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1st CENTRAL Reviews

3.9 Rating 5,237 Reviews
75 %
of reviewers recommend 1st CENTRAL
3.9
Based on 5,237 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
Mehrdad
1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 21st August 2024
Valeria
1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 21st August 2024
Valeria
1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 21st August 2024
Valeria
1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 9th May 2024
Marcus Wickwar
5
Anonymous
Anonymous  // 01/01/2019
Renewal was considerably more than my original policy and they told me that despite having found policies elsewhere online and with other companies, they would not price match or change the price in any way! Not even by 1 pence. The operator told me the increase in price could be to do with the amount of claims in my area! Something I highly doubt and should not affect my prices that much either way! No other companies seemed to have a price like that. Original policy was £39 pm (inc interest) renewal was £96 pm (inc interest). The fact that this company is unable to act competitively is ludicrous and I hope that the reflection of this inflexibility is a loss in business for a company that clearly has profits in mind above customers and fair insurance. The operator pointed out to me that I was one in a long line of people that have cancelled because the renewal was insane. He blamed the cause largely on head office and a recent change in underwriter. Appalling company, and shall never use again! Their policy charges are very high also!
Helpful Report
Posted 9 years ago
When I told them I wanted to go from a provisional to a full license they quoted me 1900 , but I said I just done a price check and it says 750 so they said cancel the insurance pay the 70 cancel fee and take another one with us pay another deposit of 150 which I had not long already paid was within the 12 days ! So did that then they asked for more documents from me sent them then they said I give them the wrong dates I passed my test 09 God knows where they got that put it upto 1100 which was fine now they said my mums documents was wrong and now put it up to just shy of 2 grand ???? from 750 1st central I have put this my social media so where I have 4000 + people asked to share so this gets out I'm a single parent and they are being ridiculous with this I suffer with depression anxiety and simply can't afford this they have ripped me off and then said it was all my fault should be ashamed of them selfs !!!!
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Posted 9 years ago
Omg why didn't I read the reviews before using this cheap insurance company. I rather pay abit more then get involved with these idiots. My car was hit by another car. The driver of that car got out and ran away. The police said the car was insured. I checked on the app to see if it was insured and yes it was. I called 1st central my insurance company and they said that they will use my policy as the car that hit me wasnt insured. When I told them that the police said it was insured they changed the story and said no its the wrong registration number.I took a picture of the car so I can't go wrong they tried every way to fool me. They said that I had to pay the exess fee. Which I paid all at once when I took out the insurance. They will do anything not to pay you. They said that I have to pay for a courtesy car when I'm covered for it. It's a nightmare. Please don't go with them. Read the reviews please. Go with good companies like that are well known. I regret it being with them they are scams
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Posted 9 years ago
Absolutely horrific survice and would like to warn anyone from using this insurance company. I had an accident 6 weeks ago, and have had no communication from them at all, had to chase them for updates to find out still nothing has been done, even been told they will call me back the following day to update and had no phone call so needed to call them again days later. 6 weeks in and the repair garage tells me the repairs have been put on hold and the insurance company are sending someone to inspect the car... 6 weeks in!!!!! Why this wasn't sorted the first week I'm not sure. They also lied to the repair garage about updating me that the repairs have been put on hold, after 3 days of them giving the go ahead and repair the car! So 6 weeks in and nothing has been done, looking at another week for it to be inspected again and then 3 or 4 weeks to repair... Absolutely ridiculous!
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Posted 9 years ago
Complete cowboys wouldn't touch them with a 10ft barge pole. Quick to take your money. Just complet hastle when it comes for them to do there bit
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Posted 9 years ago
please do not take out insurance with them regardless of how lovely the price seems.. I have had the worst experience with them... I am still with them due to them leaving me no option to renew.. as they took my no claims bonus and left me a with a 3rd party claim of £6000 with out telling me until renewal which was 6 months after they had paid out to the other insurance company-- I was unaware of any claim being made- now no claims bonus and a hefty insurance premium of £225 a month-YES £225 a month .. all other providers were asking for £300 so I was left with no option but to renew... please do not go to this company .. by the way after my complaint I was left with a £50 cheque !!! whoooop
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Posted 9 years ago
My car was stolen from my driveway after the house was broken into. I made a claim for the theft of the vehicle providing the insurance company with all the documentation they requested over the phone the same / next day. That was six weeks ago. Up to now I haven't had a single update, despite 10's of phone calls and promise after promise that someone would call me back as nobody from the Theft Team was ever available to speak with me. Talk about stalling tactics ! Meanwhile I am still paying for a car I no longer have. Happy to take your premium, but useless customer / claims services. If you have these as an insurer and you need to make a claim, God help you ! I wish he'd help me ! Financial Ombudsman next stop.
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Posted 9 years ago
I was in a accident (non fault). I then spent 1 week with no courtesy car although I had a courtesy car on my policy. My Car was later written off and when I bought a new car the insurance premium was ridiculous so I then choose go else where...However 1st central still wanted to charge me my monthly premium even though I didn't have any cars insured on the policy !!! They refused to let me leave and instead told me to pay the remaining of my policy before I am able to leave. I wont go into customer service because honestly they are the worst group of people I have had to deal with. I have spent hours and got no where!! just stayyyyy clear people. Its better to pay that bit extra and have peace of mind!!!
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Posted 9 years ago
Absolutely disgraceful, as soon as I cancelled, they sent a barrage of threatening default letters and emails and charged me £111 to cancel - which is almost as much as if I'd let the policy run to the end of it's term. Useless customer service, complete thieves. Avoid like the plague.
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Posted 9 years ago
This company have been, impossible to deal with. Service is terrible, They use the name Darren Jeffers Head of Sales and SERVICE... this guy nobody has ever heard of! I have jumped through hoops sending numerous paperwork through, they still cancelled my policy without telling me as DVLA have my licence as I have a change of Address, I am expecting this back anytime soon... DO NOT EVER DEAL WITH.....
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Posted 9 years ago
Really bad experience. It took about 8 months to get my windscreen sorted. I know that this was National Windscreen's fault (three times they came with the wrong windscreen and the installed one was very poor quality), but 1st Central should choose their partners more carefully. Apart from that I have received a renewal offer from them few days ago which was much higher that I expected. Last year I paid £1700 (BMW 530d 2011) and now they want to charge me £2 150, even though I have got one more year no claim discount and 3 points on my license cleared early this year. Really not happy...
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Posted 9 years ago
Dreadful. They make it extremely difficult to get hold of anyone if you want to cancel your policy, and then when you finally get through, they hit you with astronomical charges. I expected to pay a nominal cancellation fee (Tesco charge £40) but nearly £300?? That's not just unreasonable, it's practically theft - small print or no small print. It's no wonder there are so many uninsured drivers on the road.
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Posted 9 years ago
Avoid like the plague! Record keeping is diabolical relating to payments and cover, no one knows what they're on about and you have to wait around 20-30 minutes to talk to someone. Worst Insurance company in the world (I'm pretty sure).
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Posted 9 years ago
BAD BAD BAD service!!!! NEVER NEVER use them.... They are incompetent and useless!,,
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Posted 9 years ago
BAD CUSTOMER SEVICE AND LONG WAITING TIME ON PHONE
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Posted 9 years ago
Would give no Stars but not possible. Absolutely awful. A nightmare from start to finish, Firstly it takes on average about 20 mins to get through to the call centre and when you do many of the staff and uncertain about what they are doing which add to the frustration. They tell you one thing and then it turns out to be false. They never get back to you on any issue and you have to keep calling them. I had to wait 7 months for them to resolve a minor crash third party liability and when they finally did it they charged me. They said my NCD would not be affected and it was. they lied to me, they where negligent, they automatically renewed my policy with out my permission, they made my transition to another company very difficult. I would have been better off without any insurance than with the 1st central. Words can not express the appalling service this company has given they make faulty towers look competent.
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Posted 9 years ago
1 star because cant give no stars. Avoid , they took money out on the 1st of the month when i told them no money would be in til 4th, they are incompetent liars never again. They then added charges in excess of £50 and told me it would collect 2 days later not hppy ,considering cancelling them and go with someone else as cant imagine having a bump with them .
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Posted 9 years ago
Sent proof of NCD three times and they still ask for the same info, with the threat of cancelling the policy and charging £75, maybe best to pay £10 more and go somewhere else, I wish id read reviews before dealing with these guys!!!!!!!!!
Helpful Report
Posted 9 years ago
1st Central are one of the cheapest providers through price comparison sites and you definitely get the quality you pay for, or rather lack thereof. I don't think I've ever had a phone call with their customer services team that was under an hour long, with at least 50 minutes of that time being spent on hold. Heard nothing from them all year other than the odd email trying to sell me something, then when renewal time came around they emailed me just under a month before the expiry of my current policy, saying that due to a technical error they couldn't renew my policy automatically and I should contact them. I phoned them (another hour long call, around 5 minutes of which were spent speaking to a human) and was told to wait for the renewal pack to come in the post because they had "lost" virtually all the details of my policy. Eventually I emailed them back when it came to a week before the expiry of the current policy with still no sight of a renewal pack, I also requested proof of my no claims at this stage because I was certain by this point that I would never go with 1st Central again. The day before the policy expired I received an email, at 6 minutes past 5, to say that I should call them, the same email told me that their phone lines closed at 5. I still haven't received proof of NCD from them and frankly I don't trust them to send it to me at all, and I can only imagine how awful my experience with them would have been if I actually needed to make a claim during the year I was insured with them. If you want cheap insurance then they're fine, but it's not worth the hassle when it comes to your renewal. Cowboys. Useless.
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Posted 9 years ago
If you want to call them regarding a claim expect to wait for up to 1 hour just to speak with someone. Claims are only open 9am to 6pm? so people who work during the week have no time to contact them as they are either understaffed or have problems with their phone systems. Avoid.
Helpful Report
Posted 9 years ago
1st CENTRAL is rated 3.9 based on 5,237 reviews