A state average is a useful map, not a quote. Two careful 2026 studies of comprehensive car insurance in Australia put the typical annual premium somewhere in the low thousands, then split by more than $800 in Victoria and by about $500 in South Australia. Both can be right. They are not pricing the same cars, the same excess or the same drivers.
This rewrite replaces vague ranges with the figures those studies actually published, names the source on every number, and says plainly where a number does not exist. It also gives South Australia a proper section. People search for car insurance in South Australia, and a national table is not an answer.
If you only need to know which policy type to buy, read third party versus comprehensive car insurance. If you are mixing up the compulsory injury scheme with the optional policy, read CTP versus third party versus comprehensive. The dollars below are comprehensive market premiums, not registration and not compulsory third party (CTP).
What a state average is, and is not
When comparison sites say "average car insurance", they almost always mean comprehensive cover: repair or replacement of your car, plus damage you cause to other people's property, usually with theft, fire and weather if the product disclosure statement (PDS) includes them. They do not mean the CTP charge on your registration.
Three different methods show up in search results, and they should not be blended:
Quote averages. Canstar and CHOICE collect insurer quotes for set driver profiles, then average them. The car, age, suburb sample and excess are fixed by the researcher, not by you.
Self-reported spend. A 2021 survey run by one of the comparison websites asked people what they paid. That mixes comprehensive and cheaper policies, and it relies on memory.
Old tables reused by other sites. A 2021 survey can still rank for "average car insurance prices by state" in 2026. Treat the date as part of the number.
Your premium moves with age, claims, the car, kilometres, overnight parking, listed drivers, agreed or market value, excess and extras such as a hire car. A state average ignores most of that. Use it to see whether a renewal is high for your state. Then get quotes.
The two 2026 tables worth using
Canstar, published 8 June 2026
Canstar's figure is the average annual comprehensive premium in its 2026 Car Insurance Star Ratings. The sample includes quotes for new and used cars across a range of scenarios, with a state target excess of $800 to $1,000. The research says the work used more than 56,000 quotes. The national average in that set is $2,460. The average of its 5-star rated policies is $1,809, a gap of $651, or 26%. That gap is not a promise that you will save $651. It is the difference between two averages inside the same database.
The research also says the national average rose 5%, or $111, over the previous ratings year. The Australian Capital Territory is not in this state table. Do not invent an ACT number to fill the blank.
State or territory | 2025 ratings average | 2026 ratings average | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
New South Wales | $2,676 | $2,792 | +$116 (+4%) |
Queensland | $2,112 | $2,169 | +$57 (+3%) |
Victoria | $3,101 | $3,293 | +$192 (+6%) |
South Australia | $2,069 | $2,145 | +$76 (+4%) |
Western Australia | $2,148 | $2,208 | +$60 (+3%) |
Tasmania | $1,880 | $2,014 | +$134 (+7%) |
Northern Territory | $2,425 | $2,577 | +$152 (+6%) |
Australian Capital Territory | Not published in this table | Not published in this table | Not published |
National | Not shown as a paired figure | $2,460 | +5% or +$111 on the national comparison |
Source: Canstar, "Car insurance costs rev up as drivers urged to change gears", 8 June 2026. Comprehensive policies in the 2025 and 2026 Car Insurance Star Ratings. Target excess $800 to $1,000.
An older page from the same publisher, sourced 27 May 2025, published a different 2025 column (Victoria $2,940, South Australia $1,970, national $2,226). That was an earlier ratings cut. Do not mix it with the June 2026 year-on-year table.
CHOICE, quotes collected July 2026
CHOICE's map, updated 13 August 2026, uses thousands of market-representative quotes for 34 policies, collected in July 2026. Quote counts per product ran from up to 82 in the ACT to more than 2,800 in Queensland. It standardises excess so a policy with a low default excess is not punished. These averages sit below the star-ratings figures in every state both studies publish.
State or territory | Average comprehensive quote, July 2026 |
|---|---|
Victoria | $2,420 |
New South Wales | $2,034 |
Northern Territory | $2,027 |
Queensland | $1,736 |
Western Australia | $1,718 |
South Australia | $1,644 |
Australian Capital Territory | $1,609 |
Tasmania | $1,389 |
Source: CHOICE, "The cheapest car insurers in every Australian state", updated 13 August 2026. Text version of its map. Quotes collected July 2026.
The same article says car insurance prices rose 8% in the last financial year, almost four times inflation. That is a claim about the market, not a figure from the table above. Check the article if you need the inflation comparison.
Why the gap is the point
In Victoria, Canstar's 2026 star-ratings average is $3,293 and CHOICE's July quote average is $2,420. In South Australia the pair is $2,145 and $1,644. In Tasmania it is $2,014 and $1,389. Neither study is wrong to publish its number. They asked different questions.
If a renewal email quotes a single "average" without a date, a sample car or an excess, it is not one of these studies. The often-cited comparison-website survey of self-reported spend is from 2021 and covered 1,501 people. It put average spend at $101.70 a month, or $1,220.40 a year, with New South Wales at $1,440 a year and South Australia at $1,238.40. The ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory were grouped because the sample was small. That is what some households said they paid four years ago. It is not a 2026 quote average.
State by state
In each state below, "the star-ratings research" means Canstar's June 2026 study and "the July quote data" means CHOICE's. The 5-star averages come from the first. The price scores, and the quote ranges for cheaper policies, come from the second.
Rankings are stable even when the dollars are not. In both 2026 tables, Victoria is the dearest state published and Tasmania is the cheapest. South Australia sits in the cheaper half of the star-ratings list and near the cheaper half of the July quote list. The Northern Territory is dear on both, which is easy to miss if you only remember "the big states cost more".
Victoria
Canstar puts the 2026 comprehensive average at $3,293, up $192, or 6%, on its 2025 ratings figure of $3,101. That was the largest dollar rise in that state table. CHOICE's July 2026 average quote is $2,420, still the highest on its map.
The star-ratings research points to car theft, citing the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA). The ICA's 4 June 2026 release, using Insurance Statistics Australia data, is specific. From 2024 to 2025, Victorian motor theft claims rose 25% and incurred costs rose 37%. The state's bill was $243 million across more than 12,500 claims, higher than the combined total of the other states in that analysis. Metropolitan Victoria had 10,400 claims totalling $205 million. Theft-claim frequency in metro areas rose from 0.35% to 0.46% of comprehensive policies.
The same release says theft claims fell in Western Australia (15%), South Australia (14%) and Queensland (12%), and edged down 1.6% in New South Wales. Nationally, theft claims rose 2.5% to 29,000, with incurred costs of $485 million. Take Victoria out and the ICA says the rest of the analysed states would have shown a fall. Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory were not in that theft comparison. Do not stretch the Victorian story to them.
Inside Victoria, the average quotes for the cheapest-on-average policies in the July quote data ranged from $1,118 to $1,632. The average 5-star premium in the star-ratings research was $2,458, which is $835 under that study's Victorian market average. Both gaps describe the researchers' samples. A driver in a high-theft suburb, or a household with a young listed driver, can sit above either average.
The star-ratings research also hands out state outstanding-value awards. In 2026 one insurer won in Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia, and another won in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. Those are price-and-features awards inside that research method, not findings that the winner is cheapest for every driver in those states.
New South Wales
Canstar's 2026 average is $2,792, up $116, or 4%, from $2,676. CHOICE's July average is $2,034. The ICA described New South Wales theft-claim volumes as relatively stable, down 1.6% after a 3.7% rise the year before. Theft is not the whole premium. Repair labour, parts and the cost of a hire car while a vehicle is in the shop still flow into NSW prices, as they do everywhere.
In the July quote data, the policies with the highest NSW price scores had average quotes ranging from $1,230 to $1,557. The 5-star average in the star-ratings research was $1,991, $801 under that study's NSW market average, the second-largest dollar gap in that switching table.
NSW is also the state where the compulsory injury policy is a separate green slip, bought before registration. That green slip is not inside the comprehensive averages above. The split is covered in CTP versus third party versus comprehensive.
Queensland
Canstar has Queensland at $2,169 in 2026, up $57, or 3%, the smallest dollar rise in its table alongside Western Australia. CHOICE's July average is $1,736. The ICA said Queensland motor theft claims fell 12%, which it called the state's largest percentage decrease on record. A falling theft count does not freeze premiums. Repair costs and catastrophe claims still sit in the price.
In the July quote data, the average quotes for the policies with the leading Queensland price scores ranged from $1,067 to $1,381. The 5-star average in the star-ratings research was $1,750, a smaller gap to that study's market average ($419, or 19%) than in Victoria or New South Wales. Shopping around still matters, but this dataset says the spread is tighter.
The July quote study also notes that at least one national brand does not insure cars in Queensland, South Australia or Tasmania. If a comparison page seems to be missing an insurer you expected, it may be distribution, not a data error.
South Australia
South Australia is not a footnote on a national chart. Canstar's 2026 comprehensive average is $2,145, up $76, or 4%, from $2,069 in its 2025 ratings. CHOICE's July 2026 average quote is $1,644. Use those two labelled figures. Do not average them into a third number, and do not treat the 2021 self-reported figure of $1,238.40 from a comparison website as the current SA premium.
The star-ratings research put the average 5-star policy in South Australia at $1,573, $572 under its SA market average, a 27% gap inside that study. In the July quote data, the three policies with the highest SA price scores had average quotes ranging from $937 to $1,405. Read that range carefully. It is the average quote for the cheaper policies in that price scoring, not the cheapest price every Adelaide driver will be offered, and not a cap.
One insurer appears in both write-ups, in different jobs. It won the star-ratings outstanding-value award for South Australia, and it had the highest price score in the July SA quote set. Price score is not the same as a cover score. The July study rates cover separately, across dozens of policy features, and says the cheapest policy is not automatically the one to buy. Read the PDS for hire car, choice of repairer, new-for-old replacement and what happens with an unlisted driver.
Theft pressure in this ICA dataset moved the other way from Victoria. South Australian motor theft claims fell 14% from 2024 to 2025. That is consistent with SA not topping either premium table. It does not mean an SA renewal cannot rise. The star-ratings research still recorded a 4% increase in its SA average.
Where you live inside the state still changes the quote. One comparison website's South Australia guide, updated 18 February 2025, does not publish a state average. It says premiums move with age, claims and driving history, the car, the excess, and location, including whether the car is garaged and whether you live in a higher-traffic area such as Adelaide and nearby suburbs. This article does not add suburb dollar figures. Nobody in the sources above published a verified Adelaide-versus-regional premium split, so any such split would be invented.
CTP is a second bill. In South Australia it is part of registering the car, overseen by the CTP Insurance Regulator. It pays for injuries under the scheme rules. It does not pay to repair your car or anyone else's. Insurers on the approved panel compete for that CTP policy. The benefit design is regulated, which is not the same thing as a single price. This guide does not quote an SA CTP dollar premium: the regulator's pages could not be re-checked while this draft was written, and a CTP premium must not be mixed into the comprehensive averages. Confirm the current approved insurers and the premium on ctp.sa.gov.au before you add it to the household budget.
The July quote study notes that South Australia has a local motor-association insurer, as do Western Australia, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria, and the Northern Territory has its own territory insurer. Those local insurers are not in every national star-rating table. If you want a local insurer in the mix, ask the South Australian motor association directly rather than assuming a national comparison has priced it.
Registration, stamp duty and dealer delivery are separate again. They belong in the on-road cost of buying, which is set out in drive-away versus list price and in hidden ownership costs. A sharp comprehensive premium does not make a dear stamp-duty bill smaller.
Western Australia
Canstar's 2026 average is $2,208, up $60, or 3%. CHOICE's July average is $1,718. The ICA recorded a 15% fall in WA motor theft claims, the largest percentage drop among the states it compared. The 5-star average in the star-ratings research was $1,675, $533 under that study's WA market average.
In the July quote data, the policies with the highest WA price scores had average quotes ranging from $763 to $1,277. One of the top three was the local motor-association insurer, so a national-only comparison can miss it.
Distances in WA change the kilometres you should declare. The star-ratings research's separate saving scenarios, below, show why an honest kilometre figure matters. Do not understate kilometres to chase a lower premium. The same research warns that going over the nominated limit can bring an extra excess.
Tasmania
Tasmania is the cheapest state in both 2026 tables: $2,014 on Canstar and $1,389 on CHOICE. It also had the steepest percentage rise in the star-ratings table, $134, or 7%, from $1,880. Cheap relative to Victoria is not the same as flat.
The 5-star average in the star-ratings research was $1,505, $509 under that study's market average. In the July quote data, the leading price scores went to four policies, two of them sold by banks, and the study says three related bank brands sell the same cover at the same price. Average quotes for the policies it scored above 80% ranged from $860 to $1,260.
The ICA theft release used for Victoria did not report Tasmania. Do not infer a theft rate from the premium. Lower averages have several possible causes, including claim frequency, the cars in the sample and repair costs. This article does not pick a cause the sources did not publish.
As noted for Queensland, at least one national brand does not insure cars in Tasmania. Tasmania also has its own local motor-association insurer.
Australian Capital Territory
Canstar's June 2026 state table does not publish an ACT comprehensive average. CHOICE does: $1,609 in the July 2026 quote set, the second-lowest figure on its map, ahead of only Tasmania.
In that July quote data, the two policies with the highest ACT price scores had average quotes ranging from $793 to $1,370. The ACT sample is the thin one in that study, with as few as 82 quotes per product, against more than 2,800 in Queensland. Treat the ACT average as directional. A small sample moves around when the suburb mix changes.
The ACT's compulsory injury scheme is Motor Accident Injuries insurance, not a line inside a comprehensive policy. Details sit in the CTP guide.
Northern Territory
The Territory is the clearest warning against "small place, small premium". Canstar's 2026 average is $2,577, second only to Victoria, up $152, or 6%, from $2,425. CHOICE's July average is $2,027, essentially level with its NSW figure of $2,034 and well above Tasmania.
The 5-star average in the star-ratings research was $1,797, $780 under that study's market average, a 30% gap and the largest percentage gap in that table. In the July quote data, the highest price scores were shared by three policies, one of them from the Territory's own insurer, with two national policies close behind. Average quotes for policies scored above 80% ranged from $1,510 to $1,860. A comparison that only shows the big national brands is incomplete for Darwin or Alice Springs drivers.
The ICA theft figures cited above did not include the Northern Territory. High NT premiums in these two studies are real as published averages. The cause is not established in the sources used here. Do not borrow the Victorian theft explanation.
Age moves the price more than most state borders
Canstar's 2026 age table is national, not state by state. It is still the cleanest published picture of why two neighbours pay different amounts.
Driver profile | 2025 ratings average | 2026 ratings average | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
Under 25, female | $2,830 | $2,833 | +$3 (about 0%) |
Under 25, male | $3,157 | $3,158 | +$1 (about 0%) |
25 to 29 | $2,279 | $2,367 | +$88 (+4%) |
30 to 49 | $1,682 | $1,841 | +$159 (+9%) |
50 and over | $1,316 | $1,451 | +$135 (+10%) |
Source: Canstar, 8 June 2026. Same star-ratings method as the state table. Target excess $800 to $1,000.
Under-25 premiums barely moved in this cut, and they remain the highest. The dollar pain in 2026 landed on drivers aged 30 to 49, up $159. Drivers 50 and over had the largest percentage rise, 10%, and still pay the least in this table. The research says the age gap narrowed. It did not close. An under-25 male average of $3,158 is more than double the 50-plus average of $1,451.
There is no verified under-25 table by state in the sources fetched for this article. Do not apply the national youth average on top of the Victorian state average and call it a quote. Insurers do not add averages together.
For a first car, the premium is part of the purchase decision, not a bill you discover later. The same is true when you weigh a new car against a used one: insurance sits beside fuel, service and depreciation. The shortlist in best first cars for P-platers should be quoted with the real learner or provisional driver listed. A cheap car with a high premium can cost more to own than a slightly dearer car the insurer prices calmly.
What else changes the premium, without a fake dollar example
Insurers price the car as well as the person. A common family SUV, a performance model and an older hatch do not share parts prices or theft risk. Electric vehicles can cost more to repair, which is why our cheapest electric cars guide tells buyers to check insurance before they treat lower energy costs as pure savings. Running-cost comparisons belong in petrol versus hybrid versus electric and cheapest cars to run. Those guides do not replace a quote on the VIN you are about to buy.
Agreed value and market value diverge as the car ages. Market value follows what the car would sell for. Agreed value is the amount on the schedule, and it usually costs more. For a financed car, the question is whether a total loss clears the loan. The policy-type choice is in third party versus comprehensive. This cost guide does not pretend a 12-year-old car "should" be insured for a particular premium.
Excess is the amount you pay on a claim. A higher excess usually lowers the premium and raises the cash you need on the day of the crash. Canstar says lifting an excess from $600 to $1,000 could save as much as $400 a year in some cases. "As much as" means the top of the cases it looked at, not a typical SA or Victorian result.
Kilometres work the same way. The same research says cutting a declared 15,000 kilometres a year to 10,000 could save as much as $200 in some cases, and cutting to 5,000 could save as much as $400. Exceeding the number you declared may trigger an extra excess. Declare the distance you actually drive, including the highway run to visit family.
Paying annually rather than monthly is the least glamorous lever. That research also found 62% of providers offer a discount for paying yearly, and says switching to annual could save around $300 a year on average. If cash flow forces monthly payments, the premium was not really the lower number.
Its survey of more than 6,700 insured drivers found 28% had never changed provider. Loyalty is not priced as a reward in these datasets. The renewal is the moment the state average is useful: if the offer sits well above both published figures for your state, for a driver who is not young and a car that is not exotic, get two more quotes before you accept it.
How to compare without fooling yourself
Match the quote to the life you actually live.
Use the same drivers, including P-platers and learners who will drive the car. Leaving a household driver off the policy to cut the price can void a claim.
Use the same kilometres, the same overnight parking and the same use. Private, commuting and business use are not interchangeable.
Use the same excess, or write the excess next to every premium so a cheap quote is not just a $2,000 excess in disguise.
Decide market value or agreed value before you compare. A lower agreed value makes a policy look cheaper and pays less if the car is written off.
Get at least three quotes. Include a national brand, and check whether your state's motor-association insurer will quote. In the Northern Territory, include the Territory's own insurer.
Read the PDS for exclusions you are likely to hit: undeclared modifications, commercial use, a hire car only after certain claims, and a requirement to use the insurer's repairer.
Add CTP and registration as separate lines. The comprehensive premium is not the cost of keeping the car legal. On-road costs and the CTP explainer cover those bills. Service and fuel sit outside insurance too: car service costs and, for a new car, average new-car prices.
A worked example with invented premiums would look precise and be useless. The published ranges already show the spread. CHOICE's July work found the average quote on cheaper policies and the state average far enough apart that a single insurer's renewal is weak evidence of the market. Canstar's 5-star gaps run from $419 in Queensland to $835 in Victoria. Your saving is the gap between the quotes you hold, not the gap in a table.
What this guide will not do
It will not tell you the premium for your car. It will not rank suburbs. It will not convert a comprehensive average into a third party property premium, a CTP charge or a registration fee. It will not treat a 2021 survey as a 2026 price.
If a tool, a comment or another article offers a neat premium by suburb without naming the sample date, the excess and the driver, ignore it. The honest next step is a quote, read against the PDS, with the state table used only as a sense check.
Sources and figures we would not verify
Numbers in the tables come from pages fetched for this article:
Canstar, 8 June 2026, car insurance costs article, including the state, age and 5-star tables.
CHOICE, updated 13 August 2026, cheapest car insurers by state, including the July 2026 map averages and the price-score ranges.
Insurance Council of Australia, 4 June 2026, motor theft claims release.
A comparison website's 2021 self-reported spend survey of 1,501 people, cited on its average-cost page. Included only to show why older "averages" in search results are lower.
The same comparison website's South Australia car insurance guide, updated 18 February 2025, for the list of pricing factors. It does not give a current SA dollar average.
Left out on purpose:
No ACT figure from the star-ratings table, because it does not publish one.
No SA CTP premium, and no list of approved SA CTP insurers. Confirm both on ctp.sa.gov.au. The regulator site presented a bot check when this draft was checked.
No secondary comparison-website "cheapest in SA" dollar ranking. Those pages use their own driver profile and were not re-fetched line by line.
No suburb, postcode or example-driver premiums. The previous version of this article used illustrative ranges that were easy to mistake for quotes. They are withdrawn.
The ICA theft comparison did not cover Tasmania, the ACT or the Northern Territory. No theft explanation is offered for their premiums.