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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.

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

AVOID

Will ask you to "confirm" details on your policy, then charge you an admin fee, and hike your insurance up. Call handlers are incompetent. AVOID. Reviewed on: 23rd December 2021

Rip you of mid way through your policy

Only been with them two months, first my date of birth was wrong, so i rang them & got it changed, days later they email me saying i had to contact their policy checking team & if i didnt they would cancel my policy.. Rang them up, went through all their checks they wanted & they hiked my insurance up by £150.00 Utter con merchants... Reviewed on: 22nd December 2021

Worst car insurance company out there

Terrible service, no information provided and a lack of any contact when querying things. Pick anybody else. Reviewed on: 20th December 2021

Appalling

Avoid this morally bankrupt outfit of sharks Reviewed on: 17th December 2021

no service, care or accountability

Reported a claim 19 days ago. Did not hear from them until I called them after waiting for 12 days without hearing anything. Assured I would hear from repair centre and hire car company within 48 hours. I did not. I still have not heard from the hire company. I have since called 1st Central twice more and still nothing, each time being told I would hear from someone in 24 hours.. My claim was non fault. I use my vehicle for work. It is now nearly 3 weeks and nothing. I have never been contacted by the 1st central with an update and when I call them I get passed around several times on each call. No one takes responsibility and sorts it out. I have raised a complaint and not heard anything, giving 1st Central an opportunity to sort the unacceptable situation out before posting a negative review. Unfortunately no one has reached out to me or rectified this hence the review I am now posting. Reviewed on: 14th December 2021

Scam Artists - STAY AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They hook you in with a low insurance monthly fee then ask you for paperwork, which in my case the email went into my junk folder. They also don't state that additional paperwork will be requested at a later date when signing up for it, which regardless if you upload or email will cost between £25-20. They then charge you more money (in my case £250, plus £50 admin fee) if the paperwork isn't received within 2 weeks. I Only noticed when looking at my bank statement as my insurance was doubled. There website doesn't allow you to upload the documents, so instead of being charged £25 to upload the documents you are charged £50. They then communicate via email no problem until you send the documents (3rd attempt this week), in which case I'm told they haven't received it ( I have a delivery note) and tell you they don't have your email on file (you know the one you've been communicating on so far and confirmed on the phone a few days before). So you've to forward yet MORE info/documents, different to the original requested documents. Most likely to keep you costs as high as possible for as long as possible then charge you an additional fee to update, then charge you again to update again with more documents. Total scam, never in my life have a i experienced this with an insurance company - complaining to ombudsman. Reviewed on: 13th December 2021

Wrong doing company

After being insured with this company for 5months and having my car compounded by my son. I provided every document they asked for and still not happy as my maiden name is black and married name dodsworth. After 26yrs of driving under the maiden name black yet insured in dodsworth. Same address photo on driving liscence and passport. They adamant my divirce decree should have my name typed out black yet its still dodsworth. I cant gv them anymore documents to say im the person i am. Unbelievable so i cancelled my insurance 2nite b4 they cancelled it tomorrow as they wouldnt wait for more info from my solicitor. The cancellation fee was beyond greed when i cud of done it myself on the portal yet they blocked me from doing it. Never claimed in all the yrs of being a driver and you get a backstreet shitty company like this. Should of known better trying to save extra 50 qid on my insurance. AVOID WITH CAUTION Reviewed on: 9th December 2021

CRIMINALS

PEOPLE PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THOSE DISGUSTING CHEATS!!! They are fraudsters who cheating their customers!!! Avoid that disgusting firm as hell!!! Reviewed on: 9th December 2021

45 MINUTES WASTED TO FIND OUT MY CLAIM WASNT COVERED

I called to report my partner's car was hit while i was driving it. No damage to my partner's car. I wanted to log the incident in case the other side (who were at fault) made a claim. I wanted to claim on my 3rd party entitlement. This was explained in the first 5 minutes of the call. However, full details were taken, and then at the end I am told you arent covered if the car is owned by your partner. If this was known at the start of the call, why waste 45 minutes ? My confidence in this insurance provider is significantly undermined. Reviewed on: 7th December 2021

Appalling company with terrible ethics!

After taking out a policy I was asked for documents to be sent to clarify information. I had made a small error when completing the info (different purchase date). They charged me an admin fee of £50 to amend this which I completely appreciate I am liable for for my small mistake. What I don't understand and find disgusting, is the fact that the premium went up significantly just because of a small change of the purchase date which makes no difference to my ability to drive/car value etc. Very disappointed!! Both myself and my partner insure with this company and definitely won't be renewing next year!! Avoid Reviewed on: 7th December 2021

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