Reasonably easy to navigate the site, the only confusion for me was the way in which all the options kept appearing. Basically I had decided what I wanted and simply wanted to complete the purchase.
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Review summary
Created with AI, based on recent reviews
What people talk about most
Reviews shaping this summary
I’ve been with 1st Central for a while now, and they have never let me down. Every situation I’ve had was handled quickly, professionally, and with great customer service. Their team is always helpful... See more
Company replied
Renewing my car insurance was seamless. It was easy to do online and any queries I had were answered simply and clearly by the agents. They were polite, well mannered and patient. I was very pleasa... See more
Company replied
The company reduced my premium this year which in this industry is very rare. Obviously they care about their customers and take note of clean licences, no previous accidents etc. Recommended to all... See more
Company replied
Company details
Written by the company
Get a car insurance quote from 1st CENTRAL and you won’t be disappointed. As experts in UK motor insurance, 1st CENTRAL provides cheap car insurance for new drivers and experienced drivers, along with a high standard of customer service. Our friendly support teams are on hand to help you with your car insurance quote. We can customize your affordable car insurance policy with optional extras including Legal Cover, Personal Accident Cover, Hire Car, Excess Protect and RAC Breakdown Cover.
Who We Are
Written by the company
- We offer Defaqto 5-Star rated car insurance
- Our car insurance provides quality cover and includes a comprehensive range of features and benefits including a courtesy car, £1500 of key cover and 90 days driving in Europe, as standard
- We’re competitive on price
- We’ve got some very smart people in our pricing team (and some clever technology) monitoring the market to make sure we’re always giving the best price possible. We’re pretty hot on fraud too, which helps us keep our premiums lower.
- We’re not all talk
- If you make a claim, we’ll look after you. You'll be assigned a Personal Claims Advisor, enjoy free collection and delivery of your vehicle, a 5 year warranty on all repairs, mobile repairs and estimates where possible, and like for like vehicle replacement.
- We’re nice people
- All of this is backed up by support from our friendly call centre. Our call centre is open at sensible times including weekends and our claims line is open 24/7, 365 days a year.
Contact info
Perrymount road, RH16 3SY, Haywards Heath, United Kingdom
- 1stcentralinsurance.com
4.4
Excellent
185K reviews
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Worst insurance company ever encountered
Too complicated and all on line. Was asked for proof of no claims which is not unreasonable but why would they need to see the car log book? Was unable to upload on their website and when contacted by phone they were not very helpful. Consequently I cancelled the policy after 25 days (for which I was charged) and immediately renewed the insurance with a more user-friendly company at a lower price
28 May 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We appreciate you sharing your experience. We are sorry to hear about the difficulties you faced with our online process and document requests. Your feedback is valuable as we work to improve our services.
Emily
New Customerasy to follow instructions ,and…
Easy to follow instructions ,and explains ecerything I need to know
28 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We are so pleased to hear that our instructions were easy to follow and informative. Thank you for your kind words!
Emily
Avoid like the plague
All seemed fine, their quote was good and I chose them as my insurer. The problems started several weeks later when they contacted me out of the blue demanding proof of mine and my named drivers NCD. I provided these, uploading them to the portal but 1st central kept saying they weren’t right, weren’t in the right format, didn’t have the right information, even though they were issued to me from admiral
Insurance and clearly stated exactly how many years of no claims I had. They were making up issues and threatening to cancel my insurance. This is still ongoing, and I’ve had to got to the financial regulator for advice on their aggressive tactics. Pay the price extra money and stay away from this lot!
28 May 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We are truly sorry to hear about the difficulties you've experienced with your no-claims discount proof. We understand how frustrating this situation must be, and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention. We are reviewing your feedback to improve our processes.
Emily
Easy website to navigate
Easy website to navigate. Lots of options for policy add ons. Slightly disappointed at £5 admin fee for changes made by my self online on an annual car insurance police but overall the company was much cheaper than others for a years’ insurance
28 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
Thanks for your positive feedback! We are happy to hear you found our website easy to navigate. We appreciate your comments regarding the admin fee.
Emily
everything went ok
28 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi,
Thank you for your feedback and for choosing 1st Central.
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 review to help improve our services.
Emily
Keeping prices down and reasonable …
Keeping prices down and reasonable will tell you more after I've dealt with my car insurance due end of July.
26 May 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We appreciate your feedback on pricing. We look forward to hearing from you after your car insurance renewal in July.
Emily
All good with them
6 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We are so glad to hear you had a great experience. Thank you for your kind words and positive feedback.
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We're happy to hear you found it easy to use. Thank you for your positive feedback!
Emily
Quick and easy
28 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to give the best service and price to our customers 😊.
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We're glad you had an excellent experience!
Emily
Easy to use best price
21 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We appreciate your kind words. We are glad our service was easy to use and offered the best price.
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to give the best service and price to our customers 😊.
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hello,
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 2055 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.
Emily
Dont like all the upselling and…
Dont like all the upselling and optional extras. The rest of the process was fairly simple.
28 May 2026
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We appreciate your feedback regarding the optional extras. We are reviewing our process to improve your experience.
Emily
Choose any other company than 1st Central
On May 14th the offer was accepted and today is May 28th and still no money. 4 times I have been promised payment and still nothing! I contacted the complaints team just to be emailed back to say basically if youre not happy contact the omnibus man. Why is it so hard to pay out its not your money. A manager denied payment and nobody contacted me so if i hadn't had moaned YET AGAIN ABOUT LATE PAYMENT HOW WOULD I OF KNOWN? 1 HOUR AND 11 MINS ON HOLD. I LOST 500 DEPOSIT ON MY NEW VEHICLE AS DIDNT GET PAID AND HAD TO HIRE A CAR AS I RETURNED THE ORIGINAL CAR AS I WAS TOLD THE MONEY WOULD BE IN MY BANK. 1 LAST THING TO SAY GOOD LUCK IN COURT AS I RECORDED EVERY CALL LOGGED EVERY CALL AND YOU ARE GONNA PAY. WHAT A CROCK OF ...... MAKE THE LAST WORD UP YOURS3LVES 1ST CENTRAL AS YOU ARE LOSING CUSTOMERS AND WILL DO CONTINUALLY. A VERY VERY UNHAPPY CUSTOMER. Emily you have answered both of my complaints on here and not when I responded on your own complaints procedure. Ring me i am Damon Burch and wont be hard to find as no other has the same name in this country and we can talk. I guarantee you won't so you have 3 to 5 working days to respond. PS EMILY DOES NOT EXSIST AS A CUSTOMER FACING EMPLOYEE IN OTHER WORD IS AI NOT EVEN HUMAN
28 May 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are sorry to learn of the significant difficulties you have experienced with your payment and the impact this has had. We would like to investigate this further for you. Please contact our team at 0333 043 2055, or use the web chat on our website. We are available Mon-Fri: 8am-8pm, Sat: 9am-5pm, and Sun: 10am-2pm.
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We regret that our process was confusing. We are reviewing it.
Emily
After 2 years 1 year of NCD
Stay clear of 1 st central .
Staff very rude
If you with them for few years you still will get just 1 year NCD.and they just don't understand that 1+1=2
Or they don't want to understand,to rip more money from people
Very disappointed
Shame
28 May 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We appreciate you sharing your feedback regarding your experience. We are sorry to hear about the difficulties you faced with our staff and the NCD policy. We will review your comments.
Emily
I highly recommend 1st Central Car…
I highly recommend 1st Central Car Insurance. They were totally efficient, polite, understanding and kept me informed and updated constantly, if I needed to speak to anyone with any concerns there was a person that I could talk to and not just an answer machine.
27 March 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
We're so pleased to hear about your positive experience with us. It's wonderful that our team was efficient, polite, and kept you informed. We're glad you could always speak to a person with your concerns. Thank you for your recommendation!
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to give the best service and price to our customers 😊.
Emily
Reply from 1st CENTRAL Insurance
Hi
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to give the best service and price to our customers 😊.
Emily
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