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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
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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
Took out insurance as a new customer, then received a new quote from them £40 cheaper so rang them to ask for a refund as policy didn’t go live for another week. The operator was cold and unhelpful and advised there’d be a fee of £50 to change my policy. Feel upset that I’ve entered into a year long policy with a company that cares do little about it’s customers. Certainly wouldn’t recommend and won’t be renewing with them.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Jessica, 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’ll use your comments to help improve our service and training for our agents. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Horrible service i was in france need the breakdown and dont got that i tried to cancel but theyr said i háve to pay 2.50 pounds when i paid 167 and just had that policy for 5 days is incredible how the People taking money from us and not resolve the problem and keep the money
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Anabela, 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 3 years ago
For me it's the worst experience!!!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Nicolae, 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’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
After they wrote my car off saying it was going to cost 7.5k to repair without even looking at it all they saw were photo's.I DROVE the car to 3 other insurance approved bodyshops who said Independently that it was fully repairable and no where near the costs used to write my car off. They then refused to call me back and the car sat I my drive for almost 3 months leaving me with no transport. I should also add ( not that it should matter) bit this accident was not my fault yet I was left without a car couldn't find another car within my price budget even close to the price I purchased my Insignia for 5 months earlier. Absolutely appealing company frankly there claims department needs to be looked at very closely. Even if I needed to pay double the price of my Insurance premium I would do it to avoid using this company ever again
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Christopher, Thank you for your feedback. We’re really sorry to hear about the experience you've had with your claim. 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 3 years ago
Nothing less of a DISGRACE! This company is nothing less of a DISGRACE! Empty promises and poor service. Completely unorganised and NEVER DO AS THEY SAY WILL. Have caused me so much more distress at a very difficult time and simply don’t care. Heartless, cruel and unprofessional.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Christy, 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 your review on Trustpilot, I've sent this on to the relevant team and they will be in touch in due course. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Don’t even think about using them Email sent to 1st Central accouple of weeks ago I have to say that dealing with yourselves has been very frustrating over a period of several days and you have wasted hours of my time. This all started when I accepted your quotation through Go Compare. All seemed well until I received a message to contact you which I did by phone and spoke to a thoroughly unpleasant woman who made me feel that I was at a police interview. She asked multiple questions about my wife’s employment status. She then decreed that my wife was self employed not employed as I had said on the form. This is a moot point as she only does contract work for one company so technically she is employed. Anyway shortly afterwards I realised that I may have made a mistake regarding my NCD to I telephoned in and spoke to an agent and told he that I had made a genuine mistake in my declaration. I received an email from the agent stating that my policy had increased by £207!! I asked her to explain the astronomical increase and she told me that was due to the change of information supplied by me!! They did offer to reduce this to £157 as a goodwill gesture!! Goodwill??? Using my wife’s new employment status and a zero NCD I used Go Compare again for a new quote. Guess what? It recommended 1st Central again at around £12 more p.a.! Not £157. I contacted 1st Central to inform them of my findings. They were not interested. So the only choice I had now was to accept the £157 increase or take out a new policy and cancel the first one at a cost just short of £100! Some choice! I don’t like being fleeced so I contacted them again by phone and eventually was able to secure a reduction in the cancellation ‘fine’ to £50. So, not entirely happy all I had to do now was buy the new policy and call up and cancel the original policy and pay the fine. Phoned on Monday and was told by the agent that the cost was just short of £100! I told the agent that a deal had been agreed, I could tell the conversation was going nowhere so asked to speak to a manager. I was put on hold and after listening to their irritating music for the 30 minutes I hung up. Tuesday was a repeat of Monday. Finally today I was able to speak to an actual manager who eventually reduced the fee to £50. Hooray or so I thought. An email arrived confirming the cancellation of the first policy and stating there was a fine to pay of £97!! We’ll see what happens about that. I don’t like being fleeced like this by companies that hide behind what they call ‘T&C’s’. When really it just looks like unethical business practice. I would not recommend 1st Central to anyone that I liked.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Bob, We're really sorry to hear about the experience you've had with your policy and speaking to our team. We'll use this feedback to help improve our service and processes. Dan
Posted 3 years ago
HIGHLY UNRECOMMENDED purchased my car insurance with them on the 2nd of March and then had to cancel on the 4th of March as I had to sell my car then called them to get my money back as its the cooling-off period and they deducted 50 pounds saying its an arrangement fee for my insurance which will even go to start on the 11th of March I understand this fee should be taken if my insurance started but it's a full week before!!
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. The £50 is a non-refundable arrangement fee which is mentioned during the process of setting up a policy. We do also list all of our fees on our website - https://www.1stcentralinsurance.com/car-insurance/important-information. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
This company is a joke . They don't call u back they don't pick your car up when u make a claim and after 4 weeks of waiting im told to sort my car myself. What is the point of this company. And as I canceled my claim they still took 7 years off me. Waste of time and money don't use this company
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hello, hank 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 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. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service and training for our agents. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
I had a very bad experience with them about a policy that wasn't complete and I got charged £102. They wouldn't help me even though it was their problem. I wouldn't bother with this company, (stay clear)
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Danny, 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 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
They doubled my insurance after the 14 day cool off period, leaving me no option but to leave. This is for giving them the wrong month of when I passed my driving licence 20 years ago... DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY...
Helpful Report
Posted 3 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’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
1 start because is the lowest you can put them. They quote you for something, make you pay and one month after the insurance has started, they asked for more information about yourself (you have already provided in the quote) and they just want more money?? Then they chase you to pay that amount or they will cancel the policy? No a transparent company.
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Cristian, 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 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 have these FAQs to assist our customers with why we sometimes need documentation - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/browse/959700000001685/Documentation. 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
Renewed in January then emailed in February asking for licences details to be told we had given them wrong pass dates after we had been with them 2 years??? Just a scam to be honest £50 admin fee plus extras avoid at all cost
Helpful Report
Posted 3 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. 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
Not helpful at all I will not be recommending you to anyone not at all pleased with your service
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Geoffrey, Thank you for your feedback. We’re very sorry to hear about your experience with us. 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
When it comes to trusting an insurer to give you their best price offered, 1st Central are the last people to follow that etiquette. 1st Central promised me a certain price 21 days before my insurance expired, but at the very last minute (due to an error on their behalf of not putting in a simple form), they tried to shaft me and charge me extra without giving much of an option to negotiate. Why should the customer have to pay the price of an error on the insurer's half? The first time it happened, I let it slide due to human error. But the second time I knew they were trying to string me along like I knew nothing was going on. This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and shocking that it happens still in 2022. This is gutter-level behaviour. They also failed to email me about the prior promise of the agreed insurance price when I Negotiated. Something so simple and easy to do, yet has cost me both time and money. As the saying goes: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. DON'T TRUST 1ST CENTRAL TO BE ON YOUR SIDE
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi S Islam, 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’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Disgusting Business. Noticed a random 330 missing from my credit card. Was informed they renewed a policy on a car I hadn't owned for 8 months. I informed them I had an email it was cancelled to which they informed me I would still have to pay the £50 admin charge. Outrageous! They then said they needed proof the car had been sold and that I would have to pay for a DVLA letter. When I said I would request my bank to pull the money back they informed my they would then damage my credit profile. Utterly disgusting behaviour. In the end it was less hassle to just pay them. But would never use again. And I will post this review everywhere. Be warned!!
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi James, Thank you for your feedback. We're so sorry to hear about the experience you've had with your policy. We would like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
The £50 arrangement fee for a policy that has not yet started being cancelled is a disgrace. Went through compare the market. Checked cover met my needs but when we had to buy a bigger car policy was no longer cheapest. Asked to cancel policy and was then told i had to pay a £50 cancellation fee which is totally unjustified . I will be going to the financial ombudsman and my mp to raise this concern as i feel they will push some people into financial hardship through irresponsible practices .
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Christopher, 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 mentioned on Trustpilot, the arrangement fee is mentioned during the process of setting up a policy. We do also list all of our fees on our website - https://www.1stcentralinsurance.com/car-insurance/important-information 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. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
As I could no longer afford my car, I sold it on. I had to cancel the insurance and was informed that for the privilege of doing so it would be the costly sum of £86. However, I was verbally assured three times that £43 of that would be reissued to me. I asked for an email to that effect but was told this would not be possible .Under heavy pressure I paid £86 and immediately after having done so, I was told I would not be paid back the £43 as he had just read something that would disallow this. In effect, I was swindled and lied to in order to get the £86 cancellation fee. What an unscrupulous and deceitful way to deal with people. Thank God I did not have an accident whilst I was insured with this company as I know I would not have been dealt with fairly. Take your business elsewhere !
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hello, Thank you for your feedback. We're so sorry to hear about the experience you've had. We would like to look into this further for you to help resolve this, please send an email to customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk with your policy number a summary of your experience similar to your review and we will look into it. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
Avoid Avoid Avoid you have been warned. Insurance time and these came out best on the quotes engine so went with them and at quote and sale everything was smooth sailing. But after that started the requests for further information, I had four drivers on the policy so these requests added up photos of licences, share codes etc but it was when I'd done all this and uploaded to their site and gave the team a ring. First literally hours in queues to get through then more hour on hold as my proofs where checked at the end of all this they want to charge me a extra £50 admin fee for changes on the policy, this was due to insignificant details like the exact date a licence had achieved or the number of years held 26 rather than 20. These changes we all absolutely necessary and being done for my benefit apparently I ultimately got the "it company policy" you can pay or cancel response. So my advice would be not all insurance is the same 1st central will not tell you up front but expect them to need more of your time and if anything is not 100% correct expect an admin fee (have to wonder if that's there business model) alternatively save yourself the headache and the time/money and choose anyone else I know I will in future
Helpful Report
Posted 3 years ago
Hi Steven, 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. f 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. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
1 star is too much 0 is more suitable beware if you cancel your policy early extortinate fees charged new car quote over£700 higher than other quotes
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. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
If you need to cancel your policy like I did your looking at £99 cancellation fee shocking ! Will not return
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. There is full information on how the price is worked out on this FAQ for a cancellation - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/cancellations/if-my-policy-is-cancelled-why-do-i-still-owe-money. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley
Posted 3 years ago
1st CENTRAL is rated 3.9 based on 5,237 reviews