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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.5 (952 reviews)

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1.50

Based on 952 reviews, last reviewed 4th Mar 2026

100% decrease in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

25% 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.

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1st Central Car insurance reviews (952)

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

Process is so bad you end up paying for their system mistakes.

Absolutely disgusted! I insured my Mini Cooper with them for 1 year. I lost my no claims? Due to an accident that never happened? Only after I cancelled my next car a Skoda, due to having to scrap my mini due to a dropped valve. For another new car a Skoda I reinsured through 1st central, again this car died on me and that went to scrap too. My new car (third time lucky) I put no claims and they said I have due to an accident in my previous Mini I insured with them. I have never been in an accident? They asked me to check with the company they insured me through? Ageas. They could not find my apparent policy. Then 1st central charged me an admin fee of £50 and an additional £250 on insurance! I can’t not make sense of all this? I have cancelled my direct debit and will getting on the phone again and hopefully not be penalised again? Reviewed on: 8th March 2022

As the rest of the review says Scammers, Con Artists, avoid avoid avoid

I went with them as with the cash back it made it slightly cheaper than my previous company admiral. They never provided the cash back and also in September someone reversed into me and I am still waiting for the go ahead from them to get this fixed in March. I can only assume they have pocketed the claim money as it was a council vehicle that reversed into me and the driver admitted fault straight away. Con Artists. Reviewed on: 8th March 2022

Scammers

Very shit. Quick to upsell cannot delivery with services. Horrified wait times. Staff that dont know what they are talking about. Had to wait 20weeks for payout. An to top it off the charges/fees when transfering vehicle after being written off Reviewed on: 4th March 2022

Changed my renewal by £100

Sent me a renewal email on 13th Feb / all good happy to stay - changed my surname & marital status with them as I had recently got married - was told there is no charge & nothing else. Look at my bank on the 1st March to see that they had taken over £100 more than the renewal stated. Contacted them to be told that they had sent me another renewal email because I had changed my name & changed from single to married that I never received (not in junk / bin etc) & said they couldn’t do anything as I had ‘opened’ the email - which I have never ever received. Only thing they could offer me was to cancel - but they would keep £50 for doing it. Happy to say I cancelled on the spot & will now be looking to get that additional £50 back due to their error. ABSOLUTE JOKE OF A COMPANY. Reviewed on: 2nd March 2022

scamming people

took insurance as it was cheaper then my current provide 25 pound. 1st central asked me for my NCD and Logbook and after 14 days received email to pay 71 pound to make a change because vehicle was bought 8 years ago on 14th rather then 1st of the month. where i booked the vehicle on 1st of the month. I been with 1st central for 3 years in past never asked such information. I am so worried how they will deal incase of a claim. stay away guys they might appear cheaper on compare websites but not worth... Reviewed on: 28th February 2022

Scam insurance company

I took there fantastic quote, then after 14 days cool off period they required information front and back of licences NCD but this wasn't enough they wanted to almost double the insurance, daylight robbery all because I said the wrong day j passed my car test. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY. Reviewed on: 25th February 2022

The worst customer service ever!

Avoid if you do not want to wait on chat for 1 hour just to change the simple details. They charge £30 if they do it via chat or £25 if you do it on your account but it does not work and just loading so you are not able to do anything except use chat, they do not have a phone line for the customer service on the renewal department and customer service are playing ping pong game with customer - for example: JoaddanI see, If the change must be done prior to the renewal, I recommend that you contact our Customer Service line via the chat line or on 03330432066 open from Mon-Fri 8am-8pm Sat 9am-5pm Sun 10am-2pm, and the team will be able to do the change for you.18:52:02 or I can see this query is for our Renewals team. Please contact them on 03330432055, and they’ll be happy to help.19:03:34 I would personally stronly recommend to use a different insurance company if you can. Reviewed on: 22nd February 2022

excellent service

easy to get insurance excellent service and reasonable prices Reviewed on: 14th February 2022

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