Green slip insurers in NSW base their prices on quite a few risk factors. Some risk factors are more important than others, such as where you live, type of vehicle and your driving history. The greenslips.com.au Calculator gives you the cheapest available price based on any increases or discounts insurers give for these risk factors.
The six green slip insurers in NSW base their prices on over a dozen risk factors. These are:
Where you live
Your vehicle
- Type of vehicle – motor car or ute/light goods vehicle
- Vehicle variant
- Age of vehicle
- Distance travelled each year
About you
- Age of vehicle owner
- Age of youngest driver
- Driving history:
- Number of years licensed
- Any demerit points
- Recent at-fault accidents
- Licence suspensions or cancellations
- Claims history:
- Other motor insurance held
- Number of at-fault claims.
Where you live
Where you live in NSW makes a big difference to the price of your green slip. There are five geographic regions. State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) rates each one for the risk of drivers having accidents and making claims there.
These are:
- Sydney metro
- Outer metro
- Wollongong
- Newcastle/Central Coast
- Country.
Your postcodes is allocated to one of these five regions. However, five postcodes are split between two of these regions. If you live in a split postcode, you need to state your suburb as well to get an accurate price:
- 2083 is metro but, eg, Mooney Mooney is Newcastle/Central coast
- 2560 is metro but Appin is outer metro
- 2750 is metro but Emu Plains and Leonay are outer metro
- 2753 is metro but, eg, Yarramundi is outer metro
- 2756 is metro but, eg, Colo is outer metro.
Your vehicle
One crucial question in the greenslips.com.au Calculator is what type of vehicle you drive – motor car or ute/light goods vehicle. The answer is not always obvious. Some large SUVs are classified as light goods vehicles, even though they look like motor cars. If you are in any doubt, check your registration notice for the code:
Motor car – CON, COU, FCV, HRS, PVF, SBS, SED, SNO, TWC, WAG.
Ute/light goods vehicle – PVS, PVW, PVN, TT, TTF, UTE, VAN.
The age of your vehicle matters because newer vehicles are more likely to have some safety features. For example, older vehicles are known to crash more often than newer ones. In the greenslips.com.au Calculator, you need to state the year of manufacture to find your make, model and vehicle variant. Even vehicle variants for the same model can be priced differently for risk.
Finally, the distance you travel in a year is another risk factor. Someone who spends more time on the road is higher risk than someone who mainly works at home. For example, men are more likely to work as technicians, truckies or tradies and cover longer distances than the 12,000 kms average every year.
About you
Your age as the vehicle owner is another risk factor. Insurers use a number of categories of age and owners aged below 27 are a particularly big risk factor.
Green slips for under 27 year olds (and for 80 year olds) tend to cost more because their chances of having a road accident are higher. While young drivers under 26 are 14% of all licence holders, they make up nearly a fifth of all road deaths and 18% of serious injuries in NSW.
Insurers also ask for the age of the youngest driver. If you are the only driver of the vehicle, you are also the youngest driver (even if you are not young).
Your driving history is one of the major risk factors. Experienced drivers with more licensed years are less of a risk than drivers on P plates:
- P1-platers are only 2.1% of all drivers but make up 20% of deaths and die at twice the rate of all drivers.
- A new P1-plater is 33 times more likely to crash than a learner, but their risk of crashing halves 6 months after they get their P1.
The number of demerit points on your licence (and the licence of any other drivers) is a risk factor. In fact, the real cost of demerit points is high because some insurers charge more for your green slip for up to 3 years.
If you had any road accidents in the last 2-5 years that were your fault, this is a risk factor. They will affect the price of your green slip for up to 5 years. Meanwhile, any drivers licence suspensions, disqualifications, cancellations or restrictions in the last 3 years is another risk factor. If any of these occurred, insurers ask if you had any drug and alcohol convictions in the last 3 years.
Finally, your history of making claims is another risk factor. If you made an at-fault claim after a road accident, this could indicate your chances of making a claim again. Insurers ask whether you hold other motor insurance because being uninsured (apart from a greenslip) is a risk factor. In fact, many people misunderstand insurance and ask why they need a green slip if they already have comprehensive insurance.
Other risk factors
While we have covered the main risk factors, there are two others worth mentioning.
First, is this the first registration? If you have moved to NSW from interstate or bought an interstate vehicle, your risk is less known to NSW insurers. For this reason, and because you need to get a blue slip and pay other fees, the first green slip and registration costs more.
Second, are you a new or existing customer? Insurers obviously need more information from a new customer to assess their risk than from an existing one. The greenslips.com.au Calculator provides all the information insurers need to know for any customer. However, if you want to renew with the same insurer, always check they are using up to date information.
Each insurer has their own ways of pricing the risk factors included in your green slips premium. The best way to find out who offers the cheapest green slip price for your situation is to use the greenslips.com.au Calculator. Then you know the price of your greenslip is the cheapest available based on increases or discounts insurers apply for all risk factors.
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