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                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

              SECTION 302 CERTIFICATION BY CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

I, Stephen J. Harrison, Chief Executive Officer of First Acceptance Corporation,
certify that:

1.         I have reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K of First Acceptance
      Corporation;

2.         Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue
      statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
      make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
      statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
      this report;

3.         Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
      information included in this report, fairly present in all material
      respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of
      the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.         The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I are responsible
      for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal
      control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
      13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:

           (a)        Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                  caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed
                  under our supervision, to ensure that material information
                  relating to the registrant, including its consolidated
                  subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
                  entities, particularly during the period in which this report
                  is being prepared;

           (b)        Designed such internal control over financial reporting,
                  or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be
                  designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable
                  assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and
                  the preparation of financial statements for external purposes
                  in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;

           (c)        Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure
                  controls and procedures and presented in this report our
                  conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls
                  and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this
                  report based on such evaluation; and

           (d)        Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's
                  internal control over financial reporting that occurred during
                  the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's
                  fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that
                  has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially
                  affect, the registrant's internal control over financial
                  reporting; and

5.         The registrant's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed,
      based on our most recent evaluation of internal control over financial
      reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the
      registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent
      functions):

           (a)        All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in
                  the design or operation of internal control over financial
                  reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
                  registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report
                  financial information; and

           (b)        Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                  management or other employees who have a significant role in
                  the registrant's internal control over financial reporting.

Date: September 13, 2005

                                                 /s/ STEPHEN J. HARRISON
                                                 -------------------------------
                                                 Stephen J. Harrison
                                                 Chief Executive Officer