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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)

Don't trust 1st Central to stand by their promises

When it comes to trusting an insurer to give you their best price offered, 1st Central are the last people to follow that etiquette. 1st Central promised me a certain price 21 days before my insurance expired, but at the very last minute (due to an error on their behalf of not putting in a simple form), they tried to shaft me and charge me extra without giving much of an option to negotiate. Why should the customer have to pay the price of an error on the insurer's half? The first time it happened, I let it slide due to human error. But the second time I knew they were trying to string me along like I knew nothing was going on. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and shocking that it happens still in 2022. This is gutter-level behaviour. They also failed to email me about the prior promise of the agreed insurance price when I Negotiated. Something so simple and easy to do, yet has cost me both time and money. As the saying goes: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. DON'T TRUST 1ST CENTRAL TO BE ON YOUR SIDE Reviewed on: 9th February 2022

Thieving cowboys

I took out a car insurance policy with 1st Central back in October 2021, I paid for the year upfront. On 24/01/2022, I receive a text from the bank telling me I've gone into my overdraft due to 1st central taking £300+. I call up 1st central and ask them why they've taken out that money, they tell me they've e-mailed requesting x3 pieces of information from me, with no response on my end (this is true, unless I am on the look out for e-mails, I tend to miss e-mails due to the sheer volume I receive- I told them this& asked why they hadn't called me /sent notice via post to which they answered that they were a predominantly online company) . I was told I needed to provide proof of no claims, proof of employment and the date I'd purchased my vehicle. I called my previous insurers, who sent me an e-mail confirming my proof of no claims. I call up my father& he scans me a copy of my V5 form. I forward these to 1st Central and call them up. Whilst on the phone, they tell me they can't take a forwarded e-mail as proof of no claims (despite being a self described 'predominantly online company) and that I'd need to send them a letter from my previous insurers with their letter head. They also told me that they needed the complete V5 form, as opposed to the 1 page that my father had scanned in. They also asked me what my job role is, when I gave them the answer, (that is on the Policy) they said that what I'd entered onto the comparison site was different, I told them that it was more or less the same in terms of what I do at work, and so they changed it to what was on the comparison website, and told me I had to pay £100 admin fee for this. When I stated that when asked by them, I'd given the answer that was already on the Policy, they relented. I then called my previous insurers who then sent out a PDF version of a NCD letter which I forwarded to 1st Central. I then called 1st Central, and after hours complaining on the phone, I managed to get a refund (minus a £50 admin fee), on the condition that I provide the V5 in its entirety within 2 weeks, which I do, and receive confirmation of receipt of both. The refund would take 5-10 working days to appear in my bank account, which did nothing for me in terms of taking me out of my overdraft/overdraft fees. On the 24/01/2022, I explained the effect of them taking £300+ out of my bank account, the stress caused and that my experience with them had been awful- I didn't receive anything by way of apology- not even an offer for the manager to get back to me. I then, on 04/02/2022, get another e-mail stating that they're still going to charge me £288.53 for having had to make amendments to my Policy which I could see online (when I checked online, there was no audit trail as to what has been amended from what to what). I called on 07/02/2022, and was told that there was no outstanding balance. I requested a copy of this in writing, and have not yet received this, which does little to bring me any peace of mind. I also stated that they'd given me an incredibly stressed out weekend, and again reiterated that my experience with them had been awful. Again, I didn't receive anything by way of an apology. Reviewed on: 7th February 2022

Crazy charges!

Cheap initial price then hit you with ridiculous admin charges, set up charges, cancellation charges, mid term policy charges bla bla bla-joke of a company will be reporting to financial ombudsman. Avoid Reviewed on: 4th February 2022

Breach of contract

Breach of contract, entered driving license number and all correct information upon quote request, received agreement of direct debits. Nowhere stated and terms and conditions or that price may change. After uploading v5c that has the wrong date on when I bought the car, charging me extra premium and £50 admin fee. I sent the order form from Ford which proves I owned the car earlier then that. I advise you all reach out to citizens advice bureau, as they are now advising me to take action as it is a breach of mid term contract. Don't let it slide people. Prices are going up in everything and we were sold a product at a cheaper price that now they can't change. Reviewed on: 4th February 2022

The most awful insurance company

I am currently experiencing the worst service from 1st central. They are completely negligent. My car was stolen and recovered by the police two months ago. 1st central made no effort to recover my car from the police pound, they told me I had to find my own repairer and pay for the recovery myself £1200 and two months later they are still not responding to my repairer to approve the repairs so I have been without my car for two months. They do not respond to emails either. I am currently so desperate I am going to pay £2500 for the repairs. Whats the point in having an insurance company. They have done nothing but cause me stress. Reviewed on: 3rd February 2022

THIEVES!!!!

Took out the policy, then 8 hours later realised one date was wrong, phoned to change it, was told would cost me £47 to do so, so asked to cancel policy as in the 14 days period, told would be £50 to cancel. Read all the reviews and decided to cancel policy and pay the £50 as could see how they would constantly be taking money for the littliest detail. DO NOT TAKE OUT A POLICY. Reviewed on: 3rd February 2022

NEVER GO WITH THEM

I booked my policy and claimed 2 yrs of NCD with them a month ago. and by mistake, I put my wife's name as a policyholder instead of my name and kept myself as an additional driver. they did not send me a mail with the amount they will add to my account for any mismatch in the policy and asked for the NCD copies from the last 2 years, the same was sent to them immediately. Now what they are saying is that I have to pay £168 extra as the NCD was in my name, not my wife's name. when I asked that if you cancel and then i can have a new policy on my name then they asked for around £200 pounds for 1 month of policy to cancel. This is ridiculous to know that they hid the info as to how much I will be paying in case of a mismatch. They can't do anything, from the last 4 years I was with Admiral and moved to them seeing the low price. Now have paid the extra amount to them and they are no longer cheaper. NEVER GO WITH THEM Reviewed on: 2nd February 2022

NEVER AGAIN

Worst insurance company ever!! I'd rather pay twice as much than use the services of these thieves. Reviewed on: 1st February 2022

Insurance is secondary, locking you in and admin fees is the buisness

Avoid Avoid Avoid Insurance time and 1st central came out best on the quotes engine so went with them and at quote and sale everything was smooth sailing. After that started the requests for further information, I had four drivers on the policy so these requests added up photos of licences, share codes etc but it was when I'd done all this and uploaded to their site and gave the team a ring. First literally hours in queues to get through then more hour on hold as my proofs where checked at the end of all this they want to charge me a extra £50 admin fee for changes on the policy, this was due to insignificant details like the exact date a licence had achieved or the number of years held 26 rather than 20. These changes we all absolutely necessary and being done for my benefit apparently I ultimately got the "it company policy" you can pay or cancel response. So my advice would be not all insurance is the same 1st central will not tell you up front but expect them to need more of your time and if anything is not 100% correct expect an admin fee (have to wonder if that's there business model) alternatively save yourself the headache and the time/money and choose anyone else I know I will in future Reviewed on: 27th January 2022

SHIT

6 months has past and i'm still waiting for a simple wing mirror repair to be sorted. Ask for a manager multiple times and they're always conveniently in meetings, the company is shambles. They can't and wont give time frames to when things will be sorted. They say they'll request a call back from a manager which they can't guarantee will happen and it doesn't happen. Worst company EVER. STAY FAR AWAY!!!!!! Reviewed on: 24th January 2022

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