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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.68 (924 reviews)

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1.53

Based on 924 reviews, last reviewed 6th Sep 2025

No new 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

41% decrease in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

Latest highest rating:

5

I have used this company before, and have never had... I have used this company before, and have never had any problems. Reviewed on: 6th September 2025

Latest lowest rating:

1

I have never had such an appalling experience with a... I have never had such an appalling experience with a company in my life. 1st Call Central Car Insurance has shown me exactly how NOT to treat a custom... Read more Reviewed on: 5th September 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 (924)

poor communication

good prices free breakdown cover but awful communication Reviewed on: 25th August 2016

Avoid this company

I had a car insurance with this company. After a while my partner insured with them too. They have requested documents which we have provided to them in time. After they have requested more documents such as prove of residence and set again a deadline. We have called numerous time to ask the reason to requesting additional documents but we haven't received an answer. The most interesting that I have insured with them 9 month, and they wasn't bothered about any documents all this time. Finally when we send the prove of residence they didn't accepted it and they not even informed us. If they informed us and actually explained us what is wrong this could be prevented. They just force the cancellation and ask for huge fees. Reviewed on: 24th August 2016

Cheapest Insurance

I purchased a new car and subsequently used a comparison site to identify the cheapest insurance. Unfortunately 1st central did not appear in the quotes so i tried a quote direct with 1st central as i was already an existing customer. The quote was £200 cheaper than any quote on the comparison site. Reviewed on: 24th August 2016

Avoid like the plague

Took me months to stop them harrasing me, after they demanded I send them proof of my car sale. I sent them a screen dump from the DVLA and a ferry ticket out of the country to prove to them I had sold the car, i.e. exported it. Then months later they still hounded me for money of various amounts, even after I sent them proof of my car sale, bizare. In all I rang them regarding the cancellation of this one policy some 20 times, maybe more, some calls lasting an hour and over and costing over £10:00 a call. Every time I never got a conclusive answer, but was evasively told it would be sorted, i.e for them to stop hounding me for money, but never it never was sorted. Terrible hey, well it gets worse. I then receive from them an email from 1st Central telling me that they have successively debited my account using my card details stored at 1st Central,for £199.00, I was furious, phoned them over an hour on the phone, spoke to three different people, no conclusion!, only for a representative at 1st Central telling me it was probably fraud and that I should contact the Ombudsman! what the heck!.. This is illegal to debit someones account without consent using customer card details. I then receive another email several days later that the email saying my account had been debited was sent to me in error. I had already cancelled all my cards, as the email did not specify which card number they had debited! What a nightmare company, stress, stess, stress. Is it possible that this is common practice from 1st Central and could possibly be making money from premium rate phone calls. Also due to their bizare evasive tactics, and what I have had to go through, I do not trust the ethics/practices of this company and the culture in which it's staff are trained. They have you ringing up so many times and a great cost, an hour a time and more to no conclusion. Do not trust this company and steer well clear. Reviewed on: 22nd August 2016

Great company

Great customer service Freindly helpful I felt right at ease explained everything to me Reviewed on: 21st August 2016

Professional

I took out our 2nd car insurance online. When completed I realised there was a mistake on the start date. I needed immediate cover but somehow put 3 weeks time in error. As this was evening I had to wait till the next morning to call customer services. There wasn't any way I could amend the date so the policy had to be cancelled. I was refunded in full including the setting up fee which all brokers charge, no quibble, no hassle etc.. I then went on the comparison site again and started over. Although 1st central wasn't the cheapest I opted for them again given the level of service received over the last year and the way in which they handled which was my error on the second policy. I was also advised that they offer 2nd car discounts but it's worth still checking comparison sites as they can sometimes still be cheaper than direct with themselves. It was a question I asked and it was answered honestly. So far I can't fault them. Maria Reviewed on: 19th August 2016

No fuss insurance

Easy to set up, very responsive when needed. Would recommend Reviewed on: 14th August 2016

Straight forward and easy to actually get insurance online,

I was directed to One after searching on Go compare and they where the cheapest. I completed everything online and within 15 minutes i was insured. The next day i needed to change my vehicle which a lovely Scottish women sorted for me. I would recommend if its the cheapest for you. Reviewed on: 4th August 2016

Not filled with hope

I got a quote online but ended up having to ring them to complete it as the system wouldn't allow me to complete the process. I then spent an hour on the phone because they couldn't add the words 'the flat' to my address! Received paperwork and they've still not got it right... I'm wondering if they did it on purpose so they can charge me to update it! I hope I never have to make a claim won't be renewing when the year is up!! Reviewed on: 3rd August 2016

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID!!!!!!!

How I wish I had read the reviews before buying a policy with the worst insurance company in this country. I was unfortunately fooled by the cheap price since every time I've gotten a quote 1st central has always come up as the cheapest. I was in a pretty bad crash, hit and run, in Feb 2016, on the motorway. It wasn't my fault, I got clipped by a van on the left rear of my vehicle. My car was brand new, only 3 months old and a lease vehicle. And because they couldn't locate this van driver, they said it was going to be split liability. It's the first of Aug today(5 months now) and I'm still fighting with them. They have stalled and stalled, tried to find any loop-hole they could not to pay out. They even tried to cancel my policy because apparently I had lied about when I passed my test but the reason why the date on my licence was different was because I had lost my previous licence hence the date on my new one was when I applied for it not when I passed my test. Unfortunately for them, I am very clued on when it comes to stuff like this so it didn't work. My claim has been put on hold numerous times because of one reason or another. Every time I call, I have to wait at least 20minutes only to speak to someone who has no bloody clue what the hell is going on and when they said they will call back, forget it coz they won't. I had to threaten to get some lawyers involved and also refer them to Financial Ombudsman that is only when I started to see some significant progress on my claim. I consider going with 1st Central one of the biggest mistakes I've made in a long time and as soon as my claim is settled, I a running for the hills. And I will make sure no one I know will make the same mistake I made of buying a policy with these incompetent and foolish thieves. As far as I am concerned, they should be shut down. Not having insurance at all is better than being insured by these idiots! Reviewed on: 1st August 2016

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