Car Insurance Western Australia

What types of Car Insurance are available in WA?

Let’s begin with four types of Car Insurance available to drivers in Western Australia.

Compulsory Third Party (CTP):

In WA, and everywhere else in Australia, every driver is required to have CTP. You can think of it as bare minimum Car Insurance. This will help provide cover in case you’re ever responsible for the injury or death of another person in a car accident. It doesn’t cover any other damage, which is why many drivers will opt in to an additional level of coverage.

Third Party Property Insurance:

This form of insurance can help cover damage to other people’s property or vehicles if you’re at-fault in an accident. However, these policies aren’t designed to cover your own car or property.

Third Party Fire and Theft Insurance:

This 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.

Comprehensive cover:

This is the highest level of Car Insurance available . It can help cover you for damage to someone else’s vehicle or property, as well as your own vehicle. Most Comprehensive Car Insurance policies in WA can also cover your own car for accidental damage, fire, theft, and some weather events like flooding or storms.

In Western Australia, you’ll automatically get Compulsory Third Party Insurance, when you pay or update your car’s registration.

Do I need Car Insurance in the WA if CTP is included in my registration?

While it’s illegal to drive without CTP in Western Australia, you get to decide how much additional coverage to purchase. Even the safest drivers can get into accidents and damage someone else’s vehicle or property, which is why many people in WA will consider a form of Car Insurance.

Have you ever thought about whether you could afford to repair or replace your car if it was damaged in an accident or stolen? The table below shows what insurers will generally help cover under each level of Car Insurance. If you wouldn’t want to be responsible for paying for incidents in the “no” boxes, it could be worth shopping around for a Comprehensive Car Insurance policy. For more information about what is covered and not covered on a specific policy it’s important to review the insurers Product Disclosure Statement prior to purchasing a policy.

How much does car insurance cost in WA?

How much you pay each month will depend on a number of factors, like your age and driving record. Let’s take a look at the average annual premium for for Western Australian iSelect customers who purchased Comprehensive Car Insurance in the 2020 and 2021 financial years:

What is driving like in WA?

Between city traffic in Perth and scenic regional roads, car accidents can be an unfortunate reality of driving in Western Australia. The state has the third highest rate of fatal car crashes per 100,000 people in Australia, coming in just behind the Northern Territory and South Australia. The majority of these fatal crashes took place on regional roads rather than metro areas.

There were 6,841 car thefts in WA during 2019/2020, which comes out to about 2.95 vehicle thefts for every 1,000 registered cars on the road.

These cities had the highest rates of theft:

How do I find a Car Insurance policy in WA?

Once you’ve decided which level of Car Insurance you’re after, you can start to compare options. Car Insurance policies may offer features that could either come as part of your policy or as an optional add-on. 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 policies, roadside assistance may be able to be included.
  On top of these features, lookout for options which may enable you to reduce the premium, such as:
• Age-restricted driver: Some insurers will offer a cheaper premium if the only people covered to drive the vehicle are above a certain age, such as 30.
• No-claims bonus: A NCB is kind of like the opposite of a punch card, where some insurers will enable you to accrue discounts for not using your insurance to make a claim.
  You also may 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. This should be outlined in your policy so there are no surprises when it comes time to make a claim.

Compare Car Insurance in WA with iSelect

If you’ve made it to the bottom of this article, congratulations! You’re ready to start comparing Car Insurance policies in WA. Use our online tool to get quotes from our range of providers, or call us on 13 19 20.

Sources: 
1. https://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/consumer-protection/motor-vehicle-insurance-and-licensing
2. https://www.bitre.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/road_trauma_australia_2019_statistical_summary.pdf
3. https://www.rsc.wa.gov.au/Statistics/Latest-Statistics
4. https://carsafe.com.au/dashboard#tab1

Last updated: 27/07/2021