There were nearly two million extra vehicle insurance policies in 2023
New data from Roy Morgan shows that there were nearly two million more vehicle insurance policies in 2023 compared to 2022.
The substantial increase in Australia’s population after the winding down of COVID restrictions has contributed to an increasing number of registered motor vehicles on Australian roads. More motor vehicles have boosted the number of vehicle insurance policies, with the number increasing by 1.6 million between October 2022 (32.1 million) and October 2023 (33.7 million).
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Base: Australians aged 18+; Nov21-Oct22, n=53,865 , Nov22-Oct23, n=53,211; Excluding ‘can’t say’ responses. *Derived from the question “Which types of (car) insurance cover do you personally have…including in your name and jointly with someone else?”
These are some of the latest findings from Roy Morgan’s Single Source insurance data derived from in-depth personal interviews conducted with over 60,000 Australians per annum.
Australians looked for a better deal for more vehicle insurance policies in 2023 than in 2022.
The increasing cost of living over the last two years is putting pressure on family budgets and driving more people to look around for the best deals on offer, although most are still deciding to renew their policies with the same company.
In the year to October 2023, 7.7% of vehicle insurance policies switched to another company (equating to 2.6 million vehicle policies), and 25.9% (equating to 8.7 million vehicle policies) were renewed after approaching another company. In total, people looked for a better deal for 11.3 million vehicle policies, up from 10.5 million vehicle policies in the year to October 2022.
Of the remaining vehicle insurance policies, in the year to October 2023, 20.3 million policies were renewed without approaching another company and 2.1 million policies were purchased by those taking out vehicle insurance for the first time (“new entrants”).
Action taken with vehicle insurance policies in the last 12 months (2022 vs. 2023)*:
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Base: Australians aged 18+; Vehicle Insurance (incl CTP) customers, Nov21-Oct23, n=53,865, Nov22-Oct23, n=53,211; Excluding ‘can’t say’ responses. *Note: There were 1.6m more policies in October 2023 compared to 12 months earlier. Considering there were 2.1m ‘new entrant’ policies in October 2023, this indicates 500,000 policies were not renewed in the 12 months to October 2023.
In 2023 an increasing number of vehicle insurance policies were purchased by new entrants taking out vehicle insurance for the first time. AAMI, Allianz and NRMA have the largest share among new entrants’ vehicle insurance policies.
In the year to October 2023, 6.3% of vehicle insurance policies were purchased by new entrants, equating to 2.1 million policies. This was an increase from 12 months earlier, when only 5.9% of vehicle insurance policies were purchased by new entrants, equating to 1.9 million policies.
Analysing the company specific data on vehicle insurance closely shows that some companies are performing better than others at securing vehicle insurance policies among new entrants. AAMI had the largest share in the 12 months to October 2023 (with 12.1% of vehicle insurance policies), ahead of Allianz (9.7%) and NRMA (8.8%). These organisations were followed by Budget Direct (8.3%), Suncorp Insurance (5.9%), and RACQ (5.8%).
New entrants – percentage of policies in 2023 by insurer
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia). Base: Australians aged 18+; Vehicle Insurance (incl CTP) customers, Nov22-Oct23, n=53,865 , Nov22-Oct23, n=53,211; Excluding ‘can’t say’ responses.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says an increasing number of Australians are ‘shopping around’ before renewing their vehicle insurance policies, but over 85% of policy holders eventually stick with the same company:
“The latest Roy Morgan data on vehicle insurance policies shows that in the year to October 2023 over 11.3 million vehicle insurance policies were at risk of being switched to another provider, up from around 10.5 million 12 months ago.
“Of the 11.3 million at risk policies in the vehicle insurance market, the large majority, around 8.7 million, were eventually renewed with the same company. However, this does leave 2.6 million vehicle insurance policies that were eventually switched.
“These figures show the number of policies at risk of being switched increased in the last year coinciding with the highest level of inflation in over 30 years and the most rapid increase in interest rates this century, up 4% points since May 2022 to 4.1% in October 2023. This appears to be leading people to monitor their ongoing costs closely.
“The data highlighted here is only a small portion of what is available from Roy Morgan on all types of vehicle insurance and can be trended over many years. The information is derived from in-depth personal interviews conducted with over 1,000 Australians per week and over 60,000 per year.
“To learn more about what drives the decisions of policy holders in the various insurance markets and how to tap into the business opportunities available for insurers contact Roy Morgan.”
To learn more about Roy Morgan’s detailed vehicle insurance data call (+61) (03) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.
Please click on this link to the Roy Morgan Online Store to view additional in-depth reports and profiles on consumer data in the finance and insurance industries.
About Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan is the largest independent Australian research company, with offices in each state of Australia, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom. A full-service research organisation specialising in omnibus and syndicated data, Roy Morgan has over 80 years’ experience in collecting objective, independent information on consumers.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
