All services I need at a reasonable price. Hope you keep these prices next year and not hike prices as other insurance companies do.
Company replied
While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more
To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more
Review summary
Created with AI, based on recent reviews
What people talk about most
Reviews shaping this summary
It was just easy to use, the only issue I have is I would like the information I put in last time to be readily available.
Company replied
quick and easy,price was ok,considering some car insurers,keeping the price reasonable is the key
Company replied
Simple and quick to use website, easy to fill out quotes and immediate results. Really happy with price and was £250 cheaper than my previous insurer, thank you so much 😁
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
190K reviews
Asks customers to review
This company invites their customers to review, whether positive or negative
At Trustpilot, it's all about human content. This business can also access our AI-assisted response tool which helps them draft replies.
How this company uses Trustpilot
See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.
1st Central /Picnic insurance was to…
1st Central /Picnic insurance was to renew & didn't,I insured 5 days later & I put 2014 instead of 2017 when I got the car wanted to charge me £50 administration fee & £13 for the change they kept ringing & emailing me as they had noticed this but when it didn't auto renew not I phone call ..avoid as I could have updated this for half the price online ..
July 30, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Lisa Drain,
We appreciate you sharing your experience. We regret to hear about the issues with your renewal and the administration fees for correcting your car's details. Your feedback is valuable as we review our processes.
Natalie
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to give the best service and price to our customers 😊.
Natalie
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to make things easy and straightforward for our customers 😊.
Natalie
Fantastic Service - Natasha
Dealt with someone called Natasha who was fantastic. Very calming in a not so nice situation & very easy to deal with, made everything very clear & explained in a way that really made it easy to deal with after an accident.
July 28, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Cameron Ruggieri,
We're so pleased to hear that our team member provided such excellent support during a difficult time. It's wonderful that their clear explanations made everything easier for you after your accident. Thank you for your kind words!
Natalie
Auto-renewal with this company is like…
Auto-renewal with this company is like a trap. Hidden unnecessarily calculated admin fees and elevated price. It’s a joke. My loyalty ends.
July 30, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Tomasz,
Thank you for sharing your feedback. We're sorry to hear that you're unhappy with your auto-renewal and the associated fees. We understand your frustration and regret that your experience has led to your loyalty ending.
Natalie
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Thanks for your great review and welcome to 1st Central 😊. We have shared your comments to help improve our services.
Natalie
Disgusting company
useless people (when you manage to speak to a human!) purposely makes mistakes on the insurance so they can charge you ridiculous admin/premium fees. Avoid at all costs.
July 1, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Jenny,
We are truly sorry to hear about your extremely negative experience and the issues you've encountered with our services and fees. We understand your frustration and will review your comments to improve.
Natalie
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
James Tindal,
We're so pleased you found our service easy to use and a good value. Thank you for your wonderful feedback and for recommending us to your friends!
Natalie
Sorted out my issues with no drama
Sorted out my issues with no drama. Very happy
July 29, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Terry,
We're so glad we could resolve your issues smoothly and efficiently. We appreciate your positive feedback and are happy to hear you're very satisfied!
Natalie
twice cut off while waiting on phone e…
twice cut off while waiting on phone e mails telling me to renew when i had already done so very frustrating
July 30, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
JOHN ROWLANDS,
We're very sorry to hear about the frustrating experience you've had with being cut off while on the phone and receiving renewal emails after you'd already renewed. We understand how annoying this must be.
Natalie
I’m an older person with little ability…
I’m an older person with little ability to use internet and your rep was no help so I’m cancelling my new policy
July 23, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Martin,
We're truly sorry to hear that your experience with our representative was unhelpful and that you're considering canceling your policy. We understand that navigating online services can be challenging, and we regret that we didn't meet your expectations in assisting you.
Natalie
My experience with first central is…
My experience with first central is next to none price is very good and they will go out there way to help and resolve things very quickly so customer service is great user experience is very easy to do so very happy customer.
January 27, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Andrew Reynolds,
We're so pleased to hear that your experience was excellent and that you found our prices good. We're especially happy that our team went out of their way to help and resolve things quickly, and that you found the user experience easy.
Natalie
disappointed not being able to speak to…
disappointed not being able to speak to someone.tried several times but just seemed to be going round in circles, I'm not very good with your technology so this is very frustrating for me.other than that I am very happy with your insurance
July 30, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Kevin,
We appreciate you taking the time to leave a review. We're truly sorry to hear about the difficulties you experienced trying to speak with someone and understand how frustrating that can be. We're glad to know you're happy with your insurance otherwise, and we've shared your feedback to help improve our services.
Natalie
Took out insurance
Took out insurance. No emails containing details whatsoever. Communication very poor. I emailed, got nothing back. Contacted them through WhatsApp just to get automated responses and me having to tell them what’s happened every time a got a reply from a different person.
July 27, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Gareth,
Hi
We appreciate you sharing your experience. We are truly sorry to hear about the lack of communication, missing emails, and the difficulties you faced with our WhatsApp support. We will review your feedback to improve our services.
Natalie
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Julie Zanetti Crosby,
We are so pleased to hear that you found our service quick, easy to use, and very competitive. We truly appreciate your wonderful five-star review!
Natalie
Issue after payment but rectified after…
Issue after payment but rectified after speaking to customer service
July 30, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Mrs Alexander,
We appreciate you sharing your experience. We are glad our customer service team could resolve the payment issue for you.
Natalie
Unpleasant customer service experience
Unpleasant customer service experience
I sold my car and needed to update my policy with the registration number of my new car. Unfortunately, the “Edit my details” function on the online portal was not working.
I tried several times to speak to a human customer service representative, but I was unable to get through. The AI assistance repeatedly directed me back to the same “Edit my details” option that was not functioning in the first place.
I also emailed customer service, but instead of providing a solution or allowing me to speak to someone, I was simply referred back to the online DIY “Edit my details” service.
After going around in circles with no practical help, I eventually had to find another way to cancel my insurance.
Very disappointing experience. When an online system fails, customers should be able to speak to a real person and get assistance. Unfortunately, that was not my experience with 1st Central.
July 30, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
John Ugbaje,
We are truly sorry to hear about the unpleasant customer service experience you encountered. We understand your frustration with the online "Edit my details" function not working and the difficulty you faced trying to reach a human representative. We regret that our AI assistance and email responses did not provide the practical help you needed. Your feedback highlights a critical area for improvement in our systems and customer support.
Natalie
easy and simple
July 30, 2026
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Thanks for your great feedback! We always aim to make things easy and straightforward for our customers 😊.
Natalie
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Brajan,
We are so glad to hear everything was okay. We truly appreciate your kind words and positive feedback!
Natalie
Absolute crooks
My home insurance policy is on auto renew and these crooks decided to increase my premiums from £344 to over £1,100. I shall be reporting them to the financial ombudsman!
July 30, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from 1st Central Insurance
Mark Doyle,
We appreciate you sharing your concerns about your home insurance renewal. We understand your frustration with the significant increase in your premium. We are reviewing our pricing structure.
Natalie
The Trustpilot Experience
Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.
We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.
Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.
Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.
Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.
Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.