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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.5 (952 reviews)

View other 1st Central products

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.

1st Central Car insurance reviews (952)

Review of the 1st Central, Car insurance:

Awful service

Son took out insurance online. Got an email saying they needed extra docs by a certain date,which son sent. Only realised they had cancelled his policy when he saw he had extra money in his bank. No communication of ANY kind telling him what they had done. Lucky he was off for a few days. He could have been done for no insurance and he needs a clean license. Simple txt or email to let him know before they sent the refund and it could have been all sorted. Absolutely useless. Reviewed on: 3rd May 2022

SCAMMERS

This company is scum and lie to the customer Reviewed on: 17th January 2022

Disgusting

Son cancelled policy agent very rude no compromise on anything. Can’t speak to a manager to complain. Even if you cancel when receiving renewal still get charged for cancelling. The staff do get flustered wen arguing with them and tell you different information. Disgusting company would not use or recommend to anyone. Reviewed on: 17th January 2022

Cowboys

You can easily summaries their service to one word, "COWBOYS" Stay far away from this company as you will be regretted big time. Reviewed on: 17th January 2022

Avoid if you were not born in UK

I lived here since 2003. They have just raised my premium by almost £150 because I can't prove it because I can find an 18 year old bill or bank statement. I've been British citizen for over 11 years! They will not listen to any reason and are threatening to cancel my insurance. Disgusting Reviewed on: 13th January 2022

Default fee on substitute bank holiday

me to put money in my account. Company and their customer service has absolutely no understanding of these circumstances and punishes me with £15 default fee. When I called them they tell me to send an email. Answer me to the email to call. Wasting my time with the same words I heard already. On the other side they would cause issues if I ask for a fee for taking money too late. lol. Anyway learned a new way to make money. Think twice before signing up. Reviewed on: 5th January 2022

Dodgy company

First time in my 13 years 'car insurance experience' I've seen something like this... They charge for policy cancellation even if it haven't started yet I still had my cooling-off period.. they sent me terms and conditions and even there it's stayted if your policy started but it did not. Also be aware that your down payment (deposit) doesn't come off from your monthly payments they explained to me that it's simply fees. Meanwhile other companies take your down payment off from your annual payment. Reviewed on: 5th January 2022

1st Central are despicable, dysfunctional, con-artists

My accident took place on 12th October 2021 and I have been repeatedly let down by 1st Central’s complete lack of service delivery. Still no repairs done and its 4th January. A complaint was registered from me previously but has since been marked as Resolved (via an automated email). This is a sick joke, as matters will of course only be resolved when I have received the repairs covered by my insurance policy, which I paid for in good faith and now bitterly regret, as I have never had the misfortune to deal with such a useless, dishonest and despicable company. I want to ensure that no other unsuspecting motorists have the misfortune to sign up for this so-called insurance which, as things stand, is robbery, as I have received nothing for the premium paid, apart from a lot of wasted lunch times phoning repeatedly to chase things up and either not getting through or getting no help whatsoever. To summarize: the garage, which 1st Central recommended took photos of the vehicle damage on 19th October. It was only after repeated chasing on my part that they said they would collect my vehicle for repair on 26th November. That day came and went and I was told it would be the next day, but it turned out I was simply being lied to, having emptied my car and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking I was finally “booked in” to get the repairs done. After this disappointment and failure to collect my car on the second day, with no single word of apology or explanation, I concluded that this repair shop should not be trusted with my vehicle anyway, as they were clearly another untrustworthy outfit. I decided to have a quick ring round a few local repair shops myself and subsequently had photos taken of my car on 3rd December, which were duly emailed over to the 1st Central team. I had also taken the trouble to phone and explain that I would find my own repairer, which was agreed, along with an acknowledgment that the fee (?!?) for using my preferred repairer would be waived, due to me having been messed around so much. I chased this up to check that the estimate for repairs had been received, which it had. But one month on I am still waiting for the green light to take my car for its repairs? Have just been in the online "Chat" with a 1st Central "Advisor" and all they did was tell me they could tell me nothing and to call a phone number, which I have called repeatedly and been fobbed off. Reviewed on: 4th January 2022

Scam Artists

Took out a new policy online through Compare the Market. They got the start date wrong and now required to cancel policy. Now keeping paid deposit as part payment towards the £50 'set up fee' and billed for the balance for a policy I never used, and had for less than 12 hours, since they got the dates wrong. Will be reporting yo relevant bodies. Avoid at all costs. Reviewed on: 4th January 2022

Ridiculous

Tried to charge me over £200 to change my vehicle over for my disabled son, doubling the monthly payments. I shopped elsewhere and found the exact same policy for half the price. Upon cancelling the policy they have charged me over £90. Absolutely scandalous. I will never use this company again - learned my lesson this time around to stick with high end companies such as Admiral! Reviewed on: 3rd January 2022

Awfull

Be carefull. Offer a good price then try and alter stuff. I am 42 years old been driving since I was 17. I said I had 20 years no claims. I have never made a claim. My previous insurer only sent out 10 years no claims. So 1st wanted an extra £78 plus £50 admin fee. Ridiculous. So I said I wanted to cancel the policy. For the 3 weeks I had been with them they wanted £14 plus £50 setup and £50 cancellation disgusting. They offer a cheap price then change you to the hills Reviewed on: 31st December 2021

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