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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.86 (975 reviews)

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1.86

Based on 975 reviews, last reviewed 23rd Aug 2026

300% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

83% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

80%

Latest highest rating:

5

I have rac joint to my policy, had a breakdown at ho... I have rac joint to my policy, had a breakdown at home and the rac arrived very quickly. Reviewed on: 23rd August 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Absolutely terrible It is hard to describe my experience with this company than anything other than an absolute clown show. Since starting my policy on July 29th, I have... Read more Reviewed on: 17th August 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 (975)

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

a shitty company

For 45 days insured I paid 360 pounds because they have to many charges and fees...stay away of this company Reviewed on: 6th December 2021

Very bad customer service

Wished to cancel within 14 days and before insurance due to begin. Told I am eligible for a £50 arrangement fee. I will complain to the ombudsman as they need to be held accountable. It will also mean they get charged £750 for each complaint Reviewed on: 5th December 2021

Stealers stay away ! VOID VOID VOID VOID VOID VOID

I canceled both cars cause they increased the monthly payment , and now the request £383 cancelation fees I had already report them to FCA/FOS , they need to shut down this company its illegal Reviewed on: 2nd December 2021

DO NOT USE!!!

Cancelled my insurance renewal as no longer have the car and found somewhere cheaper to insure my new car. 1st central charged me £50 'arrangement fee' which is apparently for them registering your details with dvla, I questioned what exactly the deposit I paid when I took out the policy was for but the lady in the call centre couldn't tell me. It's OK though as they didn't charge me the £50 cancellation fee on this occasion. What an absolute joke! Take out an insurance policy with these and you'll have to keep it for life with hiking renewal fees or pay ridiculous amounts to cancel. AVOID AVOID AVOID!!! Reviewed on: 29th November 2021

Scam

Basically a scam to bring in new customers then charge them extra once you've signed up. I got quoted £20 a month but when I signed up they asked me to validate my policy and requested numerous documents and details to verify my details, including proof of residency in the form of a document from OVER 5 years ago. If you don't do this by a certain deadline they hike up your premium and charge you a £50 admin fee - for something a robot clearly did automatically. No other insurance company asks for this much information - if I did try to make a claim they'd verify my details anyway and if they were incorrect then they wouldn't pay out, so this is obviously a scam. I've now cancelled my policy and ended up paying a £93 cancellation fee, stay away from 1st Central. Reviewed on: 26th November 2021

Second 1 star review

econd review, since it's now over a year since my claim started. Still no contact from the claims department about why the claim is still open after they paid out to me and the other party...but clearly not paid everything because the other party is now taking me to court. 1st Central have never informed me of any decision they have made to pay or not pay to the other party, which is this case they have not informed me that they refused to pay this part of the claim (confirmed in writing to me by the other party after I asked the reason for the court letters) After multiple emails about updates on this the claims department have not responded and the person handling my claim is not available and does not return calls (as she has done for well over a year now). So the claim is still open, they don't update at all on any part of the claim at all unless you hound them and pray they send something that makes sense (which the claims handler in question actually did so bad the last time no one else on the department could make any sense of) but it doesn't matter.. So not sure of the process at moment but Im going to be quite alot more broke having to defend for something this pitiful excuse of an insurance company is meant to deal with and inform the customer that paid in full for the insurance contract. Anyone 5 stars you see on here are from the automated email sent out after your sign with them and is about the sign up easily process. They are not about the utterly useless service you get, Which by the way calls are farmed out to a call center in South Africa and no one actually works for the company as they are a call center. So genuinely please avoid the this company you will regret it. Also for the Two faced appology that some person will return to this review about please don't say your sorry because you genuinely are not and they last time i posted a negative review about this matter someone said sorry and they want to sort this.... nothing happened, not a thing. FPM6008961793FC - So you don't do the we can't find your details rubbish response either Reviewed on: 26th November 2021

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