Car insurance for 4WDs

Compare car insurance for your 4x4.

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Alexandra Koster's headshot

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Peta Taylor

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Alexandra Koster

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4.6 based on 833 reviews
5 of 8 results
Checked 22 October 2026
Finder Score Roadside Assistance Accidental damage Agreed or market value
9.2 Excellent
Agreed or Market
Summary: A great value policy with exceptional customer service. It also automatically includes roadside assistance with comprehensive policies in its price - a feature that typically costs upwards of $90 per year.
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Allianz logo
7.9 Great
Allianz Comprehensive Essentials
7.9 Great
Standalone
Market
Finder’s summary: Allianz Comprehensive Essentials is a straightforward policy covering the just basics.

Who it might be good for: This policy is ideal for drivers looking for a small but might policy.
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RACV logo
6.9 Standard
RACV Third Party Property Damage (VIC customers only)
6.9 Standard
Standalone
None
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Allianz logo
9.1 Excellent
Allianz Comprehensive
9.1 Excellent
Standalone
Agreed
Finder’s summary: Allianz is good if you want agreed value (this lets you agree on an amount to cover your car for. For a big insurer, it also has a strong customer service record.

Who it might be good for: Anyone who wants good customer service and agreed value cover.
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RACV logo
6.5 Standard
RACV Third Party Fire and Theft (VIC customers only)
6.5 Standard
Standalone
Agreed
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Key takeaways

  • Specialised 4WD insurance provides broader cover for off-road use modifications and recovery costs.
  • Explicitly tell your insurer about off-road driving or modifications to secure proper cover.
  • 4WD insurance may cost more due to risks so comparing multiple policies is essential.

Finder Score for car insurance

We analyse over 30 car insurance products across insurance providers, and rate each one for price and features. We collect up to 36 quotes per product, for male and female drivers in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia. Quotes are collected for 20 year olds, 30 year olds and 60 year olds, assuming an excess of $850 for a 2020 Toyota Corolla 4 door sedan model, with an average 15,000 kms driven each year. While we are not allowed to display actual quotes, our Finder Score aims to serve as an indicative guide to how cost and feature competitive a product might be for you.

Our feature score assesses each product for more than 15 features across loss and damage coverage, repairs and assistance coverage, personal items coverage and policy coverage. Features we assess include but are not limited to legal liability, essential repairs, new car replacement, car hire events, roadside assistance, agreed or market value, windscreen damage and natural disaster coverage.

Read the full methodology

In many cases, standard car insurance can cover 4x4s. You generally only need to consider specialised 4WD insurance if you want to go off-road or have modified your vehicle. In that case, you’ll need to get the okay from your insurer before you start adventuring.

What is covered by specialised off-road 4WD car insurance?

Specialised off-road car insurance policies are often largely equivalent to comprehensive car insurance with a few additional features. This may include:

  • Full cover anywhere in Australia
  • Comprehensive cover of accessories and modifications
  • Extended personal effects cover, to include items even while they are not necessarily inside the vehicle
  • Cover while your vehicle is in transit, including being loaded or unloaded from boats or trains
  • Includes cover of off-road recovery costs, for recovering an undriveable vehicle
  • Trailer cover, often included automatically and sometimes as an extra

Before you can get a quote, you’ll generally need to discuss it with an insurer and do a more in-depth application.

This is not only because of modifications, but also because you generally need to explicitly mention to insurers that you’ll be taking it off road, what kind of driving you do and how frequently you do it.

What additional options are there?

The optional add-ons available will vary by insurer. If you go with a regular car insurer, you can expect to see the following add-ons:

  • Additional hire vehicle cover: Lets you get a replacement vehicle if you are unable to drive your vehicle due to damage from an insured event.
  • Excess free windscreen or window glass cover: Replacement of windscreen or window glass with no excess, following an insured event.
  • Optional roadside assistance: This won’t help off road, but can still be a useful optional extra to consider.

If you opt for a specialised 4x4 insurer, the optional add-ons are a bit more tailored to off-road activities, such as:

  • Additional off-road recovery costs: Lets you choose an additional cover amount for off-road recovery, like getting stuck somewhere.
  • Higher benefit limits for hire car cover: This is because it’ll cost you more to hire a replacement 4x4.
  • Cover for modifications and accessories: You’ll have to list what modifications and accessories you have and the insurer will let you know if they’re happy to cover you.
  • Transit cover: Cover for while your vehicle is being transported, like on a boat.

Finding the best car insurance for 4x4 off-roading

Given off-roading comes with its own set of risks, it’s wise to consider insurance that accounts for this. You might like to look for policies that will:

  • Cover you for beach and off-road driving. A regular car insurer may only cover you for while you’re on the road.
  • Additional off-road recovery costs: A regular insurer may only cover recovery costs for accidents that occurred on an actual road.
  • Accept your car modifications and cover them for a higher benefit limit: If you’ve put a decent chunk of money into modifying your vehicle, a specialised 4x4 insurer can help you make sure these modifications are properly insured.

FAQs

Sources

Peta Taylor's headshot
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Publisher of Insurance
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Peta Taylor is a publisher at Finder, working across all of insurance. She's been analysing product disclosure statements and publishing articles for over 2 years. Peta is passionate about demystifying complex insurance products to help users make well educated decisions with confidence. Peta is part of Finder's insurance awards team and works alongside editorial and insights experts to bring users the best insurance products every year. See full bio

Alexandra Koster's headshot
Co-written by

Publisher

Alexandra Koster was Finder's publisher for car, home and pet insurance. She has a Tier 1 certification in General Insurance, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Film and Cultural Studies from the University of Sydney. Her hobbies include reading Product Disclosure Statements and deciphering complicated insurance lingo to help people save on their insurance so that they can spend their money on better things – like dogs. See full bio

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2 Responses

    john van's avatar
    johnFebruary 18, 2022

    we were told on the grape vine 4×4 insurance will cover 5wheeler’s we do not take our vechile off road

      James Martin's headshotFinder
      JamesFebruary 23, 2022Finder

      Hi John,

      I would strongly encourage you to speak with your insurer directly before you get behind the wheel so that you know all the types of driving your insurance will cover you for.

      Best wishes,
      James

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