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Who are 1st Central?
1st Central is part of First Central Group and concentrates solely on providing car insurance. The insurer has more than one million customers and its staff work across four different locations – Guernsey, Gibraltar, Sussex and Manchester.
1st Central is a business name used by First Central Insurance Management Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Why should I consider 1st Central?
1st Central offers both comprehensive and third party, fire and theft car insurance, with five different policy types to choose from: 1st Central Value, 1st Central, 1st Central Legal, 1st Central Plus and 1st Central Premier.
Each policy type offers a number of different add-ons and benefits, although 1st Central Value is not available for third party, fire and theft cover.
All comprehensive car insurance policies offer courtesy car, key cover, driving abroad and accidental damage cover as standard. RAC breakdown cover, legal expenses and hire car cover can also be added to policies for an additional cost if they are not already included.
Multicar insurance policies are available too, with customers benefiting from a £50 discount on each additional car insured with the provider.
Finally, 1st Central’s Legal, Plus and Premier policies are rated five-stars by Defaqto.
How to contact 1st Central
Customers with car insurance queries can contact 1st Central by phone between 8am and 8pm from Monday to Friday, between 9am and 5pm on Saturdays, and between 10am and 2pm on Sundays. Alternatively, customers can use the live chat feature on the website.
Existing customers can also log into the MyAccount section of the website to review and update their details and manage their policy, 24/7.
Alternatively, 1st Central can be found on Twitter as @1stCentral, as well as on Facebook.
How to find the best cover for you
Buying affordable car insurance is important, but there are also a number of other factors you will need to consider when comparing policies. Plumping for the cheapest car insurance policy you find won’t necessarily mean you have the right level of cover and could put you at risk of being underinsured.
It’s important to check the level of cover of each policy to see what is included as standard and what you might need to pay extra for. Experiment by running several quotes and choosing different add-ons to see how it affects the price to ensure you get the best deal.
Choosing a more expensive policy that offers everything you need will work out better for your pocket in the long run if you need to make a claim.
Why it makes sense to compare policies and providers
Car insurance providers have traditionally offered their most competitive deals to new customers, while those that have remained loyal to their insurer year after year have usually paid more.
However, new rules introduced by the FCA in January 2022 mean that car (and home) insurance companies can no longer charge existing customers more for their renewal than they’d charge a new customer for the equivalent policy.
Despite this, shopping around for your car insurance each year is still the best way to ensure you’re getting the right level of cover at the best price.
As part of your comparison, it is also worth looking for customer reviews on sites such as Trustpilot to see how existing policyholders rate their cover and customer service. Defaqto also gives star ratings to car insurance providers which can give you a good indication of the service they offer.
