As part of your 5-minute budget, you already know how much you pay for car insurance.
You may have noticed a big increase in your bill recently. Car insurance has been hit hard by inflation, with premiums shooting up an average of 10.6% in the last 12 months.
And according to the latest Consumer Price Index Indicator, prices rose by a massive 8.2% for all types of insurance combined in the year to March 2024, the fastest rate of any consumer spending category.
It now costs a whopping $1,358 per year for comprehensive cover for the average Australian. You could be paying as much as $2,430 or even higher depending on the insurer, your age and driving history.
The average Australian can potentially save $496* per year on their comprehensive car insurance policy.
How to get cheaper car insurance
Don't simply set and forget or settle for the insurer you've seen the advert for. Compare prices from at least 4 providers.
We researched 33 comprehensive car insurance policies and found a $1,620 difference between the cheapest and most expensive providers. The cheapest policy was $496 less than the average price.
Bingle, ROLLiN', Hume and Budget Direct performed best for price. On average, all cost less than $1,000 a year. Bingle was the cheapest on average. It cost $862 per year, over half the price of the most expensive provider. (To get our average costs we used 60 different customer profiles ranging in age, gender and location.)
Finder Score for car insurance
We analyse over 100 car insurance products and rate each one on price and features. What we get out the other end is a nice round number between 1 and 10 to help you start comparing.
To make sure we're comparing apples with apples, we collect quotes for 8 different personas, then work out the value of 19 different car insurance features. Our team then does some fancy maths to get the Finder Score, taking both price and features into account.
What should I look out for with car insurance?
There are a few other ways you can lower costs.
- Choose a higher excess. In return, your insurer will offer you a lower premium. Just make sure you can afford to pay the excess.
- Restrict drivers. This is a good option if you're over 25. Several insurers will lower your premiums if you restrict your policy to drivers over a certain age. Budget Direct, for example, has the biggest range of any major insurer: 21+, 25+, 30+, 40+ or 50+.
- Low kilometre benefits. Car insurers including Budget Direct, AAMI and Everyday will lower your premiums if you drive less. There are also some new insurers, such as KOBA that let you pay by kilometre.
- Review every 12 months. Insurers like to entice us in with sign-up offers and discounts. They can be good for the first year. After 12 months though, they'll often increase your premiums substantially.
Sadly, loyalty usually doesn't pay. Review your policy every year and compare to find a better deal.
*Based on the average cost of comprehensive car insurance of $1,358 and the lowest average policy of $862 across 33 policies.
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