1st Central: car insurance, cover and claims

1st Central is a UK car insurance brand. It sells motor policies directly to drivers, including learner and young drivers, and it runs the policy through an online account rather than a branch network. Cover is arranged through the brand's website, www.1stcentralinsurance.com, and the insurer behind it is based in Gibraltar rather than in the UK¹.

That last point matters more than it sounds. Because the insurer is Gibraltar-based and authorised in its home country rather than by the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority as a UK insurer, the way your cover is protected if the firm fails is different from a policy with a UK-authorised insurer. The section below sets out what that means in practice.

This page covers what a 1st Central policy includes and leaves out, who it will insure, how payment works, how to manage a policy and claim, and how to complain if something goes wrong.

What 1st Central car insurance covers

A 1st Central motor policy is a standard UK car insurance contract, and the cover you get depends on the level you buy. Comprehensive cover is the usual choice and combines the two halves of motor insurance: cover for damage you cause to other people and their property, and cover for damage to your own car. Third party, fire and theft sits below it, and third party only below that.

What a comprehensive policy typically includes is set by the market rather than by any one insurer, and the add-ons sold alongside it are where the differences between providers show up. Most car insurers offer breakdown cover as an added extra rather than as part of the standard policy³. Personal accident cover, which pays a set sum after an accident, is also commonly sold as an add-on, and the cover limits vary between providers and between policies³. Legal expenses cover, courtesy cars and key cover are sold the same way.

The practical point for a reader is that the headline price of a policy tells you very little on its own. Two comprehensive policies at the same price can differ substantially in what they pay for after a crash, and the add-ons are where a cheap policy becomes an expensive one. The policy schedule and the add-on terms you are sent are the documents that decide what you can claim for, not the summary on the quote page. For the limits and sums insured on a 1st Central policy, the policy documents and the provider's own website are the source.

If you are comparing motor cover more widely, the insurance guide sets out how the different types of policy fit together, and the insurers directory lists the firms operating in the UK market.

What the policy does not cover

Every motor policy excludes things, and the exclusions are where claims are refused. The pattern across the market is consistent: wear and tear, damage from driving without a valid MOT or licence, and modifications you have not told the insurer about are the usual grounds for a declined claim.

Add-ons are the area where buyers most often assume cover they do not have. Breakdown cover is the clearest example. Most car insurers offer it as an added extra, and the level varies sharply: some packages cover roadside assistance only, while a complete comprehensive package includes cover if you drive into Europe³. If you have not bought the add-on, a breakdown is not a claim.

There is a wider lesson in how add-ons are sold. Where a policy is bought in connection with other goods or services as part of a packaged bank account, the disclosure rule in the FCA's Insurance Conduct of Business Sourcebook does not apply to it⁵. That rule governs how add-on products must be offered and explained, so its absence changes what you are entitled to be told at the point of sale. It is a reason to read the terms of any insurance bundled into a paid bank account rather than assuming it works like a standalone policy.

For home and contents policies, a common exclusion is damage to parts of the property other than the main residence, such as patios, paths and terraces, unless the main residence is also affected⁶. Motor policies work the same way in principle: the cover is defined, and anything outside the definition is your cost.

Learner and young drivers: who 1st Central will insure

1st Central's market is drivers who find cover expensive, which in practice means learners, newly qualified drivers and younger drivers generally. Insurers price by risk, and age is one of the strongest predictors the market uses. Young drivers, particularly those under 25, pay much more for car insurance than older drivers⁷.

That pricing has consequences for what is available. Telematics or black box policies were first aimed at young or inexperienced drivers, particularly those under 25, and have since expanded to drivers of all ages including low-mileage drivers⁶. A telematics policy uses a device or app to record how you drive, and the premium reflects it. The trade-off is real: high-risk drivers may face a premium increase, a specific one-off charge, or in the most serious cases, cancellation of the policy⁵.

There are ways to reduce the cost that do not depend on the insurer. Young drivers may be able to obtain an initial discount on their first year's policy if they have successfully sat the Pass Plus course⁷. For drivers with a disability, the Motability scheme restricts which cars drivers aged 25 and under may drive: insurance group 16 or lower for non-electric cars, and insurance group 21 or lower for electric vehicles⁸. Bespoke Passenger Solutions covers familiarisation lessons, if your main driver is a full licence holder but needs to get used to a new way of driving⁹.

Classic car insurance is a separate route. It is possible to get classic car insurance if you are a younger driver, under 25, but you will probably pay more than older drivers¹⁰.

Paying for a policy: in full or monthly instalments

Motor insurance can be paid for in one payment for the year, or spread across monthly instalments. The two are not the same price. Paying monthly is a credit arrangement, and it costs more: consumers are charged more for paying for things like insurance each month rather than all in one go for the year¹¹.

That difference is the single most useful thing to understand about insurance payment. The annual figure quoted is the price of the cover; the monthly figure is the price of the cover plus the cost of borrowing the money to pay for it. The gap between the two is the interest and any arrangement charge, and it is set out in the credit agreement you sign when you choose instalments. For 1st Central's own instalment terms, deposit and accepted payment methods, the payment page at the point of purchase and the credit agreement you are sent are the source.

There is a wider point about how instalment arrangements are regulated. Where an insurer offers to spread payments, the arrangement is a regulated credit agreement, which brings rights around how the debt is documented and how information about it is obtained¹². If you fall behind on instalments, the consequences are those of a credit debt as well as a lapsed policy, which is a different position from simply not renewing.

Managing your policy online through Your Account

1st Central runs policies through an online account, which is where you view documents, make changes and check what you have bought. The detail below is about how these accounts work generally rather than a walkthrough of this one.

An online policy account is normally where you update your address, change your car, add or remove a driver, download your certificate of insurance and policy schedule, and check your payment schedule. Changes that affect risk, such as a new car, a change of address or an additional driver, usually change the premium, and the account is where the revised figure is shown before you confirm.

The reason to keep the account details current is that a policy is priced on the information you gave. If the insurer is not told about a change that would have altered the price, a claim can be affected. That is true of every motor insurer, not just this one.

Statements and preferences in online accounts are typically changed by logging on to online banking, selecting 'my details' and then 'Statement Preferences', or by asking the chat bot in the mobile banking app¹⁴. Insurance accounts follow the same pattern: the settings live behind the account login rather than in a phone call.

Making a claim with 1st Central

A motor claim starts with a call to the insurer's claims line, and the claims number and opening hours are printed in the policy documents and shown on the 1st Central website. Those are the details to rely on rather than any general assumption about when claims lines are staffed.

What happens after the first call follows the standard pattern for UK motor claims. The insurer takes the details of the incident, arranges for the car to be assessed or repaired through an approved network, and handles any claim made against you by another driver. If your car is written off, the settlement is based on its market value at the time, not on what you paid for it.

If a claim is disputed, or if the insurer's handling of it causes a problem, the route is a complaint to the insurer first. The Financial Ombudsman Service expects a complaint to the provider in the first instance, to give it the opportunity to put things right¹⁵. The Consumer Council makes the same point for consumers in Northern Ireland: make a complaint to the provider in the first instance¹³.

Where a claim involves a personal representative, for example because the policyholder has died, the claim can be referred to a personal representative to complete on the claimant's behalf early in the process¹⁶. That is a practical point for families dealing with an estate alongside an insurance claim.

How your cover is protected: a Gibraltar-based insurer

This is the section that differs most from a policy with a UK-authorised insurer, and it is worth reading before you buy rather than after.

First Central Underwriting Limited is EEA Authorised and appears on the Bank of England's list of insurers incorporated in Gibraltar authorised to carry out insurance contracts through a branch or service in the UK¹. That means the firm is authorised in Gibraltar and passes into the UK under those arrangements, rather than being authorised by the UK's Prudential Regulation Authority as a UK insurer.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which is the UK's compensation body for financial firms that fail, follows rules set by UK regulators, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority¹⁷. Its protection for insurance claims is not unlimited. For motor first party insurance claims, the scheme covers 90% of the claim¹⁸. That is the figure to hold on to: if the insurer failed and you had an outstanding claim on your own car, the compensation would not be the full amount.

The scheme's own guidance tells consumers to check that a provider is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority before doing business with it¹². That check is worth doing for any insurer, and it is the reason the FCA reference number for 1st Central is given in the key facts box above.

There is a separate protection worth knowing about if you hold savings as well as insurance. The scheme's temporary high balance protection applies only to your main residence and excludes buy-to-let properties or holiday homes, and general savings for a property do not qualify¹⁹. That is a savings rule rather than an insurance one, but it comes up when people are moving money around for a house purchase.

Contacting 1st Central and complaining

The contact details in your policy documents and on the 1st Central website are the ones to use. The website address on the FCA Register is www.1stcentralinsurance.com¹.

If something goes wrong, the order is fixed. Complain to the insurer first, in writing where possible, and give it the chance to resolve the problem. If you are unhappy with the outcome, or if eight weeks pass without a final response, the complaint can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free to consumers. The ombudsman service handles complaints involving cost of living pressures among many other subjects²⁰.

Consumers in Northern Ireland have an additional route through the Consumer Council, which advises making a complaint to the provider in the first instance to give it the opportunity to put things right¹³. The ombudsman service covers the whole of the UK, so the escalation route after the insurer is the same wherever you live.

Where a complaint concerns how your data has been handled, the route is different. That applies to insurance complaints about data rather than about claims handling.