My husband has been trying to renew the insurance on our Fiesta and it has nearly driven him mad! Their telephone system is appalling so calls frequently fail. They have requested information regarding an accident which I had on a different vehicle, nothing to do with the car he is trying to insure which I am not insured to drive. They have insinuated that he has lied on his initial application form and requested confirmation from the insurers relating to that incident which has been provided but apparently in the wrong format. He has asked to cancel the policy but has been told there will be a cancellation fee but having read the other reviews on this site we will be paying the cancellation fee, insuring with a reputable company and reporting this lot to trading standards. DON’T TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGE POLE!

AVOID! Between 1 year period I was changed my car and that cheeky company changed automatic renewal. When I recognised charge my card phone them but not available Sunday. Phoned another day I spoke african accent people who eat when talk to me! 2 hours try to sorted I get back my full money. They charged me 3 days insurance and also ARRENGMENT FEE! AVOID THAT COMPANY!!!!! Date of experience: 02 April 2024

Don't even deserve a Rating, took out a Policy with this company today, when I got the contract I noticed the Reg was different, so called them 5 mins after making payment to explain I did not know this Reg, and could they rectify this for me( NO ), we will have to change at a cost or cancel at a cost of £50 for admin, I tried explaining this was not my car and the Reg was not even close to mine and I only purchased this policy 20mins prior, still same response, not interested in anything only getting the £50, As much Customer Care as a Chocolate Tea Pot, So Be WARNED

Asked for more information conveniently after the 14 days cooling period. I called up and asked more info and then got them what they told me was acceptable on the phone. Decided weeks later it wasn’t good enough and are cancelling my insurance unless I pay £700 within 1 week. Even when they are cancelling I apparently owe them money for the insurance so far and fees for them cancelling. They deliberately asked after 14 days to cost me money.

I recently had a disappointing experience with 1st Central Insurance, and I feel compelled to share my frustration to warn others. I was in the process of shopping around for car insurance and obtained a quote from 1st Central. However, I ultimately decided to go with a different insurance provider due to better coverage and pricing elsewhere. To my shock, I discovered that 1st Central had charged me an "arrangement fee" for a policy that I hadn't even started. This is outrageous! Why should I be penalised for not proceeding with a policy? They claimed that this fee was for including my details on an insurance database, a service that other reputable companies provide without charging a fee. What's even more frustrating is that this sneaky charge wasn't clearly disclosed upfront. It's buried deep in their terms and conditions, which most people don't bother to read in detail. It feels like a deceptive practice aimed at squeezing extra money out of customers. I reached out to their customer service team to express my dissatisfaction, but they simply brushed me off, citing their terms and conditions. There was no empathy or willingness to address my concerns. I urge anyone considering 1st Central Insurance to proceed with caution. Don't fall for their seemingly competitive quotes without carefully scrutinizing the fine print. Their lack of transparency and willingness to nickel-and-dime customers for services that should be standard is appalling. I'll certainly be taking my business elsewhere, and I advise others to do the same. Buyer beware!

Applied online, quote was a little higher than expected. Checked documents thoroughly, confirmed and paid deposit and set up DD. Policy came through with a start date we never entered. Only date we entered was DD date. As we were already insured by these guys you would think they would have our details??? To put the correct date and update the policy we were charged an extra £200. Our quote had increased!!! We decided to cancel there and then, which was a very hard task to complete as we were transferred 4 times between various customer service staff. We cancelled the policy but were charged £50 for the pleasure!!!! It took an hour from applying to cancelling which is a very good hourly rate for this rude, unhelpful, money grabbing insurance company!!!

As per a lot of the other reviews here, 1st Central will lure you in with the cheapest price. They'll then follow-up with spurious claims relating to small discrepancies in the details provided. For example our initial purchase date of the car was 4 year 11 months rather than the 4 years 10 months stated. They'll then charge a £50 admin fee. Avoid as this will significantly increase your total insurance cost

They wait until the cooling off period has lapsed then comb your policy to try and find small discrepancies to charge you extra . Accidently put 2019 instead of 2020 in drop down box of quote and was charged £97 for this. They tried tripping me up on other things but I had all the paperwork in front of me . They are a terrible company and can't wait to get rid of them

Before taking the policy out I read the policy details and it indicated that I met the criteria to drive other insured cars third party. There is nowhere to check that is the case on the site as there is with other insurers such as Admiral. The second I got my policy documents (15:06) I contacted them to check this, they didn’t cover me for this and won’t allow me to add this on. So I requested to cancel immediately, I am told that despite it being set up minutes earlier I would be charged £50 and for the days cover. I asked for discretion as this seems absurd, it had been mere minutes and I obviously hadn’t driven anywhere, and apparently the manager whose name Tamzine refused to give me, declined this. This is absurd. Please do not buy from them, mislead you into buying something. Also advertise as having no cancellation fees within 14 days but make no mention that you have to pay £50 to cancel anyways under the guise of an ‘arrangement fee’

My wife took out car insurance with 1st Central via Money Supermarket as they were competitively priced, all was good until we were asked to contact them to speak to the Policy Analysis Team, what followed was an absolute disaster, we were both relentlessly pressured to change our job titles to a more exact phrasing over and over and over by the Policy Analysis Team when we had initially provided truthful information and were consequently hit with a £50 admin charge to change these details for no reason, then my wife was asked for her no claims bonus from two years (two insurances ago) ago and because she didn't have it to hand was kept on hold for 20 minutes and then advised she had incurred a further £22 admin charge as the Policy Analysis Team had to investigate this, after leaving the call in tears she was then issued a renewed statement of fact where the majority of the details incurring the admin charges had not been actioned. We made numerous attempts to contact 1st Central asking that because of this the charges were dropped and were stonewalled at every turn with different totals of admin fees mentioned during each call, we raised a complaint and was given an excuse that the issue was just an IT issue and no admin fees were being dropped followed by the complaint being closed. In the end my wife had to pay £72 to cancel the policy (just to get away), to summarise, she was charged for unnecessary changes which weren't changed on her policy, charged for not having evidence of a no claims bonus from two years ago, no updated policy provided, complaint ignored and then no notification of cancellation of policy - do not be fooled by their low cost on the comparison sites! Thoughts and prayers for anyone who has to make an actual claim with this company - AVOID

Very disappointed and l feel betrayed. I have been a loyal customer with 1st central for about 4 years each year my insurance have been going down until this year. Last year l paid about £330 for the whole year and this year my quote went up to about £1100 which is very big jump. Contacted them to find out what was going on and even spoken to the manager and they said they could not do anything for me and l should try to find another insurer and if they are cheaper they would price match. I did that and they refused to price match. As a loyal customer who has insured all my cars with them l feel soo betrayed that they could not help or do something for me. Everyone is struggling at the moment with cost of living, therefore, the jump was too high and very unfair, now am stuck.

After cancelling my Sons insurance as they were not happy with the no claims proof from his previous insurance, 19 months later I receive a debt collection letter for a cancellation fee of £141. I was never contacted about this or asked to pay it and it seems to be made up of complete rubbish figures including a cancellation fee for them falsely cancelling his policy. Threatening to put a marker on his credit file if it isn’t paid within 14 days. Disgusting company and cannot be trusted to do business. The good reviews on here must be from staff. There was no mention of needing any proof of anything before we took the policy out and we provided all the correct information.

Avoid these like the plaque they rip of there customers and don’t pay out claims, tell part of the truth to cover there backs. There customer services is shocking and they try and be nice by saying sorry on reviews and social media. One if the worst companies we have ever dealt with!

I got a quote for car insurance from 1st Central via an online broker but the information we provided was not accurate when it reached them even though we'd provided all but 1 item correctly. When they updated our quote I wasn't happy with it so cancelled. After which they told me that they're still going to charge me the remainder of their £50 arrangement fee (which was not clear when we signed up for the quote). I refused to pay it based on how they'd got our details wrong and they told me that if I didn't then "lawyers will get involved". I still refused. Shortly after this I noticed they had taken the payment from my debit card, which I hadn't authorised! In the process of speaking to them both before and after I cancelled, when they told me they were putting me on hold to check information, they actually terminated the call... on one of those occasions they called back and apologised but on the other occasion I just didn't hear from them again. So I've been charged £50 for nothing, and all before my policy was going to start! If you want to pay £50 just to get an accurate quote then these are the people for you, but if you don't want the policy and still have to pay £50 without having been covered by them... what exactly are we paying for? Ruthless, unhelpful and beyond unethical... to be avoided at all costs.

Charged me 2k for a policy that I canceled online and then on the phone. Then I was told its my fault because I should have explicitly say to the agent over the phone that with canceling the policy I also want to cancel the auto-renewal (nobody obviously asked me on the phone, he just said its all sorted, all canceled). Then they charged me £180 as 'cancellation fee' for refunding Money that they shouldn't have taken in the first place. no common sense, no attempt to rectify anything. Just horrible.

Absolutely AWFUL!! Will give you a 6 year credit default with NO COMMUNICATION. 3 years after the policy ended!!! I have never known a company like it. I will remove this if my issue is resolved

not writing anything out of anger but this organisation is BOGUS - their after sales service is pathetic - they don't know how to manage or maintain the positive impact on customer - I have bought their insurance 1st in sep (they have cancelled it without any reason and then they have forcefully deducted 78£ from my account as a cancellation charge). Then I have trusted them again in Oct and bought their insurance 2nd time and guess what their payment department was facing some issues and they failed to collect a payment from my account and cancelled my insurance without even calling me and the best part they were continuously sending me threatening txt to pay 120£ cancellation fees. I have called many times - emailed but no one responded - I have paid almost 200£ which was not even my fault. pathetic service - pathetic company - pathetic experience.

If there is a chance you may change your car during your policy then don't use this company. It cost me near enough £250 to change vehicles plus the price of the new policy. Nothing but a rip off company. I had no choice but to stay with them this year but definitely WILL NOT be renewing with them next year. STEER CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY if there is a chance you will be changing your car.

Had my policy cancelled with no notice either by phone, email or letter. I’d failed to login into the portal after a text instruction asking me to do so requesting for “information” (sounds harmless enough right?) I was so busy with work and caring for my terminally ill father at the time I figured that if it was important they’d get in touch with me directly. They did after all, have my details. However I received an email on the 13th October informing me that my insurance had been cancelled on 20th September due to failure to comply with their terms and conditions for not notifying them of SP30 (speeding) points and was ordered to pay a cancellation fee £176.61. I was shocked. No duty of candour protocols followed?! You’d expect such a serious action would come following expressed written warning or at least a heads up of the severity of the situation!? Nothing. No email, No text, No phone call, No letter….NOTHING!!….other than the email received on the 13th October chasing me for the payment (which I made) of the fine. 21 DAYS AFTER THE POLICY HAD BEEN CANCELLED BY THEM!!!!???? My father had died 2 days after my policy was cancelled on the 22nd September and unbeknownst to me I was driving an uninsured vehicle for all those days!! (21 days) I explained this to them on the phone and they didn’t care. I was treated like I was some kind of criminal! They think because they’ve set up a “convenient online portal” for you to login, check and see your status and messages that some how this exempts them from basic protocols of human decency, behaviour, duty of care, customer service or professional candour. They did use my details in contacting me in chasing payment of the fine. Email and phone call on 13th October but didn’t think to extend me the courtesy to use those details to warn me in advance of the heinous actions that they took putting me and my family in danger of driving a uninsured vehicle. I’ve been driving and insuring cars for 28 years. In all that time I have only claimed on an insurance policy once. Never before have I been treated so shoddily, especially at such a sad and difficult time for me personally. Additional irony here is my dad was a retired high ranking police officer. I’m very angry with this company and have insured vehicles with them before. I have 4 cars and a commercial vehicle. They won’t get a penny from me ever again! I hope someone from 1st central insurance reads this and ask some serious questions about how such an injustice could possibly occur? Because in my mind it rails against all commonly regarded rules of fair play. These people have the moral code of school yard thugs and I (just like my dad did) hate bullies!