General questions

Picnic is an online insurance brand, powered by 1st Central.

That means you get Picnic’s simple, online experience, backed by 1st Central, an experienced UK insurance provider who’ve insured drivers since 2008 and now support up to 1.4 million people each year.

1st Central helps look after your policy behind the scenes, including setting it up, managing changes and renewals, and handling claims, while you manage everything day to day through Picnic.

Picnic offers straightforward, online car insurance for people who are happy to manage their policy digitally.

Picnic is part of the same family as 1st Central, who’ve insured UK drivers since 2008 and now look after around 1.4 million people each year. 

You buy your policy through a price comparison site, then manage everything through Your Account - all in one place, at a time that suits you.

An online insurance policy means you manage your insurance yourself using your online account, Your Account.

Through Your Account, you can:

 - Check and change your cover

 - View your documents

 - Make payments

 - Make a claim

Because everything is online, managing your insurance is quicker and helps keep costs down. Most everyday changes are made online via Your Account, making it easy to manage your policy at a time that suits you.

You can still call us if you need help with:

 - Making or talking about a claim

 - Payment questions

- If you need extra support

Picnic is designed to be managed online via Your Account, as that’s usually the quickest way to get things done.

You can still call for things, like:

 - Making or talking about a claim

 - Payment questions

- If you need extra support

For everything else, you'll be able to manage your policy online via Your Account. 

You may see both Picnic and 1st Central branding during your journey. That’s completely normal.

Picnic is who your car insurance is with, and it’s the brand you’ll use to manage your policy day to day.

You might also see 1st Central’s name or logo for things like claims or payments. That’s because Picnic is powered by 1st Central, who help look after your policy behind the scenes.

There’s nothing you need to do - 1st Central is part of the team supporting you and your Picnic policy.

You can manage most things quickly and easily in Your Account. You can view documents, update details like your car, address, drivers or cover, manage renewals, register and track claims, upload documents, and check any impact on your No Claims Discount. 

We're open: 

Mon - Fri: 8am to 8pm, Sat: 9am to 5pm, Sun: 10am to 2pm and Bank Holidays: 10am to 4pm

Our Christmas & New Year Opening Hours

Christmas Eve: 8am to 4pm, Christmas Day: Closed, Boxing Day: Closed, New Years Eve: 8am to 4pm and New Years Day: Closed

Claims can be registered online at any time via Your Account, and if your car is being repaired or written off, we’ll keep you updated by email or text and let you know what happens next. 

Picnic is committed to providing you with the best possible service, however, we realise there may be times when we do not meet your expectations. If you'd like to talk to us to make a complaint, the team can be reached on 0333 043 2077 from Mon - Fri: 9am to 5pm or via email on Customer.relations@1stcentral.co.uk

If you’re in an accident with an uninsured driver and it wasn’t your fault, your No Claims Discount won’t be affected and we’ll refund your excess once we’ve confirmed the details. 

We’ll need the other car’s make, model and registration number, along with the driver’s name and address. 

You might need to pay your excess and temporarily lose your No Claims Discount while we check things, but we’ll put this right once we’re satisfied the accident wasn’t your fault and the other driver was uninsured.

We offer web chat across our sales pages, within Your Account and on our Help & Support page. Look out for the purple web chat icon at the bottom right of the page.

You can use web chat to and discuss any queries you may have with our teams.

You can also make a payment if you’re in arrears, providing we already hold your payment method on your account.

Your Picnic policy includes up to a maximum of 90 days’ free cover per policy year whilst driving the insured vehicle in:

• Any country which is a member of the European Union; and
• Any country which the Commission of the Economic Community approves as meeting the requirements of Article 8(1) of the EC Directive 2009/103/EC, or as amended.

Countries include:
Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland (including Liechtenstein). 

The details
Currently you have the same level of cover you receive in the UK for 90 days whilst driving in Europe, and cover isn’t limited to one trip only. After the 90 days, if you’re still driving abroad, you’ll automatically have the minimum legal cover required for that country (usually third party only).

If you’ve already used your period of cover for this year or wish to extend your cover beyond your standard allowance, this will be subject to our underwriting criteria and you may need to pay an additional premium.

You need to let us know if you’re planning to take your car abroad, no matter how many days you plan to go away for.

You can view your Insurance Document Wording on our website here.