Car and home
Car and home
Car and home insurance, and what the law requires.
Every registered car must have compulsory third party cover for injuries to people. Cover for the car itself, your home and its contents is optional.
Your car
Owners, and novated leases
- Compulsory third party covers injury to people, not damage to cars or property.
- Third party property covers damage you cause to other people’s cars and property. Fire and theft adds cover for your own car if it is stolen or burnt.
- Comprehensive covers your own car as well, at an agreed or a market value. A novated lease often includes it in the running costs.
Source: Moneysmart, August 2026.
Your home
Renters, owners and landlords
- Building cover repairs or rebuilds the home. Contents cover is separate and can be bundled with it.
- In a strata building, the body corporate insures the building. Check what its policy covers.
- Renters need contents cover only.
- A home you let out needs landlord cover. Its policy lists what it covers beyond home cover.
Source: Moneysmart, July 2026; insurers’ product disclosure statements.
What to know
Compulsory third party
Compulsory third party insurance by state.
Every registered car must carry compulsory third party cover for injuries to other people. How you buy it, who insures it and what it costs depend on the state.
| State | Who insures it | How you buy it | 12 months, a car in the capital | Fault |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Green Slip, from one of six private insurers | You choose and buy it before registering | About $573 to $757 (not yet confirmed) | Benefits for up to 52 weeks whatever the fault |
| Victoria | TAC, the state insurer | With your registration | $606.10 (not yet confirmed) | No-fault |
| Queensland | QBE, Allianz or Suncorp | With registration; you can switch insurer | $411.80 to $424.80, from 1 July 2026 | Fault-based; serious injuries no-fault |
| Western Australia | ICWA, the state insurer | With your vehicle licence | $520.50, 2026–27 | Fault-based; catastrophic injuries no-fault |
| South Australia | Competing private insurers | You choose at each renewal | From $274.73 (not yet confirmed) | Fault-based; very serious injuries no-fault |
| Tasmania | MAIB, the state insurer | With your registration | Up to $305, plus duty, from 1 December 2025 | No-fault |
| ACT | AAMI, APIA, GIO or NRMA, one policy | You choose at registration | $396.60 at one insurer, from 9 June 2026 | Benefits for up to 5 years whatever the fault |
| Northern Territory | MAC scheme, claims by TIO | With your registration | $607.25 (not yet confirmed) | No-fault |
Prices are for a standard private car, from each state’s published schedule. Where a schedule would not load, the price is marked not yet confirmed. CTP covers injuries to people only, never damage to cars. Source: state transport departments and third party regulators, June to July 2026.
Leased and subscription cars
Insurance on a novated lease or a subscription car.
A leased or subscribed car is insured like any other, but the policy is usually arranged for you and paid in the running costs. What happens after a write-off is where they differ.
A novated lease
Salary-packaged cars
- Comprehensive cover is usually in the lease’s running costs, paid from your pre-tax pay, or you can arrange your own.
- If the car is written off, the insurer pays your financier its market value. If you owe more than that, the difference is yours.
- GAP or total loss cover pays that difference. One provider’s pays up to $60,000, with no excess.
- GAP insurance sold as an add-on cannot be sold until 4 days after the car. It pays the lender, and the longer you hold it the less likely it pays.
Source: Moneysmart (July 2026); ASIC RG 275; Maxxia and SG Fleet published terms, September 2026.
A subscription car
Month-to-month cars
- The monthly fee usually includes registration, compulsory third party and damage cover.
- At one provider the excess is $3,000, or $5,000 for a car over $60,000, a driver under 25 or an at-fault claim in the last 3 years.
- It covers the car and damage to others’ property, not injury to you. A write-off ends the agreement.
Source: Carbar terms and conditions, September 2026. Other providers set their own.
What to know
Homes away and on the move
Insuring a home in the UK or Ireland, and your things in transit.
An ordinary home policy doesn’t cover a home you have left behind or belongings on the move. Each needs its own cover, with its own conditions.
Your home in the UK or Ireland
Owners who let or leave a home in the UK or Ireland
- In the UK, letting a home with an owner-occupier mortgage needs consent from your lender and your insurer.
- In Ireland home insurance is not a legal requirement, but a lender may require buildings cover, and landlords must insure the property.
- Many policies cut cover for theft, vandalism and escaping water once a home stands empty for 30 to 60 days. One Irish insurer also requires the water drained from November to March.
- Landlord cover adds what a home policy lacks: lost rent, liability to tenants and damage they cause.
Source: GOV.UK, How to let; the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission; insurers’ policy wordings, 2026.
Your things on the move
Moving house, or moving from overseas
- A home contents policy may cover a move only briefly, or not at all. Check the wording before moving day.
- Transit cover comes from the removalist or a separate insurer: accidental damage, or only listed events such as fire and collision. Moving your own things usually gets listed events only.
- A removalist must take due care and skill under the Australian Consumer Law, whatever the contract says.
- For a shipment from overseas, total loss cover pays only if everything is lost; all-risks cover protects each item, and boxes you pack yourself are often limited.
Source: Moneysmart (August 2026); Australian Furniture Removers Association (June 2025); Consumer Affairs Victoria; insurers’ transit wordings.
What to know