I have been with 1st Central for 5 years. This year they put my car insurance up from £26 pcm to £39 pcm, which I... I have been with 1st Central for 5 years. This year they put my car insurance up from £26 pcm to £39 pcm, which I thought was a ridiculous jump in cost, given I have never had an accident or made a claim. I called to see if this was the best price they could offer and the South African gentleman I spoke to went through my details and asked if I wanted to make any changes. I suggested that I would more than likely be doing slightly fewer miles. He put me on hold and came back and said my new price would be £43.84!!! I was not prewarned that the price would or could go up! Since I was now stuck in that situation, I had to go ahead, rather reluctantly. On the 31st December 2025, I received an email saying that I was required to provide them with "a copy of all four pages of my Vehicle Registration Document (V5c) and proof of home address dated within the last three months – for example a utility bill or bank statement." I found this highly unusual as I've previously mentioned that I have been with them for 5 years! I was on holiday, so getting these documents was achieved through extraordinary effort on my part. Nonetheless, I was able to submit them online, on the 6th of January (with the cut-off being the 7th January 2026). I thought no more of it. They took a direct debit for £43.84 on Monday 5th January 2026. However, on 12th January I received an e-mail stating that my insurance was cancelled on the 7th of January 2026 at 00:00 and that I owe them an outstanding balance of £107.23! Please bear in mind I had been driving my car right up until 12th of January 2026, illegally, without knowing I wasn't insured! Upon reading the email, I rang them immediately and spoke to someone named Nouthando, who was most unhelpful and borderline rude. She told me that they didn't accept my letter from SSE Gas as proof of address as it was not a "utility bill", it was, in fact, a credit agreement with SSE to pay my most recent bill in instalments, which had my address, account number a valid date and was printed on official SSE Gas letterheaded paper. I explained that NOBODY told me this and, if they had, then I would have made arrangements to send an alternative. I asked to speak to the manager, and she explained that she had arranged this, and it would take about 2 days for somebody to call me (it is now 7 days later and still no call). She also suggested I e-mail a bank statement, which I did immediately, phoned back and spoke to Matthew, who also told me the exact same thing as the previous operator (Nouthando) and that my insurance would never be reinstated. Again, I asked to speak to the manager, and he explained that this had already been requested and would take up to two days for someone to call me. NO CALL. I haven't driven a car since, and I have NEVER in all my 46 years had car insurance cancelled! I fully intend to take this matter further as it is absolutely, criminally ridiculous. AVOID THIS COMPANY! Read more Read less

Please read the reviews before you get tempted with the initial low fees. They wait until after the cooling off period before an aggressive sales... Please read the reviews before you get tempted with the initial low fees. They wait until after the cooling off period before an aggressive sales person calls up posing as a customer service agent. The objective, to nit-pick on the details provided by you and force you to make changes to your policy e.g. increase your estimated mileage per year with threats that if you do exceed the amount you've put on your application, you will be hit with high fees - something I've never experienced with any other insurer. When you threaten to put the phone down and cancel your policy, they tell you you're now outside the cooling period and will need to pay a high exit fee. So they basically have you over a barrel. Disgusting practice and I can't believe this company isn't being investigated and removed from all comparison sites. Read more Read less

I am another of the many who have fallen for the 1st Central Administrative Surcharge Scam..Basically, after the 14 days they contacted me to say... I am another of the many who have fallen for the 1st Central Administrative Surcharge Scam..Basically, after the 14 days they contacted me to say that they believe some of my details were not right. They put me on the spot on the phone but Basically they tried to claim my named drivers job title was incorrect... I wasn't aware at first of my named drivers exact title was so when I told them what it was they said there would be a charge for changing it. I then confirmed with my wife that no the original details were correct and told them this an therefore not to change anything.. They then tried to still charge me over £90 for a change that was not made and will not give up.. Read more Read less

I strongly advise you, indeed, I plead with you, to pay a little bit more towards your premium, for peace of mind and a better,... I strongly advise you, indeed, I plead with you, to pay a little bit more towards your premium, for peace of mind and a better, more professional service than you will get from 1st Central. Please read about my experience below, where I hope to convince you of their poor practices. I signed up to 1st Central for my car insurance via a price comparison website. I had been a car insurance customer of 1st Central prior to this, but their renewal quote was higher when taken directly!?! 1st Central were the cheapest car insurance provider over more than 4 price comparison websites. When I logged into my 1st Central online account, I could only see my older car insurance policy, but not the newer policy. I thought that this would be uploaded soon by the company. By this point, I had already received an email confirming my policy number and a certificate of motoring insurance, so I was sufficiently reassured. Conveniently, AFTER 14 days of my policy starting, I received threatening emails asking me that I should confirm various details stated on my policy. They FALSELY alleged that I had had driving convictions. They also alleged that I had not mentioned my wife's driving penalty points (one of which was already on my previous policy with them!). When I attempted to view my policy again online (no paper copies are sent), the new policy still was not on my account. The finer details that they were requesting were not confirmed on the initial email with basic information. When I prompted 1st Central to include my newer policy on my online account, I noted that the details that I had inputted on various price comparison websites were not on the policy, e.g. my wife's penalty points and my self-employed status. I could not believe that I had not done this correctly, as I had used those price comparison websites the previous year, and most details were still the same, except the additional 3 points on my wife's licence... which WERE INCLUDED ON THE PRICE COMPARISON SEARCHES I HAD MADE, when I re-checked it, after their allegation. I asked 1st Central, from which price comparison website they obtained my custom, they stated in an email that this was from confused.com. I logged into my confused.com account, which showed "no recent search"! 1st Central dug their heels in and effectively doubled my premium on the spot, stating that the added details increased my premium accordingly. But when I had conducted multiple car insurance searches over the next week, the cheapest car insurance quote was still from 1st Central, very close to the INITIAL premium cost, EVEN when placing all the details they alleged to have caused my car insurance premium to double! This felt exploitative and unfair, so I found a reasonable car insurance alternative, and asked to cancel my car insurance. They implemented the cancellation policy when it is cancelled AFTER 14 days, although I requested the cancellation BEFORE the 14 days from when I could actually view the policy in full, due to their administrative error. There has clearly been an administrative error in the transfer of my inputted details on the price comparison website to 1st Central. But, coupled with their lack of administrative skill, and poor customer service, I would personally rank the service received from them as the worst car insurance experience in my 21 years of using car insurance. Read more Read less

This company is scamming people out of money. They use illicit abhorrent techniques to force changes to the information you have provided and make up... This company is scamming people out of money. They use illicit abhorrent techniques to force changes to the information you have provided and make up charges, only contacting you after the 14 day cooling off period. I had this policy for 21 days and they wanted to charge me £175 to exit the cover when it was only just over £220 for the entire year!!! Let them answer to the ombudsman. Companies like this do not deserve to survive in this economy. Read more Read less

I requested a quote to renew my policy and accepted it over the phone. On the very last day of my cooling-off period (22/12/2025), I... I requested a quote to renew my policy and accepted it over the phone. On the very last day of my cooling-off period (22/12/2025), I received an urgent message saying I needed to contact them, with no prior warning. I was told I had to pay £95 for increased mileage, despite explaining I had quit my job and my mileage had actually decreased — this was completely ignored. When I tried to cancel online, my policy was locked, and although their phone lines were open, the policy analysis team only works Monday to Friday 9–5, so I couldn’t cancel over the weekend also asked to authorise my husband to manage the cancellation as I was busy, but they refused, even though their website and portal clearly allow this — they selectively shared information that suited their interests. I ultimately cancelled my policy as a matter of principle. Overall, this experience was stressful, pressured, and had extremely poor customer service. I would not recommend this insurer due to a lack of transparency and unfair practices. Read more Read less

Best price from price comparison and then 3 weeks after policy started queried some dates and wanted extra £75

Took money out of my account but DIDN'T SET UP A POLICY

If a price is too good to be true, it probably is. I had read online of 1st central customers claiming that they had their... If a price is too good to be true, it probably is. I had read online of 1st central customers claiming that they had their premiums increased and charges shortly after taking out a policy but thought it would give them a try. This company uses shady tactics to add additional premium charges and admin costs. I had used a comparison site to apply for my insurance, and they ask a date of purchase of the vehicle. The comparison site only asked the month and year but if this does not match to your V5C exactly like mine did not, the premium increases and a 50 pound admin charge is added on for the privilege. This is the first time i have ever been asked for a V5C, so this should have raised red flags. Technically in their right to do so, but this is a shady underhand tactic to raise extra income. And it is very clear this happens to many of their customers. This should not matter anyway as you do not need to own a vehicle to insure it. Read more Read less