Compare Car Insurance Australia: Save up to 15% online

Your provider will base the cost of the insurance on the state or territory in which the car is registered, as well as your permanent address. If you drive interstate for a holiday or short-term period, your car insurance will be valid if you are in an accident.  

If you're planning on spending a lot of time away from your registered address it's a good idea to check with your insurance company to see if they have any limits on the number of days you can be out of the state and still be covered. 

Most car insurance companies operate Australia-wide, but if you are looking to compare car insurance policies specifically in your state, Mozo has the details on localised providers, including those in:

• Victoria
• New South Wales
• Australian Capital Territory
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Western Australia
• Tasmania
• Northern Territory

While you are required to register your car in the state or territory where you live to legally drive on Australian roads, car rego costs and inclusions differ between the states and territories. In some it’s a standalone cost, and in others it’s bundled together with your CTP insurance.

To find how much it costs where you live, check out our comprehensive guide to car registration costs in Australia.

While you don't necessarily need a particular type of car insurance for certain car  makes and models, there may be policies better suited to your brand of wheels.

So you can better understand the insurance costs associated with some popular car brands, we've broken down the numbers for:

• Toyota car insurance
• BMW car insurance
• Mercedes-Benz car insurance
• Mazda car insurance

We hope that this is just useful background info, but it’s important you know what to do after you’ve been in an accident and how to go about making a claim.

You’re going to need to have a few things on hand so that the claimsprocess runs as smoothly as possible. First of all, you’ll have to knowthe details of the accident including:

• the date and time
• the location of accident or incident
• other driver’s details (including the phone number and licence details)
• any witness statements / other road-users involved.
• any photo evidence
• a police report (if applicable)

The majority of car insurance providers are riding the digital wave and will allow you to lodge and keep track of your claim online. But if you prefer to keep it old-school you can just as easily call your car insurance provider up. Some are available via phone 24/7 so that you can make a claim whenever you want.

When you make a claim on your insurance, you’ll have to pay your insurance excess upfront before any repair work begins on your car. Some other expenses to be aware of after a claim could include an increase in premium the following year, or if it was an at fault accident, a possible hit to your hard-earned no claims bonus.

The ‘excess’ is the amount of money you’ll have to pay your insurance provider upfront if you make a claim. Most offer you the option to choose your own excess level or give you a certain degree of leeway. If you choose a really high excess, your premium will be cheaper but you’ll need to pay a higher amount to access your coverage when you make a claim. There are some basic excesses you might be required to pay including: 

• Age excess: This could be imposed if the driver making the claim is under the age of 25 and may be even pricier if the driver is under the age of 21. Young driver excesses can range between approximately $500 and $800, then upwards of $1,000 for unlisted young drivers. 
• Unlisted driver excess: If you want to make a claim and the driver who was involved in an accident is not listed on the policy, it is likely you'll be asked to stump up an unlisted driver excess. This amount could be in the $800 ballpark, or closer to $1,400 for younger drivers. 
• Inexperienced driver excess: If you’re over the age of 25 but you’ve held a driver’s licence for less than two years, you might still have to pay an additional inexperienced driver excess, often similar to young driver prices. 
• Windscreen excess: Some policies will provide windscreen or glass cover but charge a smaller excess than normal for you to access that particular feature. For instance, you might have a $750 excess if you’re involved in an accident but if you chip your windscreen you might only have to pay a $100 excess. Other policies will even offer excess-free windscreen cover.

A no claims bonus is a discount that is applied to car insurance policyholders who have a clean track record and haven’t made any claims against their car insurance. 

There are generally different discount tiers that apply depending on how long you’ve kept a claim-free history, but this amount can reach as high as 70% of your premium with some providers. The no claims period you’ve built up with one provider, in most cases, can be transferred to another. Keep in mind you might not be offered the same discounted rate.

When comparing comprehensive car insurance online, you’re bound to come across the terms 'market value' and 'agreed value'. We have a dedicated guide to agreed vs market car value to help you understand the difference. 

In short, market value is the amount your car would fetch on the open market while agreed value is a predetermined amount you and your insurance company agree to cover your car for. These figures become important when you make a claim or your car is written off in an accident or insured event.

While this will change slightly depending on the kind of road accident you find yourself in and who is responsible for it, there are a few general things you should remember to do. 

Firstly, stay calm, ensure anyone involved in the incident is safe and, if possible, that damaged vehicles or debris aren’t creating road hazards – put your hazard lights on as a warning to other road users if appropriate. If someone has been injured and requires medical assistance, call emergency services on 000.

The next steps involve exchanging contact and ID info with other involved parties, noting down details like the date and time and collecting evidence like photos of the damage or road conditions. If applicable, you may need to contact police to lodge a report or call animal rescue services to assist injured wildlife.

For more detailed information on specific car accident scenarios, read Mozo’s step-by-step guide on what to do if you’re involved in a car accident.

If your car is deemed a write-off, your comprehensive car insurance policy will step in and either pay out the amount you are insured for, or pay for the purchase of a new car, minus your excess.

A car is considered a write-off when the costs to repair the damage outweighs the value of the vehicle. This will be determined by your insurance provider assessors.

If you’ve recently kitted your car out with a sweet stereo system or aftermarket sunroof, you have the choice of insuring your car for these additions or not. If you don’t upgrade your comprehensive insurance and then find yourself in an accident, your claimed may be denied if the modification wasn’t listed on your policy.

Not all modifications will cause your insurance premium to increase. Some mods like an alarm system could even result in a premium reduction.

It's worth checking prior to making modifications to make sure it won’t void your car insurance. The last thing you want is to get your car detailed and find out the insurance company has a policy against insuring cars with a matt black paint job. 

Most car insurance policy quotes are worked on an annual basis. While you will have the option to pay your insurance policy in full when signing up, there might be the option to pay for the cost in monthly instalments. With some providers, this feature is offered at no extra cost, while others will include a small fee.

If you do opt for the monthly feature, it is a good idea to sign up for a direct debit so you don’t always have to remember your repayment date. There's nothing worse than going to make a claim only to find you’ve missed a payment and voided your insurance! 

The simple answer is yes, you can have a learner driver listed on your car insurance policy.

Depending on which company you go with, your child may or may not already be automatically covered. If they’re not, you will have to update your policy either online or over the phone to include them.

If you’re not sure whether your policy covers learner drivers, the safest thing to do is check. You can either give your insurance provider a quick call or read through your policy's Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).

You may have to pay a higher excess if you make a claim when a learner is in the driver's seat. This could be a learner driver excess, a young driver excess, an inexperienced driver excess or an undeclared driver excess.

If your child has their own car, it's a good idea to get it insured in their name sooner rather than later. That way they can start building up a no-claims bonus. For details, check out our full guide on learner drivers insurance.

You won’t necessarily have to take out your own car insurance policy once you get your provisional licence or Ps. This is only necessary if you purchase your own car that's registered in your name. If you’re under 25 you can usually stay on your parents' insurance policy if you are driving a family car. 

Young drivers car insurance will probably be more expensive. This is because car insurance companies typically take into account how much driving experience you have when determining the cost of your premium. Statistically, younger drivers are more likely to have accidents than older drivers, and therefore premiums go up accordingly.

One good thing about opting for your own car insurance policy – rather than just being included on your parents' – is that you’ll be able to start building up your no claims bonus policy discount. 

Of course you could just as easily lose it if you are involved in an at-fault accident, or share equal responsibility for a crash.

If you hold a comprehensive car insurance policy, it’s likely storm and hail damage is covered. Your insurance provider may apply various limits and exclusions for specific circumstances during storms to your policy, so be sure to read your policy documents carefully before assuming you’re covered across the board.

However, third party car insurance (which covers a set level of costs for damage you might cause to other peoples’ vehicle or property while driving) generally will not include cover for storm and hail damage.

If you want to learn more about how these events are covered by insurance, read this breakdown of how storm and hail damage is covered by car insurance.

Most comprehensive car insurance policies will cover your windscreen for repairs and replacements, so long as the circumstances leading to the damage are listed as insurable events under your policy. Like any other claim, there may be specific limits or exclusions for windscreen cover, so be sure to read the fine print for these details.

It’s also important to note that many policies offer $0 or significantly reduced excess levels on claims for windscreen repair and replacements (either as standard or as an optional extra for an additional cost). This means you can might be able to make a windscreen claim without having to foot such a large excess costs before the cover kicks in.

Read more about how this could impact your policy and wallet at claim time with our guide to windscreen cover and car insurance.