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1st CENTRAL Reviews

3.9 Rating 5,244 Reviews
75 %
of reviewers recommend 1st CENTRAL
3.9
Based on 5,244 reviews
Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods
Own Driver, Postal Service
On-time Delivery
99%
Customer Service
Communication Channels
Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In
Under An Hour
Customer Service
4.1 out of 5
Read 1st CENTRAL Reviews
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Phone:

0333 043 2066

Email:

marketing@1stcentral.co.uk

Location:

Capital House, Perrymount Road, Haywards Heath
RH16 3SY

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1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 8th January 2025
Anonymous
1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 8th January 2025
Anonymous
1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 22nd August 2024
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1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 21st August 2024
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1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 21st August 2024
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1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 21st August 2024
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1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 9th May 2024
Marcus Wickwar
5
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
One of the worst insurance company running scams. Asking customers to pay extra money for small errors. Customer service is the one of the worst in the planet no respect towards customer they’re shouting & screaming over the phone. Never ever buy policy from this insurer you will regret . Not even deserve for one star . Customer service person Martin is horrible person not not to fit to talk to the customer
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Avoid at all costs
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Be very aware when taking out a policy with 1st central as all positive reviews are related to setting up the policy, which of course is easy and the reviews don’t reflect what actually happens when you are in an accident and the repair process. 1st central do not actually deal with any repairs after you have been in an accident, they outsource all of this to a company called WNS therefore you cannot speak to 1st central about your accident troubles as they just tell you to ring the repairs team. WNS are mainly the reason for all of our delays but unfortunately that is still 1st centrals responsibility as our policy is with them and 1st central have not been helpful at all during the process. The date of my accident was the 15th February 2022 and it is now 12th July and my car still is not properly repaired. Firstly my courtesy car was booked as a manual car despite me informing them I only have an automatic license (and this is of course stated on my policy). It was then booked into the wrong garage 3 times causing months of delays, to which they said it was because of covid, but really they had my car on record as a mobile vehicle despite the doors being smashed in and it being off road and a claim form stating it was in drivable. This was admitted on a recorded phone line and seems to have been put down to poor communication between WMS and 1st central despite me ringing at least 10 times regarding this specific issue. Eventually when it was booked in to the correct garage who could deal with big crashes (Alton cars Keighley- would also avoid if your insurance selects this garage) it was returned with more damage, paint marks on the door, unfinished paintwork, overspray on the inside of the car, the airbag warning light on, the computer has gone funny due to the crash and this hasn’t been looked at meaning my MPG calculator changes randomly when driving at the same speed and gets stuck at 99.9MPG and if I can get 99.9MPG in a Kia picanto then I need to be on the news with my super car! My car then went back into Alton cars for a 2nd time and we were promised inspections before and after the vehicle went in, however this didn’t happen as the inspector was not advised properly therefore the report was based on incorrect information, which has also been admitted on a recorded phone line. The car was then transferred back to me without any notice or my consent for it to be given to another company (just a text from John MacAdam and Son to say the car was on its way) despite me wanting to collect the car myself so I could discuss any issues. Upon return the only things that have been sorted are the paintwork on the door and the sill, the computer still has not been looked at and the MPG calculator is totally random and now there are new dents on the car. Essentially at the end of all of this I have been left with a car which will not pass it’s MOT as the computer is not working properly and the steering is off. It is incredibly difficult to speak to any one at either 1st central or WNS as they say that someone will call you back and they never do meaning you have to chase every day like we have for 5 months. We have 1 complaint with the financial ombudsman and are about to give another to them as my 2nd complaint was closed without my consent and was offered £250 which is not enough to cover my repair costs which should have been sorted in the first place! My partner has spent essentially 2 whole days of annual leave chasing this up and we are no further with the case and have now had to seek legal advice from a solicitor, advice from the motor ombudsman, multiple financial ombudsman complaints and an email to BBC Watchdog which I can see that other policy holders have done as we are all in the same position!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Scammers, provided all documents needed. Told me over the phone that everything is fine just to find out after via email that I will be charged extra £90
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
The most dreadful insurance company ever!!!!! A car crashed into my car, I arranged to take it to the garage and on arrival I was told that 1st central hadn’t arranged a courtesy car so I took my car back home and rang 1st central to cancel the claim… they then contacted me a few months later to say that they have closed the claim at 50 50… and that I will lose my protected no claims…… I rang to complain and after talking to numerous people I was told that I would hear back from the complaint in 3 days but I’ve heard nothing!!!!!!!!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
First of all they didn't automatically renew our policy, they claimed they contacted us, but like many others emails went into the junk folder and no attempt was made to contact us via text or email, if they had we could have paid straight away. As a result our policy was cancelled and we had to make a desperate phone call to them on a Monday morning to get it sorted. What this meant was they couldn't honour the renewal quote, so consider this a "new" policy and charged us more! Fast forward almost 3 months later and we are contacted as they are "investigating our policy" as we haven't "provided them with details of our previous no claims", after pointing out they already have this information as they were the last people to insure us, I was put on hold for quite a while, then asked how many miles we do in the car a year, I said about 2,000, they said we had 3,000 down and would need to change it as I have now said 2,000. They also said they didn't have details on the policy of previous accidents that weren't our fault, strange I thought considering they were our insurer last year and even wrote off one of the cars! After being put on hold again, I was then told, because of the adddtion of the no fault accidents (which was already on our previous policy, which they didn't move across when we took out the policy in May) and the mileage because I said 2,000 and not 3,000, I was made to feel like I was being fraudulent, despite the fact that it is the 1st Central system which is broken and was asked to immediately pay £50 admin fee Plus a further £9 to make the amends to the policy. I feel as though I have been conned. I won't be using 1st Central again and suggest people avoid at all costs. I will be reporting this to the ombudsman, in the hope that I can get my money back.
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Posted 3 years ago
My car was involved in an accident at not my fault. Since the 30th of May 2022( today is the 4th of July) and my car is still not taken to the Body shop. When I organized a Body shop myself insurance claimed that I have to pay a fee of £250 because it's not their chosen Bodyshop. The 1st central has been feeding me with the promises that they are working hard to allocate a garage for me, which is not true. It took me 10 minutes to find and agree with the garage for a repair. But insurance still is acting like they can not fix the problem, blaming the garage that they are not responding. 1st central also stopped paying for my courtesy car and told me that I have to return the hire car back to the Enterprise. After my complaint was raised with the 1st central that I need a hire car for my work, they have say that they will arrange another car, but manual. I have an automatic driving license. When I mentioned that, they disappeared again. They constantly continue lying and avoiding doing their job. Their staff is very unprofessional and lacks knowledge. They either hang the phone when you are calling for an update or say: We are very sorry, unfortunately, we are doing our best to sort this issue out. Due to the world crisis, we are unable to proceed with your request. Seriously??? My chosen Bodyshop is ready to take my car for repair now and 1st central is avoiding that. In reality, they don't do anything. I am wondering who employs people who don't k know what they are doing. I will be reporting this issue to Obdusman because they are lying to their customers. I strongly advise you not to go with this company as your insurance. AVOID AVOID AVOID.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Olesja, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. As per my response on Trustpilot, I've sent this on to our claims team and they'll be in contact in due course. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
AVOID! This company may make it easy to sign up but that is because once they have ensnared you, they automatically renew your insurance at a much higher price then the previous year. They do this by suggesting they got your consent when they emailed you a renewal email which never arrives but their system apparently shows that you opened it. Now I’m no lawyer but had the email arrived and it was opened, I don’t believe that constitutes my written or verbal consent. If you are lucky enough to pick up in this fraud while you are still in your 2 week cooling off period they (kindly) waiver your cancellation fee, however they continue to charge an ‘arrangement’ fee of £50, which for some bizarre reason has to be charged regardless of legality or indeed common sense. I spoke to a manager who announced if he were to remove the fee he would lose his job? Using emotional blackmail to continue to defraud their customers gives a good indication as to how this company operates. I will not hold my breath when awaiting a return call from the managers manager who originally didn’t exist but then became available….
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Our renewal invites are sent two weeks before a policy is set to renew. This email advises of the date this will automatically renew. If the customer has opted out of this, it will advise when the policy is due for renewal. A customer can turn off their automatic renewal at any stage during their policy with us, via Your Account. If there’s anything you’d like us to look into for you, please contact us by sending an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk. Please include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Rip off merchants its going to cost more to cancel my policy than to continue my payments. The insurance ombudsman should investigate this company. AVOID at all costs.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Paul, Thank you for your feedback. 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 all of our fees on our website here - https://www.1stcentralinsurance.com/legal-information/important-information. We also have this FAQ advising why there might be an additional premium left to pay - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-7744/If-my-car-policy-is-cancelled-why-do-I-still-owe-money-to-1st-CENTRAL. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Absolutely shocking company with shocking practices to extract money from you for everything possible. Avoid at all costs is my free advice.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Shripal, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. Unfortunately, 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 there’s anything you’d like us to look into for you, please contact us by sending an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk. Please include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
AVOID! Once you've completed your 2 week cooling off period they start demanding documents, V5 docs (never been asked for this in 30yrs of motoring), NCD etc. They then look for the slightest detail on these documents to increase your policy and subsequently add an admin fee (£50). The weird thing about the situation is they don't demand these vitally important docs at the start of the policy when you can cancel the policy in the cooling off period. Stumped with a £13 increase in policy and £50 admin fee for incorrect purchase date of vehicle in 2016? Asked how much to cancel the policy.....£50 arrangement fee, £50 cancelation fee, £50 administration fee plus £30 for the 2 months we've been insured on a £220 policy, or pay the £63 fiddle and go to the ombudsman in the hope that they see this company for what it is.....A scamming machine. Customer service is diabolical in every area too. Avoid at all costs. SCAM SCAM SCAM!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Robert, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. Unfortunately, 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. We would like to look into this further for you, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
ZERO RATING - COMMISSION BASED SCAMMERS Charged a £50 NON Refundable Administration Fee & Additional sum of £61.72, for updating my Car Insurance Policy. Total = £111.72 Update was to reflect my NCD ( No Claims Discount ) on my account, which was the case of changing 2 digits, on my online account. If I had been informed of this minutiae, this would have taken me, no more than 3 seconds to adjust, and that’s if I was blind, deaf and dumb, which obviously I am not. In discussions with Customer Services and Management, having spent 1 hour and 34 minutes, explaining that I was not at fault for this extremely minor error and able to prove it, ended up going nowhere. I was told if I did not pay immediately, my policy would be null and void and if I cancelled, it would cost over £200 in administration fees. This company is operating on Commission Based Employment, with employees only interested in taking your money. Please avoid at all costs, using 1st Central, as in the event of a valid claim, administrative or otherwise, you will suffer ‘caveat emptor’ “Let The Buyer Beware” and reach the same dead end as I did, trust me.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hello, 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. As mentioned on Trustpilot, I'll pass your review on to our customer relations team. to update your file. Please see this FAQ for our complaints procedure - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-6082/How-do-I-complain-about-my-car-insurance. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Beware of automatic renewal it cost me £51.48 to cancel an insurance policy that automatically renewed that I didn't want or need. E-mails go to junk folder, I don't review my junk e-mail folder on a weekly basis.... It up to the customer to review their junk e-mail folder is the only response I got..... Not happy at all.
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hi Joanne, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Unfortunately, we can't decide which mailbox our emails go to, you can amend the settings on your emails to make sure emails go to your inbox. I can see we sent the renewal invite 14 days ahead of your policy renewal date and I can see this has been opened. In this email, it advises how a customer can switch off their auto-renew in Your Account. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
Why don't you have Bulgarian language? There are too many Bulgarians in the UK and many of them do not speak English well and this turns out to be a very big problem, as in my case. Why are you suspending my insurance, I have written to you many times and sent you emails, I do not speak English well and that is why I cannot call you. This was my first insurance in England and I didn't know what the rules were, and since I also don't want you to renew it because you sent me an email, I couldn't log in to my account, so my nephew called many times, but you didn't get in touch. Now I have a new account with you and because I did not know that the insurance is renewed, I made a new insurance with you, which I paid once, in this account I wrote in the chat on this issue but did not receive help from there. For people like me who don't speak English well, it's best to reply by email. I'm having a hard time right now and I need a car every day. Please fix this mess 🙏
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hi Spasenka, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. Firstly, you can always look to authorise someone to speak on your behalf if you would find that easier to speak to us. Unfortunately, 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. We would like to look into this further for you, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
Recalculation of my insurance should have happened following the removal of a claim that was made against me, for an incident I was not involved in. They are telling me that the price for the fees is solely based on the information provided to them and that they do not run any internal check across the national claim database. Absolutely disgusting. I am paying more when I have done nothing wrong and never involved in any accident!
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hi Stephane, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. I can see that when you completed your purchase for your policy, there wasn't a claim declared to us. This means we aren't able to recalculate your premium, as the premium we've given you doesn't have a claim assigned to it. We only advise customers on a price on the details we are given by the customer. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
Appalling company, avoid, outrageous price to change a date that was entered wrong on confused.com ( only minor detail nothing bad) Do not buy from them
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear about your experience with us. Unfortunately, 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. We would like to look into this further for you, please give us a call on 0333 043 2095. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
If I could give 0 I would, Please please please do not waste your time or money on this 'insurer'. This company is not an insurance company they are brokers who will scam you, rob you and affect you both mentally and physically. I have no idea how this business is still running with the amount of people they are scamming. Out of the blue they cancelled my insurance, they said they needed extra documents. I was not notified at all, neither by text, phone call or post to indicate they require additional infomation. The only way I found out about this was because I checked my bank balance and they had refunded my money for the month. I gave them a call to understand why I had been refunded and only then they told me my insurance was going to be cancelled on 08/06/22 11:59pm - I FOUND OUT 10 HOURS BEFORE THE TIME IT WAS DUE TO BE CANCELLED. They expected me to pull out the documents out of thin air. To avoid this tarnishing my good record I asked the policy to be cancelled and they kept passing me over person to person - I was trying to deal with this whilst I was at work. Then in the end I had to ask them to call me back and then the lady said she will at 6:00 after I finish work. 6:00pm comes and no one has called me, instead I got a lazy email to say 'sorry we cannot cancel your insurance and there is nothing we can do'. The 'analysis' had locked my account so i was unable to cancel the policy online. Even the website is extremely dodgy, they had added a fee of £135 on my account and it said once i make the payment my account will be unlocked. I paid it and it was still locked - luckily I had sent written proof that i want my insurance cancelled and this was the only thing I had to cover my back. I called this morning and spoke to a man who was also very useless and he did nothing to help me and he kept saying to me the insurance cannot be cancelled and he has spoken to his manager. Later i conferred with a family lawyer and they advised me that what they have done is unlawful and should be reported to the ombudsmen. I then called them and threatened them with legal action and notified them that I have also contacted ombudsmen. After this they changed their tune and agreed to cancel my insurance on my behalf rather than them doing it and tarnishing my good record. This has caused me an unbelievable amount of stress and anxiety. PLEASE RUN AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY - The few pounds and pennies you save going for this insurance will only last a month before they start slapping random charges on your account. I insured my run around car with them and for a 2005 mini i essentially paid approx. £200 a month with all the charges they gave me and i only had this insurance for 2 month. I own a BMW X4m and the insurance is no where as expensive. I must say I have learnt my lesson and I will definitely do research before looking for insurance. STAY AWAY LIKE THE PLAGUE.
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. We’re really sorry to hear about the experience you've had with your policy. Unfortunately, we can't see any of your details, but we would like to look into this further for you. Please contact us by sending an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk. Please remember to include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
Very poor communication skills
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hello, 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. Let’s see if we can help put this right for you. Just give our team a call 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
Posted 4 years ago
Absolute joke! Will be writing a massive complaint and will be raising this with your CEO Michael Lee, due to your technical errors and failure in informing me that my automatic payment fell through, but even this is incorrect as I had updated all of my details on your portal! you left me uninsured and UNAWARE!! You then charged me an extra £80 from my original renewal quote which I had confirmed and agreed back in May. I will be raising this further as you failed to communicate adequately and then overcharged me!!
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. We’re sorry to hear on this occasion your experience with us hasn’t been as positive as we’d hoped it would be. I can see we sent you two emails, one advising of the payment had failed and to contact us and one to advise the policy had come to an end two days later. If there’s anything you’d like us to look into for you, please contact us by sending an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk. Please include your policy number and details of what’s gone wrong, and we’ll see if we can put things right. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
Totally unhelpful,very rude staff who pass you on from one to the other like a stinky parcel,as no one wants to deal with your query.my wife involved in accident which she was not at fault,struggled hours on end to get through to them,refused to send recovery truck for my vehicle and had to arrange with another company,refused to be involved in the third party claim and advised me to use accident claim companies,tried to hoodwink me by sending me emails that say I have decided not to use them for my third party claim and I could be liable for some charges-when they are the ones that said they cannot take on my third party claim,the list of troubles from this terrible company are never ending,avoid avoid at all costs,this company’s insurance is not cheap at all but very expensive in the end and they will run rings around you,when you are in desperate need for help after an accident,they promised to call me back and they never did ,it’s all shambles with this insurance company
Helpful Report
Posted 4 years ago
Hello, 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. If a customer of ours is driving another vehicle and has driving over cars on their policy. then any accident would be covered as a third party, fire or theft. We have this FAQ to explain what is covered under this cover - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-7555/What-am-I-covered-for-with-third-party-fire-and-theft-insurance. We also have this FAQ that advises our customers about driving other cars - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-7627/Does-my-policy-cover-me-to-drive-other-cars?query=driving%20other%20cars. If your wife is covered on the other car, then that insurance can look after this. If you require any clarification, please speak to our team on 0333 043 2022 or speak to us on web chat which can be found on our website. We’re here to help from Mon-Fri: 9am to 6pm. Ashley
Posted 4 years ago
1st CENTRAL is rated 3.9 based on 5,244 reviews