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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.71 (965 reviews)

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1.71

Based on 965 reviews, last reviewed 7th Jun 2026

100% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

8% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

11%

80%

Latest highest rating:

5

Just started my third year of car insurance cover wi... Just started my third year of car insurance cover with 1st Central. Good value for money, helpful customer service, clearly laid out website and easy ... Read more Reviewed on: 17th April 2026

Latest lowest rating:

1

Please avoid this company, money grabbers! I purchased car insurance and then found a more comprehensive cover for the same price, so within 12 hours decided to cancel whilst policy was pending... Read more Reviewed on: 7th June 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 (965)

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

Cheapest quotes

Always loved beig inaured with them. Very helpful and their wevbsite is easy to use. Reviewed on: 6th September 2020

Cheap and cheerful

After an accident caused by another driver I never went through with legal action and my insurance became more expensive, but 1st central were an amazing option for me very reasonable price Reviewed on: 6th September 2020

Simple and easy to use

Everything was so simple and easy to use. Got the best quote from all the comparison sites. Will use again Reviewed on: 30th August 2020

Avoid this company, they lie and scam.

The company tend to be the cheapest but go on to make their money by trying to scam newly registered customers. They will send an email asking for scans of license etc. to double check dates. They will then insist what you entered is incorrect, change it on your policy without asking, and charge you for it. DOUBLE CHECK on you policy data - they will try and do this even if you enter the correct info, in the hope that you don't push back. I made sure my dates were correct and they still lied. Thankfully I had the evidence. They also rely upon people coming in from comparison sites, where the exact date you passed your test isn't entered. It will default to the 1st of the month on their system, so if you don't manually change it on their own website, they will charge you for providing wrong info. This isn't a one off, I was with the company several years ago and the exact same thing happened. Of course I decided to go for them again as they were cheaper, and I didn't learn my lesson!! Absolutely avoid. Rather pay an extra £100 than go through the stress of dealing with this terrible company. Reviewed on: 3rd August 2020

Average

Insurance wasnt bad but I found customer service hard to get through too and I preferred my previous insurers Reviewed on: 2nd August 2020

Good valuve for money

Have used this company for multiple years. always seem to be the best value for money when it comes to a good car insurance deal with comprehensive cover and legal aid included. Reviewed on: 31st July 2020

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