Motor Insurance
What is motor insurance?
Motor insurance can cover your motor vehicle against accidental damage and theft. It can also protect you from the financial costs of repairing or replacing another person’s vehicle in an accident where you’re at fault. Under a motor insurance policy, you can generally choose to insure your car for an agreed amount, or for the market value of your vehicle.
Who should consider it?
If your car is damaged in an accident where you’re at fault, having comprehensive motor insurance helps to pay for repairs – or can replace it all together if your car is written off. If your car is stolen, comprehensive motor insurance can pay you the agreed or market value, so you can buy another car. Third party property damage (TPPD) insurance – can cover the costs you may be liable to pay if you are at fault and damage or write off someone else’s car – is also available as a standalone policy. However, if you only have this cover, there’s no cover for any damage to your own car.
“More than half of Australian drivers (58%) narrowly avoid a car crash at least once a month, while 18% of drivers said they experienced close calls on a weekly basis.”
Australian Road Safety Foundation, 2017
56,184
56,184 motor vehicles were stolen in 2016/2017.
(carsafe.com.au, 2017)
$541.3m
$541.3 million was the cost of motor vehicle theft in the financial year 2016/2017.
(carsafe.com.au, 2017)
1/5
1/5 of car owners risk not having the insurance they need because they don’t read their policy document.
(Insurance Council of Australia, 2017)
What can it cover?
Motor insurance provides you with extensive protection if your vehicle suffers loss or damage. And, unlike some other policies, motor insurance automatically includes some additional benefits with your cover.
The exact cover you can receive depends on the policy that you take out. But to give you an idea, here are some of the benefits a motor insurance policy may include:
| Potential benefits | |
|---|---|
| Cover to help repair or replace your vehicle if it’s damaged or stolen. | Cover for the cost of a rental car for up to 14 days, if your car is stolen. |
| Cover to help you pay for damage you cause to another person’s vehicle. | For financed cars, cover for 50% of the difference of the finance gap between the insured value and the vehicle’s contract residual value following a total loss. |
| A replacement of the same make and model if your new vehicle is written off within three years and has less then 60,000 kilometres. | An automatic 21 days cover on replacement vehicles. |
| Choice of your own repairer or one from our preferred repairer panel. | Up to $30 million of legal liability cover. |
| Repair guarantee for materials and workmanship on authorised repairs. | The option to include one excess free windscreen claim per year. |
| Re-keying and re-coding of vehicle keys if they are stolen. | The option to include hire car cover following an accident. No additional excess except for young or inexperienced drivers if they are named. |