Your car insurance coverage will vary based on the level of cover you've purchased and who the provider is. Comprehensive car insurance is the highest level of cover and may cover you for things such as damage to your own vehicle, storm damage and theft. Third party policies may cover you for damage to someone else's vehicle but not your own. You can use the table below to understand the different levels of cover and what may be included in each.
The table below outlines the differences between the 4 types of car insurance you can get in Australia.
Car insurance benefits | CTP/Green Slip | Third party property damage | Third party fire and theft | Comprehensive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage to your own vehicle | No | No | No | Yes |
| Damage to someone else's vehicle (third party property) | No | Yes (for example, up to $20 million) | Yes (for example, up to $20 million) | Yes (for example, up to $20 million) |
| Weather events (storm, flood, hail) | No | No | No | Yes |
| Theft | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Hire car after theft | No | Sometimes optional | Sometimes optional | Yes (for example, $70 per day for 14 days) |
| Fire | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Personal effects | No | No | No | Yes (for example, up to $1,000) |
| Emergency transport/accommodation | No | No | No | Yes (for example, $100 per day, $900 in total) |
| Towing | No | Sometimes optional | Sometimes optional | Yes |
| Key replacement | No | No | No | Yes (for example, up to $1,000) |
| Death benefit | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Legal liability for injuries or death to other people | Yes | No | No | No |
Optional extras | CTP/Green Slip | Third party property damage | Third party fire and theft | Comprehensive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reduced or no windscreen excess | No | No | No | Yes |
| Roadside assistance | No | Sometimes optional | Sometimes optional | Yes |
| Choice of repairer | No | No | No | Yes | Hire car after accident | No | No | No | Yes |
This is the only level of car insurance that covers damage to your own car as well as other people's vehicles and property. Additionally, you'll be covered if your car is damaged by hail, fire or storm or if it's stolen or vandalised. It can also help pay for key replacements, a hire car if yours is stolen and more.
This level of car insurance covers costs if you damage someone else's vehicle or property and can pay to repair or replace your car if it's damaged by fire or stolen. However, it doesn't cover you for damage to your own car due to an accident, storm or flood.
This level of car insurance only covers you for costs if you damage someone else's vehicle or property. It won't cover repair costs for your car.
Often called Green Slip insurance, compulsory third party car insurance is mandatory for every registered driver in Australia. In many states, it's included in your car registration. It helps cover compensation costs, such as hospital expenses, if you kill or injure someone in a car accident. It won't cover your car or someone else's car.
In a cost of living crisis, it pays to compare car insurance to make sure you're not paying more than you need to. Prices can differ a lot – in fact, here's a real-life example of 2 comprehensive car insurance policies that share similar features, yet are priced $245 apart.
| Policy A | Policy B | |
|---|---|---|
| Excess | $850 | $800/$850 |
| Market or agreed value | Market value (insurer decides payout figure on date of claim) | Market value (insurer decides payout figure on date of claim) |
| Hire car after theft | Yes – up to $75/day (max 14 days) | Yes – up to $75/day (max 14 days) |
| New car replacement | Yes – if written off in first 2 years | Yes – if written off in first 2 years |
| Personal effects | $500 | $500 |
| Roadside assistance | Optional extra (not included in this premium) | Optional extra (not included in this premium) |
| Average annual cost | $1,216 | $971.72 ($244.28 less) |
"I recently went to renew my comprehensive car insurance policy when I noticed the cost had drastically increased from $598 to $800. I decided to compare some other options and now, we've found the same level of cover with a reputable and well-known insurer for just $550. That's $250 in savings!"
"When it came time to renew, I took 20–30 minutes to research other providers, put together a few quotes and went back to my current insurer to see if they'd negotiate. They were more than happy to compete and marked down their initial price to one that justified staying with them. It's really surprising how much you can save when you only need to put a small amount of time aside to compare your insurance options."
"My car insurance was up for renewal with a total increase of $537. I compared insurers on Finder and received a quote with comparable cover to my existing policy for $1,000 less. I made a few tweaks but ultimately, the policy covers everything I need and it's way more affordable."
Car insurance companies will need to know your name, address, age and gender. This is because where you live, how old you are and whether you're male or female determines how at risk of an accident you are. High crime areas, young drivers and males are all typically charged higher premiums due to their risk profile.
This includes things like if and when you've had to make a claim before and for what reason, how many demerit points you've got and how long you've held insurance for (if at all). Again, this determines your risk profile. For example, a driver with multiple speeding tickets or a history of at-fault accident claims may be seen as riskier to insure.
This will include the make, model, colour, exisiting damages and modifications. Additionally, insurers will want to know if the car is used for private or business use, the estimated kilometres you'll travel annually and if you've got a car loan. All of this will help insurers determine the value of the car.
You'll need to know level of coverage you want, what excess you're willing to pay and if you want to add on any optional extras. This lets the insurer accurately estimate the cost of your premium.
"Look around for insurers who offer sign-up discounts – this can be a great way to save! Often, the sign-up discounts will only be available if you're a new customer but that's typically no problem if you're looking at switching providers. Some offer up to 15% off which can help you save around $100 in some cases."
"If you like the look of a specific policy but it's too expensive for you, check who the underwriter is. Brands with shared underwriters have identical policies but some brands are cheaper than others. This means you can enjoy the same policy at a more affordable price point. You can find a policy's underwriter with a simple Google search or look at the product disclosure statement."
"Good to know – if your windscreen is broken and that's the only thing that's been damaged, it's not always worth making an insurance claim. This is because your excess is usually more than the cost of the repairs. To avoid this, lots of insurers let you upgrade your cover to include no-excess windscreen cover. It'll usually cost you a couple more bucks a month which is substantially cheaper than paying for the repairs yourself."
If you don't use your car that often, it can be much cheaper to get pay-as-you-drive car insurance. Alternatively, some insurers, including Budget Direct, Youi and Woolworths, reward you with cheaper premiums the less you drive. For example, if you drive less than 5,000km per year, you could save over $300 annually.
Car insurers will often have an online sign up discount for new customers. This could be in the form of 15% off or $50 off.
If you're after a cheap car insurance policy that covers the essentials, opt for a budget car insurer like Bingle. Other insurers cost more because they come with additional benefits such as cover for stolen keys, cover for personal belongings and cover for a hire car if yours is stolen.
You have to pay an excess when you make a claim on your car insurance. Choosing a higher excess when you get a quote will lower your car insurance premiums. However, it can make claiming for smaller events pointless – for example, if you have around $1,000 worth of damage but need to pay a $1,000 excess.
Most car insurers will charge you at least $200 less if you're able to pay for the full year instead of monthly.
To help you find the best car insurance, Finder's insurance team gathered 1,800+ car insurance quotes from 30 of Australia's car insurers - that's over 90% of the most popular providers. From there, we compared over 814 features and scored them to find our winners.
Budget Direct's comprehensive car insurance policy won this year's Finder Award for best value because:
Hume Bank's comprehensive car insurance policy won this year's Finder Award for features because:
We asked over 5,700 Australians across major states to rate their current car insurance provider. Youi car insurance came in first place nationally because it:
"This is one of the most common questions we're hearing from customers at the moment. A lot of people are getting to their renewal date and finding that their premiums have gone up by a couple hundred dollars – which really bites at a challenging time like this. In short, this premium increase is due to a few factors: increased parts and repair costs, increasing crime rates, natural disasters and increased claims processing costs. It's a crucial time to compare your car insurance options to see where you can save." Gary Ross Hunter, car insurance specialist.
Finder sourced 1,800+ quotes across over 30 different providers to help you compare car insurance in your state. The providers listed in the table below were the top 5 cheapest of the providers researched and reflect the estimated annual cost based on the profile used. Keep in mind, your own cost will vary depending on your personal circumstances and it's always best to compare a range of providers.
| Provider | Average price | Apply |
|---|---|---|
 | $899.86 | More info |
 | $929.28 | More info |
 | $929.28 | More info |
 | $934.75 | More info |
 | $1,079.01 | More info |
| Provider | Price | Apply |
|---|---|---|
 | $842.81 | Get quote |
| $871.90 | More info |
 | $933.57 | More info |
 | $940.92 | Get quote |
 | $1,013.17 | More info |
| Provider | Price | Apply |
|---|---|---|
| $1,155.57 | More info |
| $1,180.17 | Get quote |
| $1,247.56 | Get quote |
| $1,254.01 | More info |
| $1,280.42 | More info |
| Provider | Price | Apply |
|---|---|---|
| $709.46 | Get quote |
| $726.41 | More info |
| $782.57 | More info |
| $825.31 | More info |
| $828.74 | Get quote |
We didn't include quotes for NT and ACT because the sample size was too small.
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