anyone got 1st central car insurance?

cardfool

I learnt a valuable lesson with this insurer, always investigate what cover you're getting before signing up and especially when using price comparison sites! I made the assumption that comprehensive includes cover to drive other cars, it doesn't with this company.

When cancelling with this insurer I did experience a real 'headache', I got very stressed, however to the credit of the 'Customer Relations' department I contacted (you can find this number from policy documents on the 1stCentral website) The pleasant lady sorted the issues, gave me feedback on what actions she'd taken and a very fast refund (although she said 7-10 days money was back within 2).

My advice is if you're having issues and feel that their staff are not helping you as they should then bypass the 'Policy support line' and go straight for 'Customer Relations'.

On a final note, I do wonder how many people have potentially been caught out by the 'drive other cars assumption' and how much 1stCentral are cashing in on with the cancellation charges they apply.

dacouch

Cardfool have a read of this post I made in May 2009 on this thread and Tom's answer, also read thed the response from Tom1stCentral who is a senior member of staff at 1st Central. The review they made must have consisted of "Shall we mention in our FAQs or on Key Facts or give a warning to new customers that we do not cover them to drive other cars?" the decision was obviously no. From this a cynical person might deduce that they are intenionally concealling this from new customers to avoid losing business. A cynical person might also find it odd that they specifically make mention in their FAQs about whether you are covered to drive test or hire car on their policy and make no mention of the exclusion of Driving Other Cars and that the inclusion of this Question/Answer might miss lead the general public...

dacouch wrote: »

Thanks for your post Tom, if you cannot offer the driving other cars it would be fairer to your customers and save you the hassle of people cancelling if you pointed this out at the point of sale. It also does not mention this in your FAQs

Tom1stCentral
MoneySaving Newbie


Join Date: May 2009
Post Count: 5
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Hi dacouch - Thanks for your comments. We'll take these on board and make sure we include them as part of our upcoming Product Review.


As I have said before, Car Insurers who are registered in Gibralter are normally NOT ALL THAT

roundy

To Tom at 1st Central i have emailed your company so many time to get an answer on my claim you have the nerve to change my cars details into your possession in the meantime i have had phone calls asking me if they can collect my vehicle, I have had no responses from any of my emails i was promised phone calls back, I am now £2600 short as i have had to purchase a new car in the meantime i need this money yesterday and you guys are so unhelpful its untrue!!

RE: ref - 09/0006573

IF YOU TAKE CAR INSURANCE OUT DO NOT DEAL WITH THESE GUYS !

dacouch

Roundy have a read of the following guidance notes from the Ombudsman about written off vehicles.

Pay particular attention to first three paragraphs of section 16 as you may find them helpful.
http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/technical_notes/motor-valuation.html#16

P.S They normally cancel your insurance when they write a car off so you will probably need to rearrange cover which I assume you will not do with 1stcentral. (If you need advice on which companies are good(ish) and which to avoid post on MSE and we will all give you our opinions)

ernie-money

dacouch wrote: »

(If you need advice on which companies are good(ish) and which to avoid post on MSE and we will all give you our opinions)

Hi,

I'm hoping you wouldn't mind giving me your advice...
On gocompare the two cheapest companies for me are 1st Central & Quinn Direct, which I have obviously decided not to go for, after what I've read about them on here.
After that, the next cheapest quotes are from the Co-operative, swiftcover, Santander and RAC, with reasonably similar prices, then Octagon, who includes protection against uninsured drivers for free as a special offer, after that Renault Insurance & Alliance & Leicester. After that, the prices start going upwards rather steeply - is there any of these you could recommend at all?
Would really appreciate help from someone with more experience of insurance companies than I have!
Thanks a lot
Mia

hazel_davey

Hi all,

Thank you so much for all the above posts, you've potentially saved me some hassle and money! 1st Central came up as the cheapest quote on Confused.com, but they were *so* much cheaper I was wary and did some research. Came across this thread and am very glad I didn't go ahead with them!

Went back to Elephant and got them to reduce their renewal quote instead...

dacouch

Ernie the CIS are a good company and certainly the best out of the bunch you have found, you may be able to get £20 cashback for CIS, if you need advice on cashback post up here and we can help you

ernie-money

dacouch wrote: »

Ernie the CIS are a good company and certainly the best out of the bunch you have found, you may be able to get £20 cashback for CIS, if you need advice on cashback post up here and we can help you

Thanks a lot for your help!
CIS - is that the Co-op? I'm not up on the lingo... If so, I saw that you can get £20 through quidco, but only if you go straight through them, and not via gocompare. Strangely they won't quote me online when I try to do that, it just advises me to call them - only via gocompare, is that common...? Anyway, £20 more or less, I'm just glad if I can get insured with a decent company at a half decent price!

dacouch

CIS is indeed the Co Op (Cooperative Insurance Services).

Try deleting the cookies on your pc and then getting a quote through Quidco or use a different computer (If you don't it will recognise you as a go compare customer and not offer the cash back).

The cash back is not guaranteed so look on it as a bonus

ernie-money

dacouch wrote: »

CIS is indeed the Co Op (Cooperative Insurance Services).

Try deleting the cookies on your pc and then getting a quote through Quidco or use a different computer (If you don't it will recognise you as a go compare customer and not offer the cash back).

The cash back is not guaranteed so look on it as a bonus

You are obviously a very clever person - I will do that straight away!
Thank you so much!