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Compare Car Insurance in Western Australia
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Written by
Kervin Mathew
Edited by
Ellie Garran
Reviewed by
Adrian BennettWe compare many well-known car insurers
iSelect does not compare all providers in the market or all policies offered by our partners in your area. Not all policies or special offers are available to all customers and some may only be available over the phone or on the website. Learn more.
Car insurance in Western Australia
Planning an epic long-distance drive to Wave Rock and back, or just feeling understandably anxious about merging on Perth roads? Either way, it’s reassuring to know how car insurance works in WA and what it will cover you for.
What’s driving like in Western Australia?
From reckoning with other drivers on Perth’s infamous Cockburn Road (pronounced ‘co-burn’ to the uninitiated) to traversing the scenic regional roads, car accidents can be an unfortunate reality of driving in WA. In 2023, WA recorded 158 fatalities caused by car crashes – less than Victoria and NSW, but no less a cause for concern.1Government of Western Australia – Western Australian Road Fatalities and Serious Injuries 2023, p4
What are the different types of car insurance available in Western Australia?
Comprehensive insurance
Comprehensive car insurance is the highest level of cover you can get for your car. It can help cover you for damage to someone else’s vehicle or property, as well as your own vehicle. Generally, comprehensive policies in WA will also cover your own car for vandalism, fire, theft, and some weather events like flooding or storms.
Compulsory third party (CTP)
In WA, as everywhere else in Australia, every driver is required to have CTP. You can think of it as the bare minimum car insurance. It helps provide cover if you’re ever responsible for the injury or death of another person in a car accident. It might also cover you if an accident has caused another person pain and suffering or economic loss and it may even cover your own medical bills if another driver has caused your injuries. What it won’t cover is any type of property damage. In Western Australia, you get CTP automatically when you pay or update your car’s registration.
Third-party property
Third-party property insurance can help cover damage to other people’s property or vehicles if you’re at fault in an accident. However, this type of policy isn’t designed to cover your own car or property.
Third-party fire and theft
Third-party fire and theft insurance includes everything covered by third-party property insurance, plus helps with the cost of repairing or replacing your own vehicle in the event of fire or theft.
A breakdown of inclusions in each policy
| Car insurance type | Damage to your car | Damage to another person’s car or property | Damage or loss caused by theft or fire | Injuries or death to others in an accident |
| Compulsory third party (CTP) | No | No | No | Yes |
| Third-party property | No | Yes | No | No (but covered by CTP) |
| Third-party fire and theft | No | Yes | Yes | No (but covered by CTP) |
| Comprehensive | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (but covered by CTP) |
How much does car insurance cost in Western Australia?
How much you pay each month will depend on a few different factors, like your age and driving record. You can use our interactive map below to see how the average cost of comprehensive car insurance premiums for iSelect customers in WA compares to the rest of Australia.
Helpful tip:
While newer cars with their more intricate parts can be pricier to insure, they’re less likely to break down. However, that hardly makes you immune to the elements when you’re road tripping with family through the vast expanse that is the WA outback. Think about adding roadside assistance to your comprehensive car insurance for more peace of mind.
Adrian Bennett
General Manager for General Insurance at iSelect
What kind of features can I get on my car insurance policy in Western Australia?
Once you’ve decided which level of car insurance you’re after, you can start to compare options. Car insurance policies might offer features that could either come as part of your policy or as an optional extra. Each policy’s product disclosure statement (PDS) will have all the details on exactly what that policy covers. Keep an eye out for these features:
- Towing: Having your car towed could come in handy after an accident. Your policy might include this as a feature.
- Roadside assistance: A flat tyre or overheated engine can put a big dampener on your day. With some insurance companies, roadside assistance can be added to your policy.
- Accident hire car: If your car is written off, in the shop after an accident, or stolen, your insurer could help provide you with a hire car for a certain period.
- Reduced window excess: Some insurers can offer a reduced excess or excess-free repairs or replacement if your car’s windscreen or windows are damaged.
- Personal effects cover: Your policy could cover some of the contents inside your vehicle if they’re stolen or damaged in a collision or due to forced entry.
You might also want to pay attention to the way your car will be valued if it needs to be replaced or repaired. Insurers will either look at the agreed or market value of your car (the agreed value is usually higher, but usually pushes up the price of your premium).
Are there many car thefts in Western Australia?
Let’s put it this way. Things aren’t getting much worse, nor are they getting any better. In 2023, there were 6,248 motor vehicle thefts in WA, following the 6,389 and 6,210 instances in 2022 and 2021 respectively. While lower than the 8,535 stolen vehicles in 2015, the more recent numbers translate to heaps of frustrated Westralians nonetheless.2Western Australia Police Force – Crime statistics
Car insurance in Western Australia: your frequently asked questions
If CTP is included in my registration in Western Australia, do I need other car insurance?
That’s up to you! While it’s illegal to drive without CTP in Western Australia, you get to decide whether you want anything more. Just keep in mind that even a super-safe driver can get into an accident and bust up someone else’s vehicle or property, which is why so many people opt for additional car insurance. Causing an accident with a Porsche could be a very expensive exercise if you don’t have at least third party insurance.
Have a think about whether you’d be able to repair your own car if it was damaged in an accident. If you think you might need some help footing the bill, then it might be worth looking at comprehensive car insurance. You’ll find more information about what is and isn’t covered under a specific policy in the insurer’s product disclosure statement (PDS).
What determines the cost of my car insurance premiums in Western Australia?
Though unique in its landscapes and its people, WA is not so different to the rest of Australia when it comes to how the cost of car insurance is calculated. Aside from the type of policy you choose to go with, your car insurance premiums can vary depending on statistical averages, your individual circumstances, or both.
- Your age. Younger drivers (under 25) are likely to attract higher premiums because of their lack of experience on the road. As are older motorists (70 and above) with potential age-related health conditions that could affect their judgement and reaction time in traffic.
- Your gender. Out of the 1,266 road-related fatalities recorded in Australia in 2023, 956 were male.Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication and the Arts – Road deaths Australia December 2023, p4 Case in point, insurance providers could see male drivers as a higher risk to insure and charge them higher premiums.
- Your excess. This is an out-of-pocket expense you agree to pay when you make a claim. You could see it as sharing the cost of processing said claim with your insurer. You may think that this defeats the purpose of having car insurance but paying an excess can help reduce your premiums. The higher the excess you pay, the lower your premiums are likely to be.
- Your location. Where you park your car can affect the chance of it being stolen, hit by moving traffic or disfigured by the occasional storm. In this respect, a car in a lock-up garage or under a carport is safer than one that’s parked on the street.
- Your car. What you drive matters, whether it’s a stock-standard i30 or a decked-out HiLux. Your car’s age, size, make and model, safety rating or modifications, such as aftermarket parts, can feed into repair costs and, in turn, insurance premiums.
- Your driving history. In WA, traffic infringements can lead to a disqualified or cancelled licence. This can indicate to insurers that you’re an unsafe driver and a risk to insure. So, think twice before attempting that rushed overtake on the Great Northern.
Can I choose my own repairer for car repairs after an accident?
This comes down to the terms of your policy. That being said you’re most likely to find this as an optional extra with comprehensive car insurance. It might cost you a bit more on your premium, but it could be worthwhile if more choice is important to you.
Will I be covered for off-road driving?
Some insurers cover off-road driving. However, there could be a lot of conditions attached to this concession: they might only allow it if the vehicle is specifically designed for off-road driving, and they might require that the car is only driven in conditions that follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.
As always, it’s a good idea to check the product disclosure statement (PDS) to check the terms of your policy. If the PDS doesn’t mention this information, you might need to speak to the insurer directly.
It’s also worth thinking about where you’ll be driving off-road and making sure it’s a legal off-road area. WA laws are pretty specific about where off-road driving is allowed, and if you drive outside those areas you’re unlikely to be covered by insurance.
Do people in Western Australia pay more for car insurance?
No, not based on the premiums our customers pay. For comprehensive car insurance, iSelect customers in Western Australia appear to pay less than any other state or territory. From July 2023 to June 2024, this figure came to an average of $875 a year.
How can I lower my car insurance premiums?
There are a few ways you might be able to reduce how much you pay for car insurance. These include:
- Increasing your excess: An excess is how much you agree to pay out of pocket when you make a claim. The more you agree to pay, the lower your premiums will usually be.
- Parking your car in a safe area: Some insurers may offer a lower premium if you park your car in a garage instead of on the side of the road.
- Maintaining a good record: Some insurers offer a no-claim discount on comprehensive car insurance. Generally, it means you’ll get a discount that increases each year you don’t make an at-fault claim. The discount can also max out after a certain point (such as five years).
- Installing security features: Some insurers will reduce your premium if your car has security features installed, such as alarms.
- Accepting driver restrictions: Depending on your policy, you might be able to restrict your policy to drivers over a certain age in exchange for lower premiums.
- Driving less: Certain insurers offer policies with lower premiums for people who don’t drive all that much. For example, this could include policies for people who drive less than 10,000 kilometres a year.
Does my car insurance cover damage from natural disasters, such as bushfires or floods?
It depends on your level of cover, as well as the specific terms of your policy. However, many comprehensive car insurance policies can pay for your repairs in the event of a bushfire or flood. Just bear in mind that some providers might apply a waiting period before your cover kicks in for natural disasters, so check your product disclosure statement (PDS) to see how long this waiting period lasts – or whether it applies at all.
Compare car insurance in Western Australia with iSelect
If you’ve made it to the bottom of this page, congratulations! You now know just about enough to start comparing car insurance policies in WA. Use our online tool to get quotes quickly from a range of providers.
iSelect does not compare all car insurers or policies in the market. The availability of policies may change from time to time. Not all policies available from iSelect’s providers are compared by iSelect and due to commercial arrangements, area or availability, not all policies compared by iSelect will be available to all customers. Some policies are available only from iSelect’s call centre or website. A number of our participating general insurance brands are arranged by Auto & General Services Pty Ltd ACN 003 617 909 on behalf of Auto & General Insurance Company Limited 111 586 353, both of which are related entities of iSelect Limited. Our relationship with those companies does not impact the integrity of our comparison service. Click here to view iSelect’s range of providers.
iSelect General Pty Limited ABN 90 131 798 126, AFS Licence Number: 334115. Any advice provided by iSelect is of a general nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You need to consider the appropriateness of any information or general advice iSelect gives you, having regard to your personal situation, before acting on iSelect’s advice or purchasing any policy. You should consider iSelect’s Financial Services Guide which provides information about our services and your rights as a client of iSelect. iSelect receives commission for each policy sold that is a percentage of the premium or a flat fee. Ask us for more details before we provide you with any services.
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- 1.Government of Western Australia – Western Australian Road Fatalities and Serious Injuries 2023, p4
- 2.Western Australia Police Force – Crime statistics