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1st Central: Car insurance reviews

Name: Car insurance
Rating: 1.66 (900 reviews)

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1.49

Based on 900 reviews, last reviewed 3rd Jun 2025

300% increase in 5 star reviews

in the past 90 days

100% increase in 1 star reviews

in the past 90 days

12%

79%

Latest highest rating:

5

Very pleased with quote I received and they were ver... Very pleased with quote I received and they were very helpful Reviewed on: 5th May 2025

Verified source

Latest lowest rating:

1

Totally Fed up I had insurance with Ist Central on my new car. They took £538 out of my bank account after I had informed them I wouldn’t be renewing with them. My... Read more Reviewed on: 3rd June 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.

1st Central Car insurance reviews (900)

Review of the 1st Central, Car insurance:

terrible customer service

had to change cars - took me days on the phone. such a hard company to deal with - should have been the easiest thing in the world. sort yourselves out for people who lease please! Reviewed on: 21st August 2019

Totally Fed up

I had insurance with Ist Central on my new car. They took £538 out of my bank account after I had informed them I wouldn’t be renewing with them. My bank took out a dispute with them on my behalf giving them 28 days to reply. They did not reply and my bank paid my money back to me. I am now being pestered by them by every means, text messages, emails, day in day out … now they have started calling me on my phone. Their messages are threatening me with legal action which is freaking me out as I’m 75 and never been in any trouble. I’m glad I have seen through other people here what kind of company they are but I don’t know how to get out of the situation. I did send an email to one of their addresses they give out but it was ignored. Reviewed on: 3rd June 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Joan, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Please speak to our team on 0333 043 2088 or speak to us on web chat which can be found on our website. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm. They can investigate this for you. Ashley Response date: 3rd June 2025

Shambles!

My insurance increased from £780 to £1080 after another year of no claims. Obviously, I then wanted to cancel my policy. I spoke to the online chat where I cancelled my policy and I received a confirmation email for this. £1080 was then taken from my account a few days later suggesting my policy was being renewed, even though I confirmed I was not renewing a few days prior! Having spoken to customer services, it will take up to 10 working days to get this money back. Absolutely shambolic. I will never use this company again and I will ensure all close family and friends do not use 1st central either. Disgusting. Reviewed on: 1st June 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Tyler, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service and training for our agents. Ashley Response date: 2nd June 2025

DO NOT USE THIS INSURER

DO NOT USE THIS INSURER (please see photos) On the 10th November 2023. 1stcentral incorrectly filed an at fault claim on my record costing me all my NCB. On the 7th may 2025 (over a year later) 1stcentral admitted fault and reinstated all my NCB. Now as you can imagine I was left out of pocket on all my future premiums due to 1stcentrals error. I got in contact with my current insurer and provided 1st central with the exact figures of how much out of pocket I was left due to having my NCB withheld. THEY REFUSED TO REFUND ME. Take this as a warning. Sean. Reviewed on: 23rd May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Sean, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to [email protected] with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 27th May 2025

racist management full of hate if you not English

Worse comapy ever used insurance cancelled over wrong date of vehicle purchase by accident after 15 years on insurance, if you want decent insurance don't use these company and arrogant staff Reviewed on: 22nd May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Alexander, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We'd like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to [email protected] with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley Response date: 27th May 2025

Avoid.weekend direct debits

Avoid. They will take direct debit even on Saturday night. Mine failed on Saturday night and I got message I’m going to be charged £15 extra for missed payment. I try to pay same day literally 5 min later and it’s already has £15 charge on. Money grabbing. My monthly payment is only £24 and to get £15 penalty is too much!!!! Reviewed on: 18th May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Hristo, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. We advise of our late payment fee when a policy is being set up, as well as on our website here - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/motor/payments-and-fees/what-are-your-car-insurance-fees-and-charges We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley Response date: 19th May 2025

Very bad and costly experience with 1st Central

I am currently having an extremely disappointing and frustrating experience with 1st Central Car Insurance. After renewing my policy, I forgot to update the employment status of an additional driver on my policy (from employed to unemployed). This simple change has resulted in an exorbitant charge of £160, including a £50 administration fee. What’s worse, this adjustment took my total policy cost to over £400—far more than I anticipated. Before renewing, I had thought their pricing was reasonable, but I now regret my decision. A quick comparison on MoneySupermarket showed that adding an unemployed driver typically doesn’t make a significant difference to the overall cost of insurance, with similar policies starting around £220 in total. I raised a complaint about the excessive charges, but their response was simply that they had followed proper procedures—no acknowledgment of how unreasonable this situation felt. Adding insult to injury, I can save around £50 by canceling the policy altogether and switching to another provider. However, even this would leave me out of pocket, as I would only receive a refund of £88 after all their deductions. It’s an entirely Kafkaesque experience and one I wouldn’t wish on anyone. I would strongly caution others to carefully consider alternatives before choosing 1st Central. Their pricing structure and customer service left me frustrated and out of pocket. Reviewed on: 14th May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Nicholas, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. All details on the policy impact the price of the policy we offer, if details are found to be incorrect we need to update them and this can impact the price of the policy. If you’d like to speak to the team about this process, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. Ashley Response date: 16th May 2025

£400 to change address!!

Following a change in circumstances I’m trying to change address on my car insurance policy for which 1st Central are trying to charge me £400!! I compared this amount with a new quote for the same details as on the policy with the same details but the new address which came out at cheaper! Daylight robbery!! Reviewed on: 13th May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Marc, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Any change can increase the price of a policy, due to a change in rating factors. As I can't see the different quote or your policy, I'm not able to compare a new quote with any amendment. To discuss this further, you can speak to us on 0333 043 2066 or speak to us on web chat which can be found on our website. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm. Ashley Response date: 14th May 2025

Awful company- avoid at all costs

Awful company as the reviews have been saying. Don't believe trust pilot reviews. There is clearly some sort of distinct issue with recognising no claims bonuses. In the fact that apparently my own spouse and I both had an accident on her insurance on the same day whilst we were both driving at the same time which is physically impossible. Despite the fact that all of the information was clearly displayed on the form from her insurance company Reviewed on: 12th May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi M H, We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Let’s see if we can help put this right for you. Just give our team a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. Ashley Response date: 13th May 2025

Financially exploited by this company.

Financially exploited by this company. Will never use them again. Paid them in full approximately 800 to be subsequently told by them I needed to pay a further approximate 500 for car insurance. They waited for the legal cooling off period to end before requesting additional documentation which I found quite suspicious for example my logbook!!!! First time ever in all the years of taking insurance I've been asked for this. I've requested a refund but was told they will look at my claim and will take 8 weeks for them to respond. I'm definitely not letting this go and will be seeking legal advice Reviewed on: 9th May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hello, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. All details on the policy impact the price of the policy we offer, if details are found to be incorrect we need to update them and this can impact the price of the policy. If you’d like to speak to the team about this process, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. Ashley Response date: 12th May 2025

Terrible company. AVOID!!!!!

Terrible company, charged additional fees saying additional driver had fault claim. Asked for evidence which was provided and won’t accept. customer service based in South Africa is the worst I have experienced in years. From the other reviews I can see that I am not the only one this has happened to. I have complained and will go to ombudsman but beware in over 25 years driving and with insurance from multiple companies. This is the worst and they will look for other ways to charge extra as you can see from the other reviews. Reviewed on: 8th May 2025

Reply from 1st Central Hi Declan, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. All details on the policy impact the price of the policy we offer, if details are found to be incorrect we need to update them and this can impact the price of the policy. If you’d like to speak to the team about this process, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 5pm. Ashley Response date: 9th May 2025

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