1st Central Car Insurance

Superfast_Gran

:mad: I wish I'd seen this thread before I took out a policy with them! I had an accident on Friday at lunchtime and have only just gotten to speak to a real live person a few minutes ago. Apparently there are no staff working over the weekend and that's why I couldn't get through. Harrumph!!! I had, in the meantime, sent my claim by email only to be told they couldn't find it - so I sent another copy. Plus it turns out that my excess is £500, it's £600:eek:. This is because of my type of car - Volkswagen Shuttle/8 seats and it says so in my policy documents - which I didn't get until after I'd paid. Another lesson learned I suppose :mad:

olly300

Policy documentation is on the web.

Some web insurers don't send out policy booklets they leave it to you to download the documentation and read it. http://www.1stcentralinsurance.com/policy_information.aspx

Tracy_in_the_house

We have been with them for 1.5 years now.

Recently we moved house from a really crummy street with no security at all. Breakins/ car theft every night, nickname for the street is "smack avenue" so you get the picture.

We moved onto a secured private street, private, individual parking, cctv everywhere in a really quiet low crime area, we phoned to change address - got through no problem at all but our premium shot up by £440 a year!

We cancelled our policy straight away and went hunting for a better deal (£30 to cancel and had to return docs)

We still found them to be a better deal though using price comparison sites and arranged to take out another policy with them, we phoned customer services (got through again no problem).

By cancelling and rearranging not only did we save the £440 increase, but another £160 from our premium before and we got accident/breakdown cover included. Excess on policy dropped from £600 to £150. (Yes we are very happy lol)

We have never had to claim so far, so im now hoping that what ive read here wont happen if we ever do have to claim.

The first member of staff we spoke to was really unhelpful however the other 3 members were really nice/chatty and helped us save money! (I even paid 2x online by accident and they contacted me straight away to let me know and cancelled a transaction within 2 days to stop it leaving my account)

Rocky_UK

1.5 Years??? That's five months longer than they have been in business!!
They started selling policies in October 2008.

Tracy_in_the_house wrote: »

We have been with them for 1.5 years now.

Recently we moved house from a really crummy street with no security at all. Breakins/ car theft every night, nickname for the street is "smack avenue" so you get the picture.

We moved onto a secured private street, private, individual parking, cctv everywhere in a really quiet low crime area, we phoned to change address - got through no problem at all but our premium shot up by £440 a year!

We cancelled our policy straight away and went hunting for a better deal (£30 to cancel and had to return docs)

We still found them to be a better deal though using price comparison sites and arranged to take out another policy with them, we phoned customer services (got through again no problem).

By cancelling and rearranging not only did we save the £440 increase, but another £160 from our premium before and we got accident/breakdown cover included. Excess on policy dropped from £600 to £150. (Yes we are very happy lol)

We have never had to claim so far, so im now hoping that what ive read here wont happen if we ever do have to claim.

The first member of staff we spoke to was really unhelpful however the other 3 members were really nice/chatty and helped us save money! (I even paid 2x online by accident and they contacted me straight away to let me know and cancelled a transaction within 2 days to stop it leaving my account)

trophy3681

Tom1stCentral wrote: »

Hi - I'm Tom - Head of Business Development at First Central Insurance Services.

I'd like to address some of the issues raised on this forum. I'd like to apologise to those customers who have been left waiting on the telephone - Our UK Service provider is currently in the process of recruiting and training more agents and as a result we are already seeing improvements in service.

I can confirm that our service provider has never used 0870 numbers -First Central uses an 0845 for our Claims Centre and this should be charged at local rate depending on your provider. As a result of these posts we have also conducted some research into this and there are actually a number of 'big names' who use the more expensive 0870 and 0871 numbers.

With regards to the Gibraltar posts - The insurer is based there, as is the insurance intermediary. I can confirm that the insurer is covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme and regulated by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission, adhering to EU Law. In fact there are a number of large 'brand name' insurers who operate from Gibraltar.

In addition, we are currently in the process of evaluating whether to include 'Driving Other Cars' as standard on policies.

Please contact me on this forum if you need me to clarify anything.

Kind regards,

Tom

Tom I have sent you a PM because I am concerned that you are not being transparent about the third party cover not being included when it is standard cover on the majority of other insurance policies.

1jim

omg, just read this thread..should have looked earlier really as I have just taken out a policy with these as they were cheaper than renewal quote, ....are they really that bad? dont need cover to drive other cars 3rd party as other half and I are both named drivers on each others policy, wont need euro cover as holiday in wales this year, not looking to change car this year either....should I keep fingers crossed that no incidents occur or start looking around again and cancel (only took out policy friday night)

trophy3681

trophy3681 wrote: »

Tom I have sent you a PM because I am concerned that you are not being transparent about the third party cover not being included when it is standard cover on the majority of other insurance policies.

TOM--despite receiving a private message from you saying you would reply, I have heard nothing from you.

dacouch

Tom have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, perhaps in the new year you could start addressing the problems with your company that are continually pointed out to you eg it is very difficult to contact your company and that it appears you deliberately conceal the fact that you do not offer driving other cars to your policy holders. It is quite simple for you to make this MAJOR exclusion obvious to potential and existing clients so they can make an informed decision on whether to take out your cover.

Coming soon more flannel from Tom that they are "Addressing these matters", do not hold you breath as they have been saying this for about 7 months now

1jim

I must admit that I am a little worried about going ahead with this policy so will see how things go..... dont need driving other cars, both I and the wife are named drivers on each others policy so dont need more than that really, I dont mind printing out policy documents as have used a few companies that have done this in the past, I have received the certificate if insurance today and credit agreement which could be signed online so alls good so far.... I am a little worried about the customer service element as I dont relish having to be on hold for ages if I have to call them but will cross that bridge when I come to it, will see how things go and evaluate next year how things have gone

themightysmithers

i am also in the middle of a huge !!!! up with first central.

i took out a policy, paid £130 first payment, and set up a direct debit to be taken monthly.
when trying to tax my car is dawned on me i had no certificate of insurance from first plus sent to me.
i called them to get one sent out and its turns out they had not been taking any payments for the past 4 months, through no fault of my own.

i arranged to pay an increased monthly fee over the remaining 8 months to cover the previous 4 months, no apology from them, nothing.

so, instead of increasing my remaining 8 payments they simply took all 4 payments out of my account- 4 DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS!
this sent me over drawn, which has resulted in overdraft fees' from HSBC, and my mortgage also didnt go out because of "insufficient funds" in my bank account.

i have emailed them with no reply, their offices open at 8am, yet the phone lines are still playing the out of hours message @ 9am, i managed to get through to one person who told me he needed to 'redirect me' and simply cut me off, when i called the number again, the number which 2 minutes ago was working, had been put back onto the weekend answerphone message.

i am on the case trying to get this resolved, i'll update this when i know more.