Navigating Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance can be difficult, especially if you’ve suffered significant injuries. Beach2Bush Injury Lawyers are your voice when it comes to claiming what you’re entitled to.
Our team can assist with all the guidance and advice you need to make a motor vehicle claim. Don’t be overwhelmed by the process, because we’re here to make it as stress-free as possible. It’s our goal to get you on the road to recovery faster by taking on the stress of conducting your claim while you focus on your recovery.
Everybody’s circumstances are different, but there are typically four types of compensation recoverable following a motor vehicle accident.
- Pain and Suffering – for the injury itself and the difficulties the injury has caused you.
- Medical & Rehabilitation Expenses -both past and future.
- Economic Loss – including past wage loss as well as future loss of earning capacity.
- Care Costs – for past gratuitous care provided by family and friends and future domestic care costs at commercial rates.
If you are involved in a motor accident in Queensland, follow these steps:
- Exchange information with the other party involved in the accident.
- Report the accident to police and seek medical attention.
- Take photos of the incident and your injuries.
- Get copies of any hospital admission and discharge summaries.
- Contact your motor accident lawyers for advice.
- Notify the CTP insurer of the person you consider to be at fault for the accident.
You can claim motor accident compensation without the assistance of a lawyer, but many people choose to make their legal representative their first phone call. In our experience, the CTP insurers will try to take advantage of you if you represent yourself by offering early, very low settlements. However, if you are legally represented the CTP insurer will take your claim more seriously and ultimately provide a proper offer of settlement once the necessary evidence has been gathered and the pre-court process followed.
Aside from notifying your lawyer of a potential claim, you should do the following:
- Seek medical attention and keep clear records.
- Report the incident to police.
- Submit a Notice of Accident Claim form to the CTP insurer (you have 9 months from the date of the incident or 1 month from your first discussion with a lawyer).
- Collect all relevant evidence and documentation to support your claim.
Once you have lodged your Notice of Accident Claim form with the CTP insurer of the driver at fault, the insurer must acknowledge your Notice of claim within 14 days.
The CTP insurer will then investigate the circumstances of your accident and must provide you with a decision on liability within 6 months.
Once liability has been determined, if the CTP insurer has admitted their driver was at fault, they will then require additional evidence regarding your injury and losses before they make an offer of settlement.
Straight forward CTP claims can be finalised quite quickly, but more complex matters may take some time. The CTP insurer must thoroughly investigate all claims before making a decision on the liability of their insured driver, and this can take weeks or months. Once liability is admitted, the CTP insurer will then investigate your injury and particular circumstances before they are willing to make an offer of settlement. Our goal at Beach2Bush Injury Lawyers is to finalise your claims quickly and successfully, but every case is different.
As a general guide, most CTP claims are resolved within 12-18 months of the incident.
You definitely can. The best thing to do is gather the other party’s insurance information at the time of the incident. Then, you submit the Notice of Accident Claim form to the CTP insurer. The insurer will firstly make a decision on whether they consider their insured driver to be at fault, and if the liability of their insured driver has been admitted then after thoroughly investigating your injury and associated losses, the insurer will make an offer of compensation.
It’s always very important to seek legal advice before accepting any offer made by the insurer so you can understand if the settlement offer is in the right range of damages given the injuries and losses you have sustained. If the offer isn’t acceptable, your lawyer will continue negotiations with the insurer, gather more evidence to support the claim and seek to settle your claim for an acceptable amount at the compulsory settlement conference through the pre-court process.
Lodging court proceedings only becomes necessary if a settlement of your claim cannot be negotiated through the pre-court process. Our goal is always to settle your claim during the pre-court process and in this way, we aim to reach a settlement of your claim without the additional costs associated with court proceedings.
Under the compulsory pre-court CTP scheme in Queensland, you must lodge your Notice of Accident Claim on the CTP insurer for the at-fault driver within 9 months of the date of injury or within one month of first speaking to a lawyer about your potential claim.
In addition, there is an over-riding 3 year time limit for lodging court proceedings for a motor accident claim.
You can take legal action against a person for a motor vehicle accident, however, there are strict processes to follow which are different state to state.
Each state has a CTP scheme. Regardless of what state your accident occurred, the key to making a successful claim under any state CTP scheme is establishing negligence of the driver at fault for the accident.
It’s always best to seek legal advice if you’re considering making a claim. Each state has its’ own CTP insurance scheme to provide compensation for people injured in car accidents, so if you have been injured in a motor accident the best course of action is to speak to a lawyer to understand the relevant scheme in the state the accident occurred and any time limits that apply to the making of a claim in that jurisdiction. We are here to help – give us a call and we can provide you with the information you need.