Written byANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) is the independent body that crash-tests new vehicles sold in Australia and New Zealand and publishes safety ratings from zero to five stars.
Also known as: ANCAP, ANCAP rating, ANCAP safety rating, five-star ANCAP, Australasian New Car Assessment Program, 5 star ANCAP
Key points
- A rating combines crash tests, an audit of safety equipment and track tests of crash avoidance technology; the weakest area caps the overall stars.
- Every rating carries a date stamp, and the criteria get tougher every three years, so ANCAP suggests comparing ratings no older than six years.
- Many fleet and company car policies require five stars, which shapes what a business will finance or allow on a novated lease.
- Lenders do not price a car loan on the rating, but an unrated or low-rated model can cost more to insure and resell.
How ANCAP ratings work
ANCAP is backed by governments and motoring clubs on both sides of the Tasman and works to the same protocols as Euro NCAP, so a European test result can be adopted for the same model here. A vehicle is crash-tested, its safety equipment is assessed, and its collision avoidance systems are tested on the track. Ratings issued from 2026 score four areas: safe driving, crash avoidance, crash protection and what happens after a crash. Ratings from earlier years used adult occupant, child occupant, vulnerable road user and safety assist scores instead.
The overall result is limited by the lowest-scoring area, so a car cannot buy five stars with a strong body shell and weak driver assistance. ANCAP chooses which models to test, weighting sales volume, and manufacturers can ask for a model to be assessed, so a car with no rating has usually not been tested rather than failed.
Why the date stamp matters
A rating is tied to the year it was awarded and to the criteria in force then. Because the test protocols are tightened every three years, five stars from a decade ago reflect a much lower bar than five stars today, particularly on active safety features such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support that older protocols did not test at all.
ANCAP puts validity periods on ratings to limit how long a manufacturer can promote a newly built car on an old result, and recommends comparing vehicles on ratings dated within the last six years. For a used car the rating still describes that vehicle, but the date stamp tells the buyer which generation of tests it passed. The rating and its year are listed on the ANCAP website for every model it has assessed.
ANCAP in fleet and business car policies
Work vehicles are a workplace, and an employer's safety duty extends to the cars it provides. Many fleet policies, government purchasing rules and salary packaging programs require a five-star rating with a recent date stamp, and many name the specific driver assistance features they expect. That requirement filters the list of vehicles a business will buy or finance, and it applies whether the vehicle is owned outright, on a chattel mortgage or leased.
Insurers weigh safety technology in their pricing, and buyers weigh it at resale, so the rating feeds the total cost of ownership even though it never appears on a finance contract. The main trap is a variant gap: a rating can apply to some body styles or specification levels of a model and not others.
Example
A civil contractor in Traralgon rewrites its company car policy after a workplace safety review. The new rule requires a five-star ANCAP rating with a date stamp no more than six years old and autonomous emergency braking as standard. A supervisor asks for a cab-chassis variant of a popular ute that has never been rated in that body style, and the policy sends him to the rated dual-cab pickup instead. The business finances two of them on a chattel mortgage, and its insurer confirms that the standard safety package on the rated model attracts a lower premium than the unrated variant would have.
Not to be confused with
- Compulsory third party insurance (CTP)
- CTP is compulsory insurance that covers injury to others after a crash, while an ANCAP rating measures how well a vehicle protects and avoids one
Frequently asked questions
Is a five-star ANCAP rating from years ago still five stars?
The rating still describes that vehicle, but it was earned against the criteria of its year. Test protocols are tightened every three years, so an older five-star result would not necessarily score five stars today. ANCAP recommends comparing ratings dated within the last six years for that reason.
Why do some new cars have no ANCAP rating?
Because they have not been tested. ANCAP selects models for testing, weighting sales volume, and some low-volume, commercial or newly arrived models are sold unrated until it or the manufacturer arranges a test. An unrated car is not necessarily unsafe, but a fleet or salary packaging policy that requires five stars will usually exclude it until a rating is published.
Does an ANCAP rating affect car finance or insurance?
Not the finance directly: lenders assess the borrower and the vehicle's value, not its stars. Insurers do consider safety technology when pricing comprehensive cover, and a well-rated model tends to hold value better, so the rating shows up in premiums and resale rather than in the loan.
Is ANCAP the same as Euro NCAP?
They are separate organisations that use aligned test protocols. ANCAP adopts Euro NCAP results where the vehicle sold here matches the one tested in Europe, and conducts its own tests for models that differ or are not sold there. Ratings from both are expressed on the same five-star scale.
What does ANCAP test?
A series of physical crash tests covering front, side and pedestrian impacts, an assessment of the safety equipment fitted as standard, and track tests of collision avoidance systems such as autonomous emergency braking and lane keeping. Since 2026 the results are grouped into safe driving, crash avoidance, crash protection and post-crash safety.
Related terms
Fleet
A fleet is a group of vehicles owned, leased or managed by one organisation for business use, from a few utes and vans to hundreds of trucks and plant.
Read definitionNovated lease
A novated lease is a three-way car lease where your employer takes over the lease payments and deducts them from your salary, mostly before tax, while you work there.
Read definitionComprehensive car insurance
Comprehensive car insurance is the broadest level of motor cover, paying for damage to your own car as well as damage you cause to other people's property.
Read definitionTotal cost of ownership (TCO)
Total cost of ownership (TCO) is the full cost of buying, financing, running and disposing of an asset over a set period, not just its purchase price.
Read definitionCar loan
A car loan is a credit contract used to buy a vehicle: the lender provides the funds and you repay them over time with interest.
Read definitionChattel mortgage
A chattel mortgage is a business loan for a vehicle or equipment: you own the asset from settlement and the lender holds a security interest until it is repaid.
Read definitionGo deeper
Sources
This article is general information only and is not financial advice.