Australia’s most popular vehicles are also among the least expensive to insure, with widely sold SUVs and high-volume passenger cars often attracting lower premiums than lower-volume or luxury models, according to industry data and experts.
Youi Insurance’s 2025 figures show the prevalence of SUVs in Australian motor books. The insurer reports that SUVs accounted for 44% of all car insurance quotes last year, a two percentage point increase on 2024, consistent with broader sales trends.
Medium SUVs from large brands account for a significant share. Mazda’s CX-5 recorded 22,742 sales in 2025, Mitsubishi’s Outlander reached 22,459, and Nissan’s X-Trail logged 15,708 sales, with these models together representing about 40% of Youi’s motor insurance claims over the year. Toyota’s LandCruiser and RAV4 – the latter being the brand’s highest-volume model in 2025 – also appeared on Youi’s list of frequently insured vehicles. Subaru’s Forester, which posted 15,179 sales between January and December 2025, was similarly among Youi’s most insured SUVs.
According to Youi, the most commonly insured SUVs in 2025 included the:
The insurer notes that the models are not listed in order of volume and that the data is intended as a general guide.
Industry commentators say the concentration of risk in widely driven models has direct implications for pricing. “Generally, popular cars could have lower insurance premiums. This is because their ubiquity may mean a greater supply of replacement parts available locally, resulting in cheaper insurance costs. [Additionally], there is more data for insurers to calculate risk factors,” Compare the Market spokesperson Henry Man told Drive. Man also noted that popularity alone does not guarantee lower pricing. “If one popular model has a consistently high number of claims, it could potentially drive up premiums, so it depends on a variety of factors,” he said.
Finder personal finance and insurance specialist Taylor Blackburn pointed to theft and crash statistics as additional inputs to rating. “A popular car can cost less to insure because parts and repairs are often cheaper, but some of these cars have higher rates of theft and accidents, leading to higher rates of claims,” Blackburn told Drive. In Victoria, which records some of the country’s highest vehicle theft numbers, widely owned Toyota models including the LandCruiser, RAV4, HiLux, and Prado were among the most stolen vehicles last year, illustrating the interaction between exposure and frequency.
Although SUVs now dominate the Australian vehicle mix, high-volume sedans and hatchbacks continue to form a core part of motor portfolios and can, in many cases, be comparatively inexpensive to insure. A Compare the Market spokesperson told Drive in July 2025 that passenger models from long-established manufacturers are often priced more competitively because of broad parts availability and extensive repair networks. “Some of the country’s most common car models – such as the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Camry, and Mazda 3 – are well known on our roads, but a lesser-known advantage is that they could sometimes be cheaper to insure as well,” the spokesperson said, adding that both safety performance and repair profiles are closely monitored. “Vehicles with a good track record of being safe on our roads with lower repair costs will likely see cheaper quoted insurance premiums,” they said.
Even where popular models help moderate individual premiums, structural cost pressures are pushing motor insurance pricing upward. The Insurance Council of Australia’s (ICA) insurance industry snapshot 2025 reported 18 million motor-related policies in force and $14 billion in motor-related claims in 2024. From 2019 to 2024, the average motor claim increased by 42%. Key drivers included higher new-vehicle prices, the rising cost of parts and labour, and the increasing complexity of in-vehicle technology. Over the same period, insurers and repairers faced capacity constraints: in 2024, there were around 28,000 vacancies in trades and blue-collar roles, including shortages of panel beaters, mechanics, and vehicle painters, contributing to longer repair times and higher costs.
Despite these pressures, the Australian general insurance market remains competitive. Around 30 insurers write home, contents, and motor business, allowing motorists to compare cover, adjust excess levels, and manage premium outcomes. From 2019 to 2024, smaller players increased their share of the motor insurance market from 37% to 43%, while their share of the home insurance segment rose from 38% to 43%. Capacity has also remained available in regions exposed to natural perils. In the Townsville region, 11 insurers continue to offer cover despite four extreme weather events over four years. For insurance professionals, the combination of high-volume mainstream models, rising claims severity, labour constraints, and ongoing competition points to continued focus on pricing sophistication, repair network management, and close monitoring of loss experience across the country’s most commonly driven vehicles.
