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1st CENTRAL Reviews

4.0 Rating 5,230 Reviews
75 %
of reviewers recommend 1st CENTRAL
4.0
Based on 5,230 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
Took my son off my policy in March and was told ill get a £440 refund but they would send a cheque in 3 weeks,I called again as it never arrived they told me it would be taken off future payments but i cancelled the policy, They denied telling me i would get a cheque i insisted they listen to the so called recording of our telephone conversation.I rang about 8 more times over the following months and was told it would be listened to over the next few days (Now August) I still have not had any correspondence from them except a demand for £57 as the policy was cancelled.I paid the £57 today as they have threatened legal action, they have ignored my requests for a breakdown of the policy payment taking in mind i paid them over £600 for a policy they told me was £220 for me with out my son on. Next step Financial Ombudsman Service.DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.
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Posted 8 years ago
Lack of communication , came back from a holiday to find I wasn't insured , no email !! , a letter ? Bearing in mind the only communication I've had with first central is online ? Plenty of emails thanking me for insuring and the perks of getting friends to insure ... Ooooo and just to rub salt in they want £75 off me to cancel my fully paid insurance , I spoke to a lady earlier who told me to email one piece of paperwork through which I did , asked me to ring back in a couple of hour and it would be sorted . Rang back it seems the department I need to speak to isn't open while Monday ! MISCOMUNICATION AGAIN , and not on my part , needless to say I have insured online elsewhere and will follow up with Monday's shinnanigans .... Never go for the cheapest insurance spend an extra £40 , makes the world of difference !
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Posted 8 years ago
Not helpful, tried to make part payment on insurance as was away on holiday and didn't have enough to make payment in full, tried to phone them and they said that they can't do part payment as their system won't let them, other insurance companies let you pay half of the insurance and the other half at the end of the month. They are quick to take your money but not quick to help you. I have had nothing but trouble with the company. They keep you on hold for ages at a time. Would advise to look elsewhere for cheaper car insurance and better customer care. Was kept on hold for around 15 minutes on the phone while trying to sort out car insurance.
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Posted 8 years ago
Offer seemed good with a decent amount of cashback through Quidco. Unfortunately they just refused to pay the cashback. It was only the cashback that made them cheapest so feel they've ripped me off. Avoid any cashback offers probably lies.
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Posted 8 years ago
Every month I get an email to tell me these incompetent people cannot take payment then blame me! Saying I don't have enough funds in my account when I ALWAYS do! I had the same last year!
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Posted 8 years ago
How I wish I had read the reviews before buying a policy with the worst insurance company in this country. I was unfortunately fooled by the cheap price since every time I've gotten a quote 1st central has always come up as the cheapest. I was in a pretty bad crash, hit and run, in Feb 2016, on the motorway. It wasn't my fault, I got clipped by a van on the left rear of my vehicle. My car was brand new, only 3 months old and a lease vehicle. And because they couldn't locate this van driver, they said it was going to be split liability. It's the first of Aug today(5 months now) and I'm still fighting with them. They have stalled and stalled, tried to find any loop-hole they could not to pay out. They even tried to threaten to cancel my policy due to unfounded and very silly reason. Unfortunately for them, I am very clued on when it comes to stuff like this so it didn't work. My claim has been put on hold numerous times because of one reason or another. Every time I call, I have to wait at least 20minutes only to speak to someone who has no bloody clue what the hell is going on and when they said they will call back, forget it coz they won't. I had to threaten to get some lawyers involved and also refer them to Financial Ombudsman that is only when I started to see some significant progress on my claim. I consider going with 1st Central one of the biggest mistakes I've made in a long time and as soon as my claim is settled, I a running for the hills. And I will make sure no one I know will make the same mistake I made of buying a policy with these incompetent and foolish thieves. As far as I am concerned, they should be shut down. Not having insurance at all is better than being insured by these idiots!
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Posted 8 years ago
Cowboys plain and simple Called today to cancel my policy as I was advised by mail that they want to charge me for a change in my proof of no claims discount for 18years ,18 years is not available only up to 9 years can be claimed for NCB! Sorry sir you cant cancel the policy today you need to call back tomorrow as their is no one hear who can help you,you need to speak to the sales team who work Monday to Friday 0900-1800 only SERIOUSLY in this day and age monday to friday Scammers of the lowest sort
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Posted 8 years ago
Used a price comparison site to see how much it would cost for insurance with my learner-driver wife added. 1st Central was the cheapest - great! It's costing around £20 a month more than without her added, but still the cheapest around. Actually, after a couple of months, wife isn't using the car and isn't really pursuing a driving licence just now. Decided to phone them to remove her from the policy. No problem at all, sir - here is your new quote. A whole £2 cheaper a month, but actually with the £30 admin fee to change it's £1 a month more expensive to remove your wife. Hmmm, I was expecting a dramatic reduction by removing the learner driver - back down to what I was paying before adding her, I said. Nevermind, if it's going to be more expensive to remove her, just keep her added - she may well want to use the car in a few months. Of course sir - your new quote is back up to what you were originally paying. PLUS THE £30 ADMIN FEE FOR THE CHANGE! Are you joking me, 1st Central Finance, said I. You want to charge me for making a change because I realised that it doesn't make sense to remove the additional driver? You're not making a change - I'm telling you I don't want the original change I requested to be made. But no - pedantry prevails - I requested a change and by saying I didn't want the change when quoted the cost I was making another change. So, the £30 admin fee was added to my monthly installments remaining. I phoned my 1st Central Insurance to remove a learner driver from my policy and save a bit of money. I came off the phone still with the learner driver on my policy and paying £4 a month more than when I was waiting on hold for 20 minutes. I would look for a policy elsewhere, but I dread to think what it's going to cost to cancel my policy with 6 months still remaining.
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Posted 8 years ago
Absolute scamming bastards, I called the date my car would be renewed to say I didn't want to renew it, they informed me it was too late to cancel the renewal on the date they provided and I would have to pay £53 to cancel it... I... I... How can a company be allowed to get away with that kind of thing? £53 is almost 3 times the amount I'm currently paying with Hastings direct, what a disgusting business taking advantage of people. Be very very aware, their fee's are WAY WAY more expensive then there competitors, it also took over 30 minutes to get through to cancel a renewal, on a number obviously charging me, plus they have a guy repeat himself over and over, 2 minutes before any phone even rings, they've got every trick in the book nailed down. Scum, massive massive scum, be careful guys.
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Posted 8 years ago
scamming bastards, I tried to change my policy details online because its cheaper than calling them but the website doesn't allow you to, so you have to call them, instead of charging me the online price of £15 or the call price of £30 they wanted nearly £300 because my new address was in a different area, I told them to stick it, a week later i decided to cancel altogether, they keep a £50 arrangement fee which was already paid at the start & also take a £50 cancellation fee, which is ok because the website explains but then they want extra on top, in my case was only £19 which i found un-acceptable, not because of the amount but because of the principle, they said it was for cover for days which I'd had, 3weeks worth, except £19 doesnt add up to 3 weeks worth, also my direct debit payments were up to date so technically ive paid twice for the same cover, when i asked the lady on the phone to explain why I'm paying twice she couldnt answer but just kept repeating what she had already said, i just paid it in the end, thanking god that i got out for just £69 could have been a whole lot worse & after reading the other reviews on here, thanking god again that i never had to make a claim or have to deal with these scamming bastards ever again
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Posted 8 years ago
Everything terrible customer service. Increasing premiums without cause. Unable to complain after numerous attempts. Unable to opt out of renewals.
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Posted 8 years ago
This company MUST be a scam....they NEVER answer the phone 1 hour waiting time??? Cut off or call dropped??? How in all honesty can the FCA allow such a company to exist - its a SCANDAL - DO NOT GO ANYWHERE NEAR THIS COMPANY if you value your sanity and have better hings to do with your life....
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Posted 8 years ago
Awful company. I insured with them last year (2015) which a cheaper price of £1000. Whenever I phoned for a quote on another vehicle I was told I owed them over £900 and they wouldn't quote me, it was looked further into and found to be a computer error and they would sort it. Every time I phoned them I was told the same thing over and over and had letters requesting £900 from them to which I phoned up to ask about and have them say to ignore it that it's still a computer error. Cancelled policy in January and had an email requesting money from them or it'll be taken further. Avoid like the plague.
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Posted 8 years ago
Worst experience ever with car insurance. I first went with first central as it looked great value for money and had good reviews but at the start of March I purchased my new car and insured it on the 6th i went to renew my yearly insurance end of March to then find out that had my license plate was incorrect for the time i was with them. I then called asking why this was there was no apology it was completely brushed off I was then put through to renew my insurance I was on the phone for a hour and a half - 2 hours the guy kept repeating himself and asking for more time which I did not have and being really awkward in general when I had told him I had to be somewhere but eventually everything was put through and I thought everything was updated and fine as I recieved a policy number but after a letter from the Dvla I recieved 3 months later telling me I wasn't insured and if I was to contact my insurance company to get them to inform the Dvla I was with them I realised I was clearly mistaken thinking everything was okay so I called up with my policy number and sure enough I was told my "policy never went live" have no idea what the means but again no apology they told me I would be insured until that night only because I had the documents and was just told I could go through to sales and get it redone again which I obviously refused to do I then went with diamond and I was on the phone of less than half the time first central took and didn't make me terrible for not taking any of the add ons offered as the man from first central previously did.
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Posted 8 years ago
Cancelled the policy however the customer service personnel took cancellation payment but didn't cancel my policy. They then went on to take £128 to then say I'm only due a £106 refund!
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Posted 8 years ago
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!
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Posted 8 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 8 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 8 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 8 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 8 years ago
1st CENTRAL is rated 4.0 based on 5,230 reviews