First Central / 1st Central Car Insurance

amelieashton

Can anyone help me with this?

I've bought car insurance online from 1St Central -i didn't actually want to buy it online, but was on hold for over an hour trying to buy it - so gave up in the end and just paid online instead -

While i've actually paid for it - the money has left my bank account and i have a reciept from 1st Central - I don't have any documents or acknowledgement of the insurance. After the page where i made the payment another page came up saying "oops there was an error" - then it redirected me back to the quotes page -

So, i'm currently on hold to them again, have been for the past 2 hours now and i've kind of given up actually getting through. But, i need to know whether or not the insurance policy is up and running - as i obviously don't want to drive uninsured - I've emailed the sales support, but recieved an automated response back saying they'll be in touch within two working days -

This isn't good enough as i've just bought the car, i'm desperate to drive it, and the previous owners policy runs out tomorrow - 1st Central have taken my money, so i can't go anywhere else - and if its not sorted by tomorrow my car will be uninsured!!!

I'm hoping the policy has to be honoured, as they've taken the payment - does anyone know if this is true?

Also - a word of warning to insurance buyers - If you want an insurance company thats fairly easy to get in touch with - DO NOT go to 1st Central. They have been experiencing "Heavy Call Volumes" for the past four hours.:(

Ameliex

rev_henry

From what I've heard, 1st Central are simply not fit for purpose. I would really advise you to pay a little more and go with another company. I have heard dreadful things, not just the usual complaints about admin fees etc that you get with all insurance companies, but documents never being sent and people having to sue them to make them pay out for claims...

amelieashton

Oh dear. Thanks for the heads up - I think i'm best off probably just hanging up now, seeing as they close at 9 anyway, and contacting the bank and see if they can stop the payment.
Thanks Again

rev_henry

Sounds the best idea to me. If you got through they probably wouldn't even be capable of processing a refund anyway, they're so useless.

Roberta1

I would advise persevering with the phone call (you will have to wait in a queue for ages though) and cancel the policy. They will try and charge you £60 (£10 Admin fee, £50 cancellation charge) but if you stick to your guns you may manage to reduce this to just £10.

I managed this - got my whole premium back bar £10.

Good luck.

rev_henry

Total £60 cancellation fee is in breach of FOS guidelines anyway...