1st CENTRAL Reviews

Name: 1st CENTRAL
Rating: 3.97

4.0 Rating 5,192 Reviews

76 %

of reviewers recommend 1st CENTRAL

Company Reviews

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Metrics

4.0

Based on 5,192 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

Visit Website

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 9th May 2024

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Great service and great prices. The process was made very easy for me and I would definitely recommend to friends and colleagues.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“NOT RECOMMENDED -2 weeks after accident they don't provide car repairer. Car is still on the driveway and customer service just say.... We send email about etc. I'm spoke six times with customer service about. This is a jock, don't buy policy with the company just lost time and money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“APPALLING SERVICE - STAY WELL CLEAR!! My claim has been ongoing for nearly 4 months now & I’ve heard every excuse you could think of. “It’s been assigned to the wrong team”, “it’s with validations”, “it’s with a 3rd party company”, “it’s with the theft team”, “your claim handler isn’t available”, “we’re waiting for the manager to come back in”, “we need the keys to your vehicle” (the vehicle they collected with keys on the 26th April!) …The list goes on! I’m promised call backs that I never receive, I’ve already submitted a formal complaint which I was given some compensation for & told my case would be completed within 2 weeks & the service would improve. Yet 3 weeks later, I’m still waiting with no further updates despite me chasing!! Disgrace of a company, to leave a mother of 3 carless for 15 weeks with no help or support is simply disgusting!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“A week ahead of my renewal, I attempted to cancel online multiple times - according to their online system, I don't exist. Couldn't change my password because my name or date of birth was incorrect (lol). Tried again to speak to someone on chat and I "failed the security check" which consisted of my name, DOB and email address - they wouldn't cancel it but told me to call. I called and waited for 20 minutes but no answer; who's got time? Came back from holiday and it had auto-renewed overnight - called again to cancel, stop any payment from going out and they refused my DVLA proof of vehicle sale email (saying I could have edited it) and charged me £50 just to cancel it. Customer Service score: -5 Avoid like the clap”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Absolutely disgusting been charged 73.35 to change address, after renewal , time to look for another insurer. Would not reccomend anyone to use you.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“AVOID***** Terrible company ... !!! Auto renews car insurance without consent** My fella sold his car back in Jan 2022 they have auto renewed his insurance (from his card details without his consent) now trying to get a refund for a car we don't own well, what a joke!! We have proof of the date he/ we sold the car yet I am still waiting, honestly AVIOD this company!! Advisors are not helpful nor is this company really any cheaper than any others. Go with a company you trust and know!!! I never write feedback but had to on this occasion as I am so disappointed with the service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE! Dishonest and terrible customer service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I've received an email stating, my policy will be cancelled starting with 20th of July because I have a second job. I've tried to explain I don't use the car for second job as I have a fully insured van with other insurance provider but didn't count. However, I've accepted that but when I checked today on askMid , surprise: they cancelled the policy from 13th of July instead of 20th without to tell us, and my partner drove the car without insurance! Dear 1st Central! It's illegal to drive on a road or in a public place without insurance! We've done that based on your official email!!! We put complaints against them, and definitely we will take that forward to PRA, FCA and Ombudsman based on all of the evidence!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“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 1 year ago

“Avoid at all costs”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago

“Easy and good deal”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year 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.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago

“This is an extremely ease insurance company to change to. Would recommend to friends and family”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Hi Mary, Thank you for your five-star review and welcome to 1st CENTRAL 😊. Ashley

Posted 1 year 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 1 year 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 1 year ago

1st CENTRAL is rated 4.0 based on 5,192 reviews