anyone got 1st central car insurance?

buzzmonkey

Well, like many i thought my last post was earlier in the year, but alas, 8 months after my accident I have just recieved a letter from the insurance company of the other party involved who have said they are taking me to court as 1st central have not paid out for the accident. I apparently owe them just under £3000!!!! for an accident that i eventually said was my fault ( i was advised to). !!!!!!, they take the pee. however my car is on the database

angry_ex_customer

:mad: i got cover with first central via the net, they sent me a certificate of insurance, sounds good u may think, trouble is they did not collect the direct debits, they did not write to me to tell me this, when i phoned them they said I had cancelled the direct debit??????? i told them i have proof from the bank that this is incorrect and there was never a direct debit mandate sent out by first central!!!!!!!! they of course denied this and said i was at fault for cancelling it????? AND i was in debt to them, hmmmmm normal practice would be for the insurance company to write to you about problems collecting a d.d, NOT THESE SKANKS they just leave it and let it pile up and add insult to injury to call you a liar and charge you for cancelling your policy for a disgusting bottom rate elusive pathetic not worth tuppence disservice! i would advise anyone thinking of dealing with these people(and i use the term loosely) to have their head examined or just give your money to a stranger in the street!

dacouch

Angry ex customer write 1st Central a letter, title it "Official Complaint", the address to send it to is in your policy. They have to investigate official complaints properly and respond to you in a set time scale, the FSA who regulate them will also monitor their official complaints.

If you bank are prepared to confirm in writing that the DDM was set up correctly, you did not cancel it and they never called for the direct debits then include this include this in your letter.

You will be liable for the premiums for you the cover provided, however if they have made a mistake I would expect them to waive any cancellation charges and maybe even give you an ex gratia payment of say £50 for the inconvenience (I would not bank on it though).

As mentioned before they have to properly investigate and respond to you so it could help you out and cause them some extra work as a by produt

oscarward

Checking Askmid it tells me my car is now on the database.

And in addition to dacouch advice, send any corresponence by registered or recorded delivery and keep proof of posting etc..

On a brighter note my insurance is due for renewal in a month , suppose I'll have to start searching now.

Ok looking for good prices, good service, good policy, UK call centre. How hard can it be? :-)

Out of curiosity does anyone have any thoughts on comparison websites vs brokers?

jonescar

I took out insurance with 1st Central last year as the premium they were offering was very competitive. What a mistake that was:-


Issues with obtaining the Insurance

1. I had to submit evidence of my no claims bonus three times before they processed it properly, in the mean time threatening to invalidate my insurance despite their own incompetence.
2. I never received my certificate of insurance.

Issues with Claims


When I recently made a claim:-

• I had to submit this to a third party because they do not provide their own service to support this critical function (what else is insurance for?!!!)
• The third party only transferred this information to their claims department after I chased them twice. This took a week and delayed completion of the damage report.
• Having received the damage report, which confirmed the car was a write-off, I had to chase them 3 times before they provided me with the exact requirements, i.e. VOSA, evidence of MOT, etc, in order for them to proceed to settlement. N.B. They didn't need any more information to do this. They just didn't do it.
• They tried to disqualify the claim as they said my insurance was invalid as I had made two claims with another provider which I had not disclosed. They had in fact confused my name with someone else and had not bothered to check the simplest details such as date of birth to confirm that this was incorrect.
• They never requested details of exactly what happened in the accident and indeed when I made the original claims submission insisted that I must state who was liable (I thought you were never meant to admit fault!).

I did get paid in the end but the length of time it took cost considerable sums of money in terms of hire car costs, telephone calls, and, in the long term, my NQD. I cannot recommend use of this company. Whatever you save in the short term will be outweighed by long term costs.

john_cuthbertson

I have fallen foul of the same problem as yourself. After reading your article I inspected my policy and found that there was no 3rd party cover if I needed to drive my fianc!es car as I do every now and again .

I tried to ring them on their premium telephone number and after 10 mins of hanging on for someone I gave up and e-mailed them instead informing them that I was cancelling my policy that day giving them a date and time .
Just to keep a electronic record of my cancellation . My policy started on the 15th of August and this e-mail was sent on the 16th of August .One day of cover . Didn't even drive the car that day !

I got the following reply that day --Dear Customer,

Thank you for your email, we will get back to you as soon as possible. If you are an existing policyholder emailing to make a change to your policy, please note any changes will not take effect until you receive confirmation from us.

If you require any further assistance please call the Policy Support Team on 0845 194 9930.

Yours Sincerely,
Policy Support Team

On the 18th of August I got this following e-mail -- Dear Mr Cuthbertson

Thank you for your recent email, we are sorry to hear that you wish to cancel your policy. There are 2 ways that we can do this for you.
Firstly we can cancel it via email for you, this is a quicker option however we would need to complete an electronic Statutory Declaration, this is so we can meet the provisions of the Road Traffic Act in respect of the cancellation. To do this we need to you to confirm the following:
1. The date / time that you wish to have your policy cancelled with effect from?

2. That you understand and acknowledged that once your policy has been cancelled, you will be uninsured. We also need to inform you that it is an offence under the Road Traffic Act to drive without insurance.

3. That you will immediately destroy all Certificates of Motor Insurance that we have sent you, including any paper or email copies. You are making a statutory declaration that this has been done for the purposes of Section 152 of the Road Traffic Act.


Please reply including this email to policy.support@1stcentral.co.uk confirming that you will comply with points 1,2 and 3 above and also include the date and time from which you wish your policy to be cancelled. We will contact you with confirmation once your policy has been cancelled along with details of any refund due to you, or outstanding premium that may apply.
If you are unable to do this you can also cancel your policy by post and to do this you need to return your certificate of motor insurance to us by post to the address below with the words “Please Cancel” and the date of cancellation written across the top, we will then cancel your policy with effect from the date that we receive it.
You should also be aware that a cancellation fee of £30 will apply. Please note that cancellations will be processed on the nearest available date after we receive your reply or returned certificate and as we are unable to backdate transactions the exact date may vary.

Kind regards

Gareth Jones
Policy Support Agent
Direct: 0845 1949930

Is it fair for the company to request this £30 fee ?

john_cuthbertson

Got a reply on the 19th August from 1st direct saying they canceled my policy on the 18th and will refund my account £210 within 7 days but administration costs may apply . Will let you know . Oh I paid £244 and canceled on the first days cover.

yvonne63

Hi I made a claim and paid my excess as advised. I was not at fault but there was a dispute.
Since I had the accident which was during the world cup I have never received an answer from 1st central.
You only ever get an automated response.
To date I still do not know whether my claim has been successful.
Unless something is sorted I will not be renewing with them!

jasperboy83

I am in my 1st year of cover with this company having been with Esure for ages. I was hit on the motorway by a stone and have a large crack in my screen.My MOT is due in 3 weeks time so i have to get it changed before then. Reading this forum makes me think it is going to be a nightmare. I cant find anywhere as to how much my excess for glass cover is.:(

Quentin

jasperboy83 wrote: »

. I cant find anywhere as to how much my excess for glass cover is.:(

It will be shown on your schedule (if you have windscreen cover - it's only for comprehensive policies).