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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.66 (909 reviews)

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1.50

Based on 909 reviews, last reviewed 25th Jul 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12% 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

You think you’re getting a good deal with a cheap pr... You think you’re getting a good deal with a cheap price but they do that to get your card details then they invent reasons to change your policy and c... Read more Reviewed on: 25th 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 (909)

Cons DO NOT USE

I wouldn’t even give these people one star, i started and paid for a policy in full and in 10 minutes I decided I made a mistake and wanted to cancel the policy and when I called them they said that they are going to charge me £50 for a settlement fee which I was not aware of at the time of the purchase. They rob you they are CON’s BE AWARE I have an email confirming that I can cancel the policy within 14 days without a charge. What a joke of a company - DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY THEY HAVE LITERALLY JUST FORCED ME TO STICK TO THE POLICY - BE AWARE GUYS JUST USE PROPER INSURANCE COMPANIES LIKE ADMIRAL OR DIRECT LINE - DO NOT USE 1st Central - absolutely appalling company day light robbery. Disgusting service VERY VERY VERY VERY UNHAPPY Reviewed on: 28th August 2021

Go elsewhere or get done over.

Sell you insurance then start fishing for more money, you have not got drive to work on your policy even though it's on the certificate & I've got business use, then the dates on your licence are wrong apparently I put passed test 1996 when should be 1987 named driver wrong 98 instead of 94 so more driving time great, put sp30 date as 28/4/18(date caught speeding) instead of conviction date(28/7) my bad. They loaded the insurance by a over 50% or cancel at extortionate rate, £210 then reduce to £160 for 41 days great money in getting people to cancel look at there reviews, I'm going to FSO & anybody else that will listen. They auto input the 25+ years licence held date on comparison site & hope you don't check because I was not asked so they can get more money, you either pay up or cancel at stupid rate there quids in either way Reviewed on: 22nd August 2021

Avoid them

They charge a fee for everything. Avoid them Reviewed on: 21st August 2021

£50 to cancel within cooling off period

I phoned to cancel before my policy started and was told that I would have to pay a £50 fee even though I am within the cooling off period. The terms and conditions are extremely unclear and state that if you cancel within 14 days the fee is £0, however it doesn’t actually state you would still have to pay £50 for setting up the policy. The t&cs are so unclear and when I called back to query this after reading the terms and conditions the advisor I spoke to was extremely rude, unhelpful and spoke over me repeatedly. AVOID unless you want to be out of pocket. Reviewed on: 19th August 2021

AVOID - Will force to you pay extra fees or cancel for higher fees

I went with this insurance through compare the market, they charged me £75 for a policy change for the value of 29p because of an incorrect date. They did this 3 months after I took out the policy. Avoid, I tried to save money by going with them now I really regret it. Customer service is also terrible, the agents don’t listen to you and and make false promises. They just want to make money out of you, god forbid if you have an accident and need help. Reviewed on: 16th August 2021

Complete liars

Cancelled car insurance payment as my portal wasn’t showing a current certificate, so cancelled direct debit, rang and had a conversation where they said i would need to pay for the whole premium, as i had been issued the documents, when i told them i hadnt received them, they said i had even though i was looking at my portal at the time with expired paperwork. I asked to forward the original email to prove they had sent it originally, only to be sent a copy dated the day i asked, now being hounded for money i don’t owe, avoid at all cost, going to the ombudsman to sort out Reviewed on: 16th August 2021

Avoid at all costs - the WORST company to get car insurance from.

Extremely rude customer service. Do not be fooled by the cheap advertised rates as there are many hidden costs they do not tell you about. They do nothing to help you at all. They really are theiving. I highly, highly recommend you do not choose this company, trust me. It has been a nightmare with them. Reviewed on: 11th August 2021

Excellent insurers

We struggled to find a reasonable quote, until these popped up. They were more than happy to help and got me driving without the huge price tag. Reviewed on: 5th August 2021

Worst insurance company going

This is hands down the worst company I've ever dealt with. Full of lies, takes nearly an hour to get hold of them, will charge £50 for any changes to the policy even if its there fault it needs changing. Avoid at all cost! Reviewed on: 30th July 2021

Hidden costs do not use.

Difficult to contact when wishing to cancel . Paid £89 to cancel in the end. When setting up policy should’ve explained better . Terms and conditions confusing. Reviewed on: 23rd July 2021

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