First central insurance (car) - any experiences?

tracy123456

I had a policy with 1st Central Insurance management and I can honestly say it was the worst experience of my life. I would not advice any one to go through them. I am currently in dispute with them and have gone to the Financial Ombudsman Service to help me with this.

vitalstatistix

Hi - I'm a newbie but joined the forum today solely to give my experience of dealing with this company.

They took my money quickly enough, but I received no confirmation email or means of accessing my online insurance documents (they don't send out a paper copy). The details were sent after I chased them up, but some of the information was incorrect. I was worried about what would happen if I needed to claim. I decided that, in view of the service I had received up until that point, I wanted to cancel the policy (this was before the policy actually came into effect). I was also concerned to read in the documents that I was now able to access, that the company would automatically renew my policy on expiry, unless I informed them that I did not want this to happen. This suggested to me that they must be keeping my credit card details.

I was told on the phone by the first advisor that I would not be charged anything to cancel, but then she put me through to someone else, who said they would take a £50 cancellation fee.

I asked to speak to a supervisor, but they were 'in a meeting'. I did manage to get someone to ring me back eventually, and they agreed to refund me the full amount. Weirdly, the actual refund I have received was £3.26 short, but it will cost that to phone them and sort it out, so I consider it a small price to pay to have got a result.

I'm not saying don't go there, but do check the T&Cs very, very carefully, and make sure you understand them because they are ambigious. This company may be providing good service to someone, but it wasn't me. They couldn't look more like a cowboy operation if they had a lassoo and spurs for a logo.