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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)

Good company

Handled all of my claims with easy, and it was afforrdablke Reviewed on: 26th August 2016

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

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