What types of insurance do households buy?
This page gives general information. It is not financial product advice and does not take your circumstances into account.
Short answer
Most households insure their home, their belongings and their car. These are home building, home contents and car insurance. Every registered car must also have compulsory third party (CTP) insurance. This site covers these types. It does not cover life or health insurance.
Home insurance
| Type | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Home building | Repairing or replacing the house when something goes wrong. It usually also covers fixtures and other structures on the property. |
| Home contents | Replacing household items and belongings if they are damaged, lost or stolen. |
Home building and contents cover can often be bundled into one policy. Renters do not need home building insurance, because insuring the building is the landlord’s responsibility. In strata properties such as apartments, the body corporate may be responsible for insuring the building. Owners are still responsible for insuring their own belongings. Renters can choose to take out contents insurance (Moneysmart 2026b).
Car insurance
| Type | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Compulsory third party (CTP) | Injuries to people caused by your car. It does not pay for damage to cars or property. |
| Third party property damage | Damage your car causes to other people’s cars or property. It does not cover your own car. |
| Third party property, fire and theft | The same as third party property damage, plus your own car if it is stolen or damaged by fire. |
| Comprehensive | Damage to your car and to other people’s cars or property, even if you caused the accident. It also covers theft, fire and weather events. |
CTP is the only compulsory type of car insurance. You need it to register a car, and in some states it is included in the registration cost (Moneysmart 2026a).
Life and health insurance
Life insurance pays out if you die, become seriously ill or cannot work. Moneysmart names four main types. These are life cover, total and permanent disability (TPD) insurance, trauma insurance and income protection insurance. Most super funds offer life, TPD and income protection insurance to their members (Moneysmart 2026c).
Health insurance helps manage the cost of private medical expenses not covered by Medicare (Moneysmart 2026d).
Other types
Moneysmart also covers travel, pet, mobile phone and funeral insurance (Moneysmart 2026d). Its insurance guides explain how to choose and compare each type.
What this site covers
The ABS insurance price index covers comprehensive insurance for dwellings, home contents and motor vehicles, and compulsory third party insurance. Health insurance is in the Health group of the CPI, not in insurance (ABS 2025). The figures and explainers on this site therefore focus on home and car insurance.
Last reviewed 4 November 2026.