It's a wonderful thing, freedom of choice. Now you have it when renewing your vehicle registration. Simply select your preferred CTP insurer and away you go

It's a wonderful thing, freedom of choice. Now you have it when renewing your vehicle registration. Simply select your preferred CTP insurer and away you go

CTP insurance - it's all about choice

It's a wonderful thing, freedom of choice. Now you have it when renewing your vehicle registration. Simply select your preferred CTP insurer and away you go

If you get into a motor vehicle, this is 2019's must-read. Nobody really understands how important this information is until the time comes to use it ... and that's when it's really important. Why should you care? Because there are new options for you each time you pay for motor registration. Welcome to the user's outline of SA's revised Compulsory Third Party (CTP) Insurance Scheme, active since July 1, 2019.

Whether you are new to insurance cover through motor vehicle registration or a seasoned driver, the Compulsory Third Party Insurance Scheme has changed with the times - and you; because you, the road user, helps drive the change. And, essentially, the biggest CTP Insurance benefit for you is choice.

You probably know this already but South Australia's CTP Insurance Scheme supports the recovery of people injured in motor vehicle accidents and protects motor vehicle owners (and people who use your vehicle) against the financial impact of causing personal injury to other road users. CTP insurance is attached to your registration, not your license, and you pay for it at the same time you pay for vehicle registration. Those injured in vehicle accidents and eligible to make a CTP injury claim have access to treatment and support to help them get back to work and regular life as quickly as possible after an accident, and to access compensation allowed by the law.

You may not know this, though. Now you get to choose a CTP insurer every time you purchase CTP insurance by registering your vehicle. And you can switch each time if you feel another insurer better suits your needs. Each of the four insurers' policy coverage is identical, but you get to choose based on their premium price and Claimant Service Rating. Everybody who has made a claim for an injury as a result of a motor vehicle accident is asked to participate in a survey, giving insurers a rating from 0 to 100 on the overall experience they had with the handling of their claim. These surveys are collated to determine an average, and Claimant Service Ratings are updated monthly on a rolling six-month basis. On your renewal notice, you'll see not only four current insurance premium prices, but also how the insurers currently rate.

How will you choose? The four government-approved private providers of CTP insurance in SA are AAMI, Allianz, QBE and SGIC. When you receive your registration renewal notice, there will be an updated section on your form. In this section, you choose from one of the four CTP Insurers by ticking the box for your chosen period of registration next to the insurer's name. When you have chosen your insurer and ticked the box, you pay for your registration and CTP insurance in the one easy transaction. The name of your current CTP Insurer will always be found on your registration renewal notice, under the "Your Details" section at the top-right corner. Alternatively, you can check online using the EzyReg search function "Check registration expiry date".

In a nutshell, premium prices are set by the four CTP Insurers for each premium class within a Regulator-approved price range, based on how they assess the cost of the Scheme. Premiums are only accepted if they fall at or within the premium range. The CTP Insurers can adjust their premiums as frequently as they wish by notifying the Regulator. This means that if you renew your registration (for a vehicle in the same premium class) at various times in the year, the premium might be different. The cost of the premiums is mainly driven by the number and cost of CTP claims for each premium class. CTP Insurers cannot decline your business and cannot set a premium for individual drivers.

Everybody wants more choice and here's how it came to CTP Insurance ... It started with a three-year transition from July 1, 2016. And it's a market-based model that, in those three years, saw four Government-approved CTP Insurers offering the same CTP insurance product (the compulsory Policy of Insurance) at the same price. The difference is that now the insurers will continue to offer the same CTP Policy of Insurance, but can compete on price and service. That gives you, the user, more power via your choices and lets you influence competition between CTP Insurers as they offer better service and competitive premium prices.

It makes sense that, to develop the Scheme, the Regulator consulted widely with industry stakeholders in Australia and abroad. It conducted market research with motorists and claimants over two years and worked with the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure and Service SA.

With new vehicles, automatic allocation to one of the four Government-approved CTP Insurers continues under the new Scheme. This means when you purchase a brand new vehicle, it is automatically allocated to an insurer at the lowest premium price available in the market at the time for your vehicle's premium class. And because all CTP Insurers provide the same Policy of Insurance, your cover will be the same regardless of the insurer allocated.

Nevertheless, as a brand new motor vehicle owner, you are still able to choose your own CTP Insurer. If your new vehicle has a registration of more than three months, you are able to switch from the auto-allocated insurer to a CTP Insurer of your choice from five days after registration until the end of the first three months of the policy. This can be done through your mySA GOV account, by phoning Service SA on 13 10 84, or going to a Service SA customer service centre. Changing your insurer will not change the premium price and there are no additional charges to make this change. Your policy will be transferred to your chosen CTP Insurer in the fourth month of your policy term, for the remaining period of registration. If you don't change in the first three months, you will be able to choose a different CTP Insurer next time your registration is renewed. However, if the registration period for your new vehicle is three months only, you can choose an alternative CTP Insurer when you renew your registration.

Again, this gives you, the CTP Insurance customer, more freedom of choice. CTP insurer choice is separated from the day of registration to support the continued ban on commissions or benefits to motor vehicle dealers from CTP Insurers. This ensures your choice is free from this influence.

Find out more by visiting www.YourChoice.sa.gov.au, calling the CTP Regulator on 1300 303 558, or emailing [e-mail]

Originally published as It's a wonderful thing, freedom of choice. Now you have it when renewing your vehicle registration. Simply select your preferred CTP insurer and away you go