1st Central car insurance are a joke! Advice please

Elle956

I took out my insurance with 1st central to start on the 6th August this year. I went on go compare and it was the cheapest option so I regretfully went with them. Everything was fine and I paid my first month and then a week ago they emailed me asking for some documents. They needed my vehicle registration document so I went online to my account to upload all 4 pages but I was having problems and they wouldn't load. I rang them and they gave me an email address to send them too. Not a problem.

I get an email today saying that the dates I obtained my vehicle are incorrect. Apparently the information I gave them was that I owned my vehicle from the 1/08/2020 but my document shows 08/08/2020. I don't know where they got the first date from I don't recall ever inputting that information anywhere including the go compare website. So because they have had to change this they are charging me £152 plus a £50 administration fee!! So now that's an extra £20 a month on top of the original quote I got.

How is this right? 
I tried to dispute this with them but got nowhere. I'm not very good on the phone or dealing with these types of things so I'm going to get my husband to ring them and try and sort this cause it doesn't make any sense to me.

I was just wondering if anyone else is with this company and had similar problems?

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hello OP

Have you raised a complaint via their official complaints procedure? They will then have 8 weeks to resole it before you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service:

https://help.1stcentralinsurance.com/kb/FAQ/content/PROD-6082/How-do-I-complain-about-my-car-insurance

£152 increase due to 7 days difference in the date the car was purchased 3 years ago seems excessive to me. 

DullGreyGuy

When buying insurance you almost certainly have to ultimately agree to a declaration that all the information you've provided to the best of your ability. Generally not too difficult to check the exact date you bought your car or got your driving license etc but many people are lazy and use an appropriate date despite then agreeing that its correct rather than approximate. A couple of providers have cottoned on to this and now validate all details very closely and charge for correcting anything that's wrong. 

Ultimately if you disagree then follow their complaints process but personally I'd focus on the price change for such a minor adjustment and less so the admin fee as you do admit you gave them inaccurate information.

huntersam

Maybe I didn't read the initial information correctly but 1st central accepted my application, quoted me a figure and took the first payment BEFORE asking for all the additional information. HOW  can they do this without having all the information they are now asking for? I sent the information required but then kept getting automated e mails telling me they still wanted additional information without specifying which information they still needed. This is still going on and my worry now is if I have to claim are they going to go out of their way to avoid payment

DullGreyGuy

huntersam said:

Maybe I didn't read the initial information correctly but 1st central accepted my application, quoted me a figure and took the first payment BEFORE asking for all the additional information. HOW  can they do this without having all the information they are now asking for? I sent the information required but then kept getting automated e mails telling me they still wanted additional information without specifying which information they still needed. This is still going on and my worry now is if I have to claim are they going to go out of their way to avoid payment

Obviously you haven't posted your story @huntersam but hijacked someone else's thread instead but presumably you're in a similar situation and so the same answer applies. 

They asked you for tall the information they require, they provided you a quote based on your declaration that all the information you had given them is correct. After you purchased the policy they didnt ask for more information but simply for evidence that you had provided accurate answers to at least some of the questions they'd asked. Based on your post it would appear that at least something you'd declared was true was not hence the additional cost to correct the policy.

Its a simple lesson to learn... if you dont know a date etc then rather than estimating and then giving a declaration it is 100% accurate double check the answer first. 

Author921

Wonder how you managed to contact them? I have tried but the phone number is disconnected. Spent a number of hours trying to get veh insurance - now glad I couldn't get through! Any other companies you CAN  recommend?