser until a payment schedule is posted to you. There is no recourse they will not respond to questions. This company needs to be put out of business. Mr Alexander Hatfield Reviewed on: 2nd April 2022
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Alex Hatfield

Extortionate Cancellation Fees

1
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
Marc McCracken's avatar
Marc McCracken

Fraudsters

1
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
Ebrio's avatar
Ebrio

Robbery

1
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
Anqi Shao's avatar
Anqi Shao

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