Private Motor Insurance. A five-minute product with two or three decisions worth getting right.

Car insurance comes in three tiers. The difference is how much of your own car is covered, because other people's property is covered in all three.

Not sure this is the right cover for you? See who this is for - this is a personal policy, not a business one.

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Buying car insurance takes five minutes online. That's not a trick; it genuinely is a simple product, and we won't pretend a broker turns it into something it isn't.

What those five minutes usually skip past is a handful of real decisions: what your car is actually insured for if it's written off, what excess you're agreeing to pay out of your own pocket, and whether the trip you took last Tuesday for work quietly changed what your policy actually covers. Get those right once, and the rest genuinely doesn't need much more thought.

What it covers

Quick answerPrivate motor insurance comes in three tiers. Comprehensive covers your own car as well as other people's property and vehicles. Third party, fire and theft covers other people's property and vehicles plus fire and theft damage to your own car, but nothing else that happens to it. Third party property only covers other people's property and vehicles and nothing of your own. This page is about comprehensive cover, since it's where the two decisions that actually change your outcome at claim time live: agreed value versus market value, and your excess.

None of this is Compulsory Third Party (CTP, sometimes called a green slip). CTP is bundled into your vehicle registration and covers injury to other people if you're at fault in an accident. It doesn't cover your car, or anyone else's property. This product is the one that does.

Agreed value means you and the insurer settle on a fixed payout figure now, and that's what you get if the car is written off, regardless of how much it's depreciated by then. Market value means the payout is whatever the insurer assesses the car is worth at the time of the claim, which is usually less than what you paid and keeps falling every year you own it. Agreed value costs more in premium. It also means no argument about what your car was worth on the worst day of owning it.

Comprehensive cover generally responds to storm, hail and flood damage to your own car, not just collisions, which is worth knowing in Queensland specifically: the 2022 South East Queensland floods alone produced almost 12,000 separate motor vehicle claims, on top of the property damage most people think of first. A written-off car in a flood is still a written-off car, and that's exactly when the agreed value versus market value decision stops being theoretical.

The excess is the amount you pay before the insurer pays anything. A higher excess lowers your premium, and that's a genuinely fine trade if you can comfortably find that amount the day something happens. It's a bad trade if you chose the highest excess on the list purely because it looked cheaper on the quote screen, without thinking about whether you'd actually have that money sitting there when you need it.

The classic gap isn't a hidden exclusion. It's a use of the car you didn't think to mention.

Under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, you have a duty to disclose anything that would genuinely affect an insurer's decision to cover you, or the terms it covers you on. Using your private car for ridesharing, food delivery, or regularly carrying tools and materials for work is exactly that kind of fact, and most private policies either exclude it outright or expect you to have told them about it. The Australian Financial Complaints Authority's own published approach to motor vehicle insurance disclosure and ridesharing confirms this directly: insurers can validly exclude cover for paid passenger or delivery use, and can rely on non-disclosure if that use wasn't declared when the policy was taken out or renewed. AFCA has also made clear the reverse is true too: if you genuinely weren't using the car for that purpose at the time of the incident, and you didn't misrepresent your use at inception, a decline isn't automatically fair just because the car has occasionally been used for work.

Where's the actual line between "still fine on a private policy, just tell the insurer" and "you need a different policy altogether"? In our experience placing this business, it comes down to one thing: an ABN. An occasional work trip, a single client visit, or driving to one fixed workplace is still private use, once you've disclosed it. Once the car is doing genuine income-earning work for a business that has an ABN, regular deliveries, job-site runs, or carrying business equipment as a matter of course, disclosure isn't the issue anymore. It's the wrong product (see Who Needs This, below).

The point isn't that using your car for work is forbidden. It's that "occasionally for work" is a sentence your insurer needs to hear, not one you get to leave out because it felt minor at the time.

How we do it differently

We're not going to claim a car policy needs the same depth of advice a commercial insurance program does; it doesn't, and pretending otherwise would be exactly the kind of overselling this site argues against elsewhere (see Why Use an Insurance Broker for the fuller case on that).

Private motor is honestly a smaller part of what we do. Most of the private car insurance we place is for people we already look after on other policies, rather than something we chase as a standalone product, and the market for everyday private motor cover is fairly narrow. We'd rather be straight about that than pretend we're the best-placed broker in the country for a car policy.

What we will do is ask the two or three questions an online quote form doesn't: what you'd actually want paid out if the car was written off, whether the excess you're picking is one you can genuinely afford at claim time, and whether anything about how you use the car, including for work, needs to be on the record. Small product, same habit.

If your car is an exotic or high-value vehicle, that's a different conversation. We have access to specialist markets built for those cars specifically, which is worth a call rather than a standard online quote.

Who needs this

This page is for anyone insuring a car, ute or SUV for personal use, including the everyday mix of commuting, family trips and the occasional work-related errand.

Where's the line between private and commercial motor cover? An ABN. If the car is used for a business that has one, doing daily job-site runs, carrying tools and materials, making deliveries, or one of a fleet of vehicles, it's a business tool, not just a private car with an under-disclosed use problem. That's when it's time for a commercial motor placement, covered on our Motor Fleet Insurance page (which also handles commercial motor for 1 to 14 vehicles), instead of a private policy stretched further than it was written for.

Common mistakes

Choosing market value to shave a small amount off the premium, without weighing up what that means the day the car is written off and the payout is less than expected, and falling every year.

Picking the highest excess on the list because it made the quote cheaper, without checking whether that amount is actually sitting in the bank account the day you need it.

Not mentioning the occasional work trip, delivery run or client visit, because it felt minor. It's exactly the kind of fact an insurer expects to be told about (see the risk section above).

What clients say

Reviewed by the people we insure.

I know it is strange to say this about an insurance company but what a pleasure CIB is to deal with. Sheryll Todd is extremely professional and a knows what she is in about. I use Sheryll for my business and private insurance and always found her to be excellent. Whether it be a new policy or a claim her attitude is the same.....professional. One of the bet parts is that you are kept informed with the progress at all times and you don't have to keep on ringing them to find out what is going on. Good on you Sheryll.

Jennie · 28/04/2025 · Brisbane (New Farm)

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Common questions

Private Motor Insurance: your questions answered

What's the difference between agreed value and market value car insurance?

Short answer: Agreed value locks in a fixed payout if your car is written off, no matter how much it's depreciated. Market value pays whatever the car is assessed as worth at claim time, which falls every year. Agreed value costs more in premium; it also removes the argument about what your car was worth.

Full answer: If you'd genuinely be upset getting only the depreciated value of your car, agreed value is usually the option worth pricing. If you'd be fine with whatever the market says it's worth, market value generally costs less in premium every year you don't claim.

Does my private car insurance cover me for work use?

Short answer: Sometimes, but only if you've told your insurer about it. Regular business use, ridesharing, deliveries, daily job-site runs, is exactly the kind of fact insurers expect disclosed under the Insurance Contracts Act 1984, and most private policies exclude undeclared business use outright.

Full answer: An occasional work trip is usually fine to disclose and keep covered. Regular business use of the vehicle generally means you need a different product altogether (see Motor Fleet Insurance).

How do I choose the right excess?

Short answer: Pick an excess you could genuinely find in your bank account on short notice, not just the highest number on the quote screen. A higher excess lowers your premium, but only helps you if you can actually afford it at claim time.

Full answer: There's no universally "right" excess; it's a trade-off between your monthly budget and your claim-time cash flow, and the right answer is personal to you.

Is it worth using a broker for something as simple as car insurance?

Short answer: Honestly, not to the same degree it matters for a business policy. Car insurance is a simpler product, and a comparison site will get most people most of the way there.

Full answer: Where a broker still adds something is asking the two or three questions the online form skips, your actual use of the car, whether your excess and value settings genuinely match your circumstances, before a claim finds the gap instead.

When do I need a business or fleet motor policy instead of a private one?

Short answer: When the vehicle is genuinely a business tool: regular deliveries, daily job-site use, or more than one vehicle used for the business. At that point private motor insurance isn't the right category of product, not just an under-disclosed version of it.

Full answer: See Motor Fleet Insurance for what changes once a vehicle (or a fleet of them) is doing real business work.

Where to go next

Get the two or three decisions right, and the rest takes care of itself.

Call now, most enquiries are settled in one conversation - or leave your details and we'll ring within 90 minutes on a new enquiry (8am–6pm Mon–Fri).