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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
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 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
Terrible customer services, and a the worst insurance company I ever had to deal with. It took them 8 emails, 5 phone calls, and 6 months all together to cancel my policy. In the meantime they kept charging me the monthly fee for 9 months after I sold my car ! At the end they even overcharged me with a ridiculously expensive cancellation fee that costs more than the policy itself. Absolutely ridiculous! I do not want to hear about them ever again. Worst rip off ever.
Helpful Report
Posted 2 years ago
Horrible experience with my motoring insurance by 1st central… and the cancellation fee was £59…more than the insurance itself…avoid this company!
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Posted 2 years ago
I received a phone call today from this insurance company. They wanted to discuss with me my yearly mileage which I was absolutley fine with. When I was asked the question I replied that I will do between 6k and 7k miles as I won't be driving as much this year. I was then forced to give exact figure so I replied 7k and that costed my extra 65GBP!!!!!I feel like I was forced to give the answer which allowed this firm to charge me 20% more for the insurance I already paid for! Discusting way to treat your customers!
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Posted 2 years ago
My wife was comparing policies and did not intend on completing the policy... Website very unhelpful and certainly not user friendly, once the mistake was realised the policy was cancelled within the 1hr... you supposedly get 15 days cooling off... but what they hide in the small print is there is a massive £50 cancellation fee... absolutely disgraceful and we won't ever consider this company in the future and will warn everyone we can. At these difficult times how can you justify a £50 cancellation within 1hr of application?
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Posted 2 years ago
My Grandaughter is insured with company she had an accident and bumped into another car unbenomed to her she was not insured for travelling to and from work. After the bump she came home and got ready to go to work she got a taxi to work and had a receipt from the taxi driver in the form of a text to prove she got a taxi to work 1st central refused to accept the text as a receipt so refused her claim. The claims team are based in South Africa and it takes nearly one hour to get through on the phone I escalated the claim to a complaint with the threat of going to the ombudsman. The complaints dept situated in Manchester phoned up and said they will pay for repairs for both cars it's been going on for over 2 weeks. They look out for ways to stop paying out on a legitimate claim. AVOID AVOID AVOID
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Posted 2 years ago
Terrible service, bullying tactics
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Posted 2 years ago
Poor customer service, mismanagement of policy rules and personal rules Happily to continue take payment till you have to make a claim then their attitude changes
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Posted 2 years ago
DISGRACEFUL COMPANY HOLDING CUSTOMERS TO RANSOM IF THEY DONT PAY EXTORTIANATE FEES OF £173.00 TO CHANGE THE DATE OF PURCHASE ON A CAR POLICY THEN THEY WILL CANCEL AND PROMISES OF CALLBACKS THAT NEVER MATERIALISED , AVOID
Helpful Report
Posted 2 years ago
Opted to not renew my policy. Since then they keep telling me I owe money. I've phoned spoke customer services made complaint and been given compensation . Now again they asking for money or ballifs will be at my door. Avoid at all costs
Helpful Report
Posted 2 years ago
I opted for NOT renewing automatically my car insurance, and to my surprise, I was charged. I called to ask them to correct the error, and again I was surprised to learn that I would need to pay £61 because THEIR system failed to recognize that I opted out of the automatic renewal. I didn't pay and then I received an email threatening legal action. That's unacceptable, and I'll pursue my legal rights against the company if they don't correct their mistake without charging me for that.
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Posted 2 years ago
My daughter was killed in a car crash while driving a hire vehicle. It took over 3 months of chasing settlement of her own vehicle then they sent settlement letter addressed to her despite knowing she had died. I have had no success regarding her accident in hire car. Shocking treatment!!!
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Posted 2 years ago
Absolutely shocking!!! We were left chasing them to put a claim in after completing the claim portal online. Once the claim was confirmed the following day we were told the Garage would call us. We heard nothing for 2 days, then we’re told the car is not assigned to a garage!!! All the time we have no car, even though our policy states a courtesy car. After phoning back and complaining I received a call from enterprise offering a 3 door Aygo. If we wanted anything larger we would need to pay for it. Any car would be fine however we have a 1 year old baby who has a car seat. This would not fit. We had to ring 1st central to ask and plead to offer us a 5 door car. They declined. And we were forced to pay a daily rental fee. The following day, I received an email saying they can’t find a garage for our car, and we would have to find our own garage and basically do all the leg work they do!!!! My partner has been unable to go into work due to the delay on the car being at a garage so we can get a courtesy car. Now we are paying on top of our monthly insurance payment for a car due to 1st central failure to get the car in a garage. It’s currently Saturday, the collision happened Monday and our car is still on the drive. Shocking… AVOID AT ALL COSTS
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Posted 2 years ago
I am writing this review so you The Reader don't make the mistake I did of ever using 1st Central. I will admit initially they were the cheapest option and they were fine while my interactions with them were small and insignificant. Eventually I decided to cancel and this is where the problems began. They will slap fees and fees on you as you try to leave. admin fees, leaving fees the works. They will make it difficult for you to cancel. Their customer service team will burden you with constant waiting and confirming just to simply stop the policy. Once that is all done, you will be chased for debt collection even after paying their ridiculous egregious fees. I strongly recommend you Reader to take a look here and Trustpilot and all their social media found here: Trustpilot:https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/1stcentralinsurance.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/1stCentral Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1stcentral/?hl=en Take a look at these people's comments and decide for yourself if they are for you. You get what you pay for in this life, and if you choose 1st Central you will only get misery
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Posted 2 years ago
I wanted to renew my insurance with 1st Central. I have 7 years no claims. The amount was £282 for the year, I was happy with it but told the gentlemen on the phone that I had moved house (literally around the corner in a small village) to which he said I would need to speak with the customer service team. I spoke to them and they said they needed £10 to change my address, £10!?! It is a nominal fee but for someone who has used the company and not made any claims I found it preposterous. I told them this and then they sent me back to another sales agent. This sales agent's 1st language was English. She told me if I didn't change my address and pay the £10 she wouldn't give me a new quote. After much coercion I said okay I will change I was then put back in contact with customer service who changed my address and charged my £10. I got back in touch with the same lady again who did the maths. Bearing in mind I can walk to my old house in 5 minutes (I have timed it), she came back with a price of £430. I found it completely underhand how I was coerced into changing the address before they would give a price only for them to whack the price up by £140!! I live in a sleepy village by the way. How they have a 5 star defacto rating is beyond me
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Posted 2 years ago
november had policy then in january tried to get another 150 pounds off me by saying i was not a house husband i was retired.this company is not to be trusted at all.they are complete crooks
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Posted 2 years ago
I purchased via a quote engine answering honestly to the qualifying questions concerning no claims entitlement. Now 20 days into the policy they say they won't accept my no claims as it was gained on another vehicle. The question asked before purchase was are you entitled to no claims discount on this or any other vehicle to which I answered yes. They now want to charge me over double the initial amount or a cancellation fee. I feel totally duped. As I write I have now been on hold for over 1 hour in trying to raise a complaint. I think this demonstrates the level of this companies customer service!
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Posted 2 years ago
Nightmare is understated. I filed a claim in August 2022. It's now a few days to Jan 2023 and my car hasn't been sorted out after doing all the legwork myself. I spoke to different people in their call centre in South Africa who gave me varied information. First I had to source my own repairer because theirs are not bothered. Second I had to chase them all the time, no courtesy calls for an update. The courtesy car company kept calling me for an update, which I didn't have. I had to cancel the courtesy car to stop the annoying calls. I have been passed on, put on hold, etc. Endless. Don't be deceived by low prices.
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Posted 2 years ago
Wrong decisions after which cctv footage was overwritten and no chance for win claim because of them
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Posted 2 years ago
This insurer has made me fearsome of trying to communicate with this company. I am having a nasty experience with them and they have charged me £150 in fines. They will find fault two months in to your policy. They will call you and find fault to issue an admin charge of £50. Can you remember from when you passed your driving test 30 years ago what day it was? If not it will be £50 fine! I asked to change my car to another one and they ignored me. I hade to buy another new insurance policy and cancel the one with them to get to work in the new car. I lost £220 in 6 weeks! and many hours sleep.
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Posted 2 years ago
My insurance ended on 27th December, I tried to turn the auto renew off but it didn't let me. The policy auto renewed for nearly double the price i was paying the year before, I have made no claims and had no claims against me so I don't understand why the insurance has basically doubled in price. Phoned to cancel or get a better price this morning (day of renewal) they couldn't give me a better price and charged me £54 to cancel the insurance that has only been in effect for 12 hours. I am really disappointed and i feel like i am paying for nothing, the customer service was of no help and just wanted to find a way to charge me money no interest in getting a better price to keep a customer. I would spend the extra money and go with a better company.
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Posted 2 years ago
1st CENTRAL is rated 4.0 based on 5,230 reviews