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1st CENTRAL Reviews

4.0 Rating 5,188 Reviews

76 %

of reviewers recommend 1st CENTRAL

Company Reviews

4.0

Based on 5,188 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 20th December 2023

1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 30th November 2023

1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 26th April 2023

1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 8th October 2022

1st CENTRAL 1 star review on 8th October 2022

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Helpful None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“i took out a new insurance policy with your company on the19/06/2018 i still have not received any documents like an insurance certificate. i have sent two messages to you with no response. could you please sort out this problem quick or refund my payment total £351.38. policy no.FPM600556893FC-SKZ7918. THANK YOU JAMES SCULLION”

Posted 5 years ago

“Avoid this company at all costs. An absolute shambles. No idea what they are doing, amazed they are allowed to operate. Staff are totally incompetant. Never come accross a company like them in 35 years of having car insurance. Pay a bit extra and go with a company that knows what they are doing.”

Posted 8 years ago

“Terrible customer service. Very unhelpful. Won’t be using these people again and wouldn’t recommend anyone else.”

Posted 1 year ago

Hi Mark, 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 1 year ago

“Beware.... I took out a car insurance policy and in two months my car had to be scrapped I informed 1st central to cancel my policy and they hit me with £101 for cancelling. A £50 fee for cancelling, another £50 arrangement fee, cost for 63 days of cover plus interest.”

Posted 2 years ago

Hi Mr Thompson, 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 arrangement fee is non-refundable from when your policy is set up and it's charged at the time of a cancellation, but it's part of all of our policies. In terms of why there might be money left to pay when cancelling, we have this FAQ that describes why there might be money left, on top of the cancellation fee - https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-7744/If-my-policy-is-cancelled-why-do-I-still-owe-money-to-1st-CENTRAL?query=cancellations. We’ll use your comments to help improve our service. Ashley

Posted 2 years ago

“Once your insurance starts everything will *seem* okay for approximately 3 days before 1stCentral will begin to barrage you with requirements for additional personal info about you and any family members on your policy. This is something *no* other insurer will ever put you through. You will have to send proof of address/salary, DVLA codes, license pictures, and after this they will find any which way to weasel an excuse to charge you extra. If you attempt to cancel your policy within the 14-day 'grace period', there will be an additional charge separate to the cancellation fee you've "avoided", which is a £50 fee for setting up your insurance. Again, something *no* other insurer will ever put you through. It's a trap, and there's no way out of their scam the moment you've bought insurance. I wish I'd read the negative reviews, because the positives must have been farmed using bots and paid reviewers. Save yourself the unnecessary time, stress, and money they'll scam you out of. Go with a normal and trusted insurer, Axa, eSure, Admiral, whoever. If your policy's a bit more expensive overall, you've still saved yourself time and money avoiding this scam.”

Posted 2 years ago

Hi Luke, 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 2 years ago

“Absolute jokers Wait until you’ve signed up and paid the deposit then they wait over a month until the cancellation time is over to ask for all sorts of documentation. Think they might catch a few liars out this way, I would say there famous analysis team are onto every customer”

Posted 3 years ago

Hi Pat, Thank you for your feedback. We're very sorry to hear about your experience of cancelling your policy. We will use this feedback to help improve our service, if there is anything else you would like us to look into for you, please give us 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.

Posted 3 years ago

“Like many others, they waited until after the cancellation period to charge £96 (25%) more. Requested many unusual documents and fabricated a reason. I called up and they agreed to waive their £50 admin fee, so generous considering they're trying to fleece me...”

Posted 3 years ago

Hi Emily, Thank you for feedback. We're sorry to hear about your experience of cancelling your policy. We would like to look into this further for you, please give us 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.

Posted 3 years ago

“absolutely bad, got a policy, went to cancel it a couple months later, and they charged an absolute bomb. first I was told there would only be a £50 cancelation fee, now ive told that the base price, and you have to add up the times where I was insured, and in total it was over £100's. never USE THIS COMPANY. STAY AWAY.”

Posted 3 years ago

Hi Mahmood, Thank you for your feedback. We're really sorry to hear about the experience you've had of trying to update your policy and then having to cancel your policy. We will use your feedback to help improve our cancellation process and service.

Posted 3 years ago

“shockingly bad do not touch missed a monthly payment they wanted to charge me 35 pounds for the missed payment told them I would not pay they cancelled my insurance and have now bumped the bill up to 135 pounds for cancellationall for one missed payment scam company”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Stephen, Thank you for your feedback. We're sorry to hear about your experience with your monthly payments. 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.

Posted 4 years ago

“A company who offer cheap insurance and then sting you with add on's and an inability to take a direct debit. Try them, but make sure you let people know when it goes sour.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Colin, Thank you for your feedback. We’re very sorry to hear about your experience with your direct debits. 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.

Posted 4 years ago

“Horrible company that will scam you out of money for nothing! I got the date wrong on a previous crash by a few days then all of a sudden I'm charged 300 pounds for it?”

Posted 4 years ago

“Very poor customer service.”

Posted 4 years ago

“When I first took out the insurance, I had to spend hours on the phone confirming all the details, repeating the process with several different members of the customer service team. It appeared that no one talked to anyone else in the team. Eventually, my policy was cancelled and restarted which seemed to solve the issue. Fast forward 6 months and my new car was written off, reversed into whilst it was parked. The other driver immediately accepted liability. I rang First Central to inform them and was told my only options were to: 1 - transfer the insurance to a new vehicle. I cannot do this as the country is in lockdown and a cannot buy a new car. 2 - pay out the remainder of the insurance 3 - pay the cancellation fee of £75 As you can see, my options were limited and hands tied. No matter what I did, First Central would be making money out of me and all because someone else wrote my car off. Again, having explained this several times to different members of the team, it appeared that no one communicated it or could solve it. I have have a letter saying I have to pay otherwise the debt collectors will come calling. It seems like there is a lack of sympathy towards the current climates. Ideally I would just pause the account until I can buy a new car but, it seems that this ''isn't possible''. Overall, terrible experience.”

Posted 4 years ago

“The comparison websites said i have an all inclusive insurance, i have screenshots on almost all (except breakdown cover) services included in the price. upon payment the certificate showed none of the services, I will have to pay for them whats more i am liable to pat admin fee for policy changes or cancellation. pure scam. and i cant log on to my policy at all.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Krisztina, 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 you can message us using web chat, which you can find on our website.

Posted 4 years ago

“AVOID! AVOID! AVOID! All staff are incapable of doing what they promise. I am still waiting for them to deal with a complaint from June 2019. It is getting close to a year now and still not resolved. I have to ring them every single month sometimes at least 10 times in a month as they do not call back as promised. I have been waiting for a cheque from them because they over charged me! They decided to change how to spell my name (even though it is correctly spelt on my policy. Obviously a delaying tactic) on the cheque so I could not pay it in. Once I finally got through to them they admitted it was an agents mistake (only the 10th mistake they have made in 8 months!) and was resending the cheque with my name correct this was a month ago now and they now cannot check where the cheque is or give me any updates on it. I am currently on the phone to them and have been waiting for over an hour to speak to a manager”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Jade, Thank you for your feedback, we're really sorry to hear about the experience you've had with your complaint and refund being sent to you. We have passed your details onto our management team to look into this further for you and we’ll be using your comments to help improve our service and training for our agents.

Posted 4 years ago

“Stay away from the company. £350 Policy purchase price in Jan £173 Refund on cancellation in Feb £177 in total for 1 month of insurance + admin + correction + cancellation + .... The claim that I have provided them with incorrect start date on driving license and have charged me £70 for correction.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Nilesh, 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. For more information, our full terms and conditions can be found in your policy wording.

Posted 4 years ago

“They don't deserve even one star!!!!!!!! After 4years with them they sending me a lot e-mails by asking documents that they have received long ago!!!!! After a longer period of paying on time they are looking for any reason to extort more money. insurance should be lower and in this year is more expensive 30£ more in a month than last year explaining that there is more and more traffic on my street than last year. AVOID THIS INSURANCE AS FAR AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Justyna, Thank you for your feedback. We’re very 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.

Posted 4 years ago

“Extortionate quote for new vehicle, unfair cancellation fee”

Posted 5 years ago

“1 star is way too generous for this awful company.All perfect until you actually need them to help you. Absoluelty made my life hell after I had an accident that was not my fault. Other party has pulled a fake witness and they don't even wish to fight it unless I take it to court out of my own pocket unless I take out a loan which for 21 is completely unreasonable. Couldn't even get in contact with my own witnesses so I had to do that myself and then because they didn't do it it wasn't 'legitimate', didn't organise my courtesy car and then sent bailiffs to my door when I didn't pay my excess when I was told I didn't need to whilst the dispute what ongoing. Please avoid these people as they will harass you when you don't reply which then induced mass anxiety for me and then won't reply for 6 months and then won't even give a clear answer when it comes to the outcome of the accident. If I could go back and save myself from this whole situation I really would.”

Posted 5 years ago

“If you believe there is the potential you may change address during the term of your policy, I would strongly advise that you DO NOT opt to use 1st Central for car insurance. I took out a comprehensive car insurance policy with 1st Central Insurance in March 2018, for a price of around £750. This week I have moved into a new flat and therefore went to change my address online, expecting to have to pay an administration fee anywhere up to £50. Instead I was informed it was cost me £809 simply to change my address, more than the price of my original policy! I rang up customer services as I didn't think this could be possible, only to be informed my postcode was a greater risk, so this was the correct price. I was informed that as I had submitted the change online, I had to pay £809 by the 16th May or my policy will be cancelled for me at cost to myself. I have had to accept a partial refund to cancel my policy immediately as I cannot accept being made to pay such an extortionate amount of money for a simple administrative change. I could have accepted having to pay more than an administration fee due to the property (with a private car park) being at an apparent higher insurance risk, but £809 is a disgraceful amount to demand and I have come out of this at a significant financial deficit. I have since switched to Admiral who provided me with a quote for a year's comprehensive insurance which is less than the amount 1st Central wanted me to pay for a change of address!”

Posted 5 years ago

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1st CENTRAL is rated 4.0 based on 5,188 reviews