Australia's car insurance premiums have climbed by roughly half over the past six years, and the corporate regulator has now told the industry it can no longer get away with vague renewal letters and stock "costs have gone up" explanations. For brokers, the findings matter less as a story about insurer conduct and more as a live opening to prove the value of advice at renewal time.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reviewed renewal and quote documentation from eight brands run by five of the country's largest motor insurers: AAMI and Suncorp (AAI Limited), Allianz and Territory Insurance Office (Allianz Australia), NRMA and RACV (IAG), RAC Insurance, and Youi. Together they cover roughly 72% of the comprehensive and third-party car insurance market. Not one of them gave customers a clear, specific explanation of why their premium had moved or what was driving the number on the page.
+8% rise in the year to mid-2025, on top of an already steep.
42% increase between 2019 and 2024 — a combined climb of close to 50% in six years.
$111 average rise in comprehensive premiums over the past year, to roughly $2,460, according to Canstar.
47% rise in motor claims costs since 2020, per the Insurance Council of Australia, driven by pricier parts, labour shortages, supply chain pressure and more severe weather events.
1 in 3 customers who queried their premium got a better deal without changing their cover at all.
None of the underlying cost pressures are disputed by insurers. The regulator's problem is not that premiums have risen - ASIC doesn't set or cap pricing - but how badly insurers have explained the reasons behind those rises. Commissioner Alan Kirkland pointed to renewal notices that buried instalment-payment surcharges (worth 10–20% for customers who switch to paying annually) in supplementary documents, or left them out altogether. ASIC's own consumer survey found most policyholders simply renew without contacting their insurer, on the assumption there's nothing to gain from asking.
ASIC is effectively signalling that pricing opacity has become a regulatory risk, not just a customer-service gap. It follows ASIC's Federal Court case against RACQ, which alleges the insurer misrepresented renewal comparisons on more than half a million documents over five years - the second time RACQ has faced the regulator over pricing conduct, after a $10 million penalty in 2023. IAG and QBE are also facing separate ASIC action over loyalty-discount pricing claims.
Add to that the federal government's push for an enforceable, ASIC-approved industry code and plans to mandate standard definitions in premium notices, and the direction of travel is clear: insurers will increasingly be required to explain premium movements in specific terms - climate risk loadings, reinsurance costs, claims history - rather than boilerplate.
Clients who never query a renewal are, by ASIC's own findings, disproportionately likely to be paying more than newer customers or people who push back. A broker who makes a habit of re-quoting motor cover at renewal, rather than letting it auto-roll, has a retention and new-business pitch backed by the regulator's own data. It also sharpens the contrast with direct and online channels, where that renewal-time nudge doesn't happen at all.
There's a second-order risk worth flagging. If ASIC's transparency push extends further into how comparisons are presented at renewal - which the RACQ and IAG/QBE actions suggest is plausible - brokers relying on insurer-supplied renewal figures in client advice will want to know those figures are accurate before passing them on. A misleading "last period premium," the specific conduct alleged against RACQ, doesn't stop being a problem if it's repeated in a broker's own renewal letter or advice file.
That has practical implications for professional indemnity exposure and file notes: brokers who can show they independently checked or re-quoted a renewal, rather than relying on an insurer's comparison figure at face value, are in a stronger position if a client later disputes what they were told. Given AFCA and ASIC's growing focus on renewal disclosure across the sector, this is a good moment for brokerages to review how their own systems generate and record renewal comparisons.
The Insurance Council says it's exploring ways to explain premiums more clearly, and some insurers, including Allianz, point to existing options such as reviewing excess or sum insured to help customers manage their own premium. Both are reasonable steps, but they still put the onus on the customer to ask. ASIC's findings suggest that's exactly where most of the money is being left on the table - and where brokers, rather than insurers or regulators, are best placed to close the gap.
