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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

No new 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

The definition of why I hate car insurance companies

Absolutely disgusting, money thriving company. If you want to pay £100 to cancel your car insurance then this is the company for you. Vile treatment received for a good customer that has paid their way. Will NEVER use this company again and certainly won’t be recommending to anyone. Avoid like the plague Reviewed on: 5th January 2021

Cheap and nasty for good reason

Cheap and nasty for good reason. Firstly expect to be hounded by 'Policy Validation' threatening to cancel your policy. God help you if you need to make a claim! After a year renewing I was mis sold the policy and extorted for more money. After cancelling they will rip you off further with ficticious charges. Avoid at all costs- will be taking them to the FCA. All emails will be ignored incidentally if you have a grievance. Customer service is simply shocking. Reviewed on: 11th December 2020

Dont use!!!!!!!!!!

Worst insurance company I have used in my life. They will try and RIP you off!!!! It's a con. Run while you can!!! Reviewed on: 25th November 2020

??????

Unable to offer renewal due to Underwriters can’t give any reason. A year older no driving convictions never speed. Don’t understand why poor customer service Reviewed on: 8th November 2020

Legal Thief

Changed car on my policy they took payment for this and my old car which I changed. Now they don't know what I was paying for. Iwas on the phone over 1 hour and they found payment now changed my policy car and say that I need to pay 50 monthly and in policy what I found and agree it was 29. Rubbish company. Now contact again as you suggested. Nobody able to help me. Now wanted to cancel my policy and they said to ring tomorrow because now they don't have anyone to do this.caustomer service is open till 8 but cancelation till 5 and is nowhere infirmation tion about this. You stole my money and done mess with my documents also it is no documents about policy what I done online only you took my money. I will say about your company everywhere wher I can what you are doing wirh caustomers and how you are treating them. I loss 3 hours for conversation with 1 central. And a lots of nerves at the end of my pregnancy. You are legal thief. Be careful people. Reviewed on: 2nd November 2020

High fees

Took out policy and weeks later was asked to call them. 30 mins in a queue and then had to confirm occupation details. Mine were correct but I hadn't changed my dads to retired and they gave me the option of changing his details and re-issuing the quote (£50 arrangement fee and £50 cancellation fee) or re-quoting without him included in the policy (would also be subject to the two fees above). I said I would cancel then and go with another provider so they deducted £50 arrangement fee and £50 cancellation fee plus days covered from my premium and left with me £128 refund from a £241 premium paid only 25 days previously! Absolutely scandalous and I suspect they call all policy holders just to see if they can trip them up about missed details that would end up being irrelevant to the cost of the original premium, just so they can enforce changing of document fees. Avoid at all costs! Reviewed on: 19th October 2020

un-helpful

over charge admin, try to charge me twice for a change then double the price only had policy 3 months because change cost as much as the policy after admin fee twice because wep page did not save details but took payments for change then customer service wanted to charge again so lost 62.00 in less than 24 hours to then loss another 140.00 next day. never use again Reviewed on: 21st September 2020

have to pay eventhough my car was stollen

PN:FPM6006310481FC/013019 My car was stolen in January and I reported it by phone. I ahve been waiting since then and I ce=aleed many times and I have been told that due to the virus and I havent got an answer. I sent an email to stop them taking the money from my bank account but no action has been taken. On the 21st of September 2020 I called the customer service to clarify the situation however the asnswer was shocking as I reported that my car stolen 8 months ago but I dint ask to cancel he policy. Now I HAVE TO PAY £176 TO CANCEL THE POLICY EVEN IF MY CAR WAS STOLEN after keeping me on the phones for 55 mins. Poor service Reviewed on: 21st September 2020

Avoid this company

2 months after policy taken out, they want completely unnecessarily proof of address. Evrrything i supplied was deemed not acceptable including driving licence and wage slips. Then my policy was cancelled and they demanded £75 cancellation fee, which they won't get a penny of. Scam company, unhelpful and robotic staff who rip people off. AVOID AVOID AVOID Reviewed on: 17th September 2020

Avoid, scam company with poor customer service

I have currently been on hold for an hour and ten minutes and still counting. Very poor customer service. Update: they have renewed without my consent and threatened me with financial debt management company if I didn't pay renewal or an admin fee that was just as much. I could only make a complaint via a letter and I would have to be on hold for two hours to speak to a manager. On their renewal quote they said their renewals are better than for first time customers. A comparison website was £50+ cheap with them for the same level of insurance. Very poor service. I will never use them again and strongly advice anyone reading to avoid using them. Reviewed on: 11th September 2020

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