How to Make a CTP Claim in Queensland: The Step-by-Step Process
If you were injured in a Queensland crash that another driver fully or partly caused, the CTP claim process starts with a police report, a medical certificate, and a Notice of Accident Claim Form. The Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 (Qld) sets out the rules for the scheme, and the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC) oversees it.
This guide explains how to claim CTP insurance in QLD, step by step, or you can contact the team at WT Compensation Lawyers on 07 3924 9544.
Key Takeaways
- Five steps: The Compulsory Third Party (CTP) claim process involves reporting the accident, getting a medical certificate, identifying the CTP insurer, lodging the claim, and waiting for the insurer to respond.
- Standard deadline: Most adults must lodge the form within nine months of the crash or of when symptoms first appeared.
- Earlier deadlines: Engaging a lawyer can bring the deadline forward, and unidentified vehicles have a three-month deadline.
- Court time limit: Adults have three years from the crash to start court proceedings.
- Timeframe: Claims usually settle within 12 to 18 months, but complex claims can take longer.
Step 1: Report the Accident to Police and Get a QP Number
To make a CTP claim, you must report the crash to the police, who then issue a traffic incident number, often called a QP or QPrime number, which you’ll need for the Notice of Accident Claim Form. Separately, any driver involved in a crash where someone was injured must report it to police.
If police attended the crash but didn’t give you a QP number, you can ask for it at a Queensland police station. If nobody reported the crash, you can complete a Report of Traffic Incident to Police Form and take it to a police station. MAIC advises reporting at a police station rather than through Policelink, so you receive the QP number the claim form needs.
If you can’t get a QP number, MAIC suggests speaking with the CTP insurer of the vehicle that may have caused the crash about your options.
Step 2: See a Doctor and Get a CTP Insurance Medical Certificate
The CTP insurance medical certificate is a specific form for CTP claims. It isn’t the same as a fitness-for-work certificate you’d give your employer. A doctor must examine you in person before completing it. It records your injuries, their effects, and proposed treatment, which helps the insurer decide on rehabilitation funding.
It’s worth seeing a doctor early, even if you feel fine immediately after the crash. Whiplash and other soft tissue injuries can take days to show symptoms. Our pages on whiplash compensation and soft tissue injuries explain these injuries in more detail.
Check that the certificate includes the examination date, the doctor’s registration number, and the doctor’s initials and signature in the marked places.
Step 3: Identify the At-Fault Vehicle’s CTP Insurer
You lodge the claim with the CTP insurer of the vehicle that may have caused the crash, not your own insurer. For a Queensland-registered vehicle, MAIC’s Find a vehicle’s CTP insurer tool identifies the insurer from the registration number and the crash date.
Certain situations change where the form goes. Check whether any of these apply to your crash:
If the crash happened in Queensland but the vehicle that caused it is registered in another state or territory, your claim still falls under Queensland’s scheme.
If the crash happened in another state or territory and the vehicle that caused it is registered in Queensland, follow the claim rules of the state or territory where the crash happened. However, you still lodge the claim with that vehicle’s Queensland CTP insurer, which manages it.
The Nominal Defendant acts as the CTP insurer for vehicles that were unregistered or can’t be identified.
Step 4: Lodge the Notice of Accident Claim Form Before the Deadline
The Notice of Accident Claim Form is the CTP claim form that formally starts your claim with the insurer. For Queensland insurers, you can prepare it through the Queensland CTP Portal or complete the PDF version. Either way, you must print the completed form and sign it in person in front of an eligible witness, because it’s a statutory declaration.
The form includes a Claimant Certificate. In it, you confirm that you’re making the claim on your own initiative and state whether anyone pressured you into claiming. You’ll also attach your QP number, your CTP insurance medical certificate and, if you’re 15 or older, a certified copy of government-issued photo ID. If you don’t have photo ID, MAIC’s pre-claim checklist explains how to use a certified photo instead.
You can lodge the form before you have every detail, which helps you meet your deadline. The insurer will ask for anything missing, and it won’t treat the form as complete (or “compliant”) until you provide it. This matters because the insurer’s six-month period to decide liability only starts once the form is compliant.
Time Limits for a CTP Claim in Queensland
Queensland has two kinds of CTP claim time limits: deadlines for lodging the Notice of Accident Claim Form, and a separate limitation period for starting court proceedings. If you miss a notice deadline, you’ll need to submit an excuse for the delay. However, the insurer can still reject your claim, even if the court limitation period is still years away.
Most adults must lodge the form within nine months of the crash. If your injury wasn’t obvious straight away, the nine months run from when symptoms first appeared.
If you engage a lawyer to handle your claim, a different deadline applies. The form is due one month after your first meeting with them, and whichever deadline comes first, this one or the nine-month deadline, is the one that counts. For example, if your crash was on 1 March and you met your lawyer on 1 May, your form is due by 1 June, not 1 December.
If the at-fault vehicle can’t be identified, the form must reach the Nominal Defendant within three months of the crash. The claim is barred if the form arrives more than nine months after the crash.
The Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld) gives adults three years from the crash to start court proceedings. For children, this period rarely starts until they turn 18, so a child generally has until their 21st birthday. The notice deadlines still apply to children’s claims.
Both sides can get medico-legal reports from specialists about your injuries and any lasting impairment. The insurer can also require you to attend a medico-legal examination at its expense, and you must cooperate.
Most claims settle through negotiation once the insurer has decided liability and your injury has stabilised. Before a claim can go to court, you and the insurer need to hold a compulsory conference. If the claim doesn’t settle there, each side must make a final written offer, which you can accept or reject. If the claim still doesn’t settle, it can go to court.
Step 5: What the Insurer Must Do After You Lodge
Once you lodge the form, the insurer must respond within set timeframes. It checks whether the form is compliant and then investigates whether its insured driver is liable. MAIC’s claim processing guidance sets out these steps:
Within 14 days of your submission, the insurer tells you whether you lodged the form correctly and asks for any missing information.
Within the same 14 days, the insurer tells you whether it will pay for reasonable and appropriate rehabilitation. You can ask it to pre-approve these costs.
Within six months of your form becoming compliant, the insurer decides liability, including whether you contributed to the crash.
How Long a Queensland CTP Claim Takes
MAIC reports that Queensland CTP claims usually take 12 to 18 months to settle. Simple claims can settle in around six months, while claims involving complex injuries that need extensive treatment can take two to three years or more. Your own Queensland CTP settlement timeline depends on your injury, your recovery, and whether the insurer disputes anything.
| Stage | What happens | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance and rehabilitation | The insurer checks the form, asks for any missing details, and states whether it will fund appropriate rehabilitation. | Within 14 days of submission |
| Liability decision | The insurer decides fault and whether the crash caused your injuries. | Within six months of compliance |
| Medical stabilisation | You continue treatment until your condition stabilises, and specialists may assess any lasting effects. | Varies with the injury and recovery |
| Compulsory conference | You and the insurer meet to negotiate and, if the claim doesn’t settle, exchange written final offers. | Once the injury’s impact is clear |
| Settlement or court | You accept a settlement offer, or court proceedings follow the court’s timetable. | Usually 12 – 18 months overall; complex claims 2 – 3 years or more |
Some claims take longer than others. These factors can push a claim toward the two-to-three-year end of the range:
- Disputes: Disagreements about fault or whether the crash caused an injury usually need more evidence, such as specialist reports.
- Children’s claims: A court or the Public Trustee must approve any settlement of a child’s claim.
- Court proceedings: If the claim doesn’t settle, the court’s timetable sets the pace for the rest of the claim.
MAIC also notes that you don’t have to rush to settle, because accepting an offer finalises your claim for injuries from that crash. Our guide on how long a personal injury claim takes to settle covers settlement timing in more detail.
What You Can Claim
If someone has died in a crash, the scheme can cover reasonable funeral costs and financial support for dependants. Our page on CTP payout amounts in QLD explains amounts in more detail.
The CTP scheme covers injury-related losses when another driver was fully or partly responsible for the crash. The insurer assesses each claim individually, based on the evidence and the scheme rules. A claim can cover:
Past and future treatment costs, where the insurer considers the treatment reasonable and appropriate.
Past lost earnings and reduced future earning capacity.
Payments for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life, but only for injuries serious enough to qualify. Queensland assesses this using a scoring system called the Injury Scale Value.
Depends on the settlement amount and the costs rules in the Motor Accident Insurance Act 1994 (Qld).
When a CTP Claim Will Not Succeed
Queensland’s CTP scheme is fault-based. A claim against another driver’s CTP insurer won’t succeed if the injured person was totally at fault, or if no one was at fault, such as in a single-vehicle crash. If you were partly at fault, you can still claim, but the insurer may reduce the amount.
Insurers are also unlikely to accept claims involving vehicles that aren’t eligible for registration, such as e-bikes and e-scooters.
Serious injuries have an additional safety net. The no-fault National Injury Insurance Scheme Queensland (NIISQ) provides lifetime treatment, care, and support for eligible serious injuries from crashes on Queensland roads on or after 1 July 2016, regardless of fault.
Do You Need a Lawyer?
You don’t need a lawyer to make a CTP claim, and you can deal directly with the insurer at every stage. However, if your claim becomes complex or disputed later on, MAIC notes that legal advice may be helpful.
Common situations include:
- The insurer denies liability, or says you were partly at fault for the crash.
- The insurer accepts fault but disputes that the crash caused your injury.
- You’ve missed a deadline, or you’re close to one and still gathering documents.
- The vehicle that caused the crash was unregistered or can’t be identified.
- The claim is for a child, or for a family member who died in the crash.
- You’ve received a settlement offer before your injury has stabilised.
If you engage a lawyer, they must give you and the insurer a Law Practice Certificate. In it, the lawyer confirms two things: they haven’t been involved in claim farming, and their fees comply with Queensland’s rules. Claim farming is where someone cold-calls or pressures people into making a claim, often to sell their details to a law firm.
In some motor vehicle matters, we act on a no win, no fee basis. Our fees page explains how our costs work.
Where We Act
WT Compensation Lawyers is a 100% locally run Queensland law firm. In motor vehicle matters, we can explain which insurer a claim goes to and which deadlines apply. We can also prepare and lodge the Notice of Accident Claim Form, deal with the insurer for you, and give advice on any settlement offer. You don’t pay outlays out of pocket, and there are no lock-in contracts.
Our Brisbane head office is at Level 6, 10 Eagle Street, Brisbane City QLD 4000. We also act for clients in Cairns and on the Gold Coast and in surrounding communities, including Logan and Ipswich.
If you have any questions, you can contact us here or call our team on 07 3924 9544.
How to Make a CTP Claim in Queensland FAQs
Most adults have nine months, but earlier deadlines apply if you’ve engaged a lawyer or the vehicle can’t be identified. The Time Limits for a CTP Claim in Queensland section above explains each deadline, including the separate court limitation period.
You claim against the CTP insurer of the vehicle that may have caused the crash, not your own insurer. If you have that vehicle’s registration number, MAIC’s Find a vehicle’s CTP insurer tool can identify the insurer using the crash date.
No, Queensland CTP insurance covers injuries to people, not damage to vehicles or other property, which falls under general insurance.
A QP number is the traffic incident number police issue when someone reports a crash. The Notice of Accident Claim Form asks for it. If police attended but didn’t give you the number, you can request it at a Queensland police station.
Queensland CTP claims usually take 12 to 18 months to settle. Simple claims can settle in around six months, while claims involving complex injuries that need extensive treatment can take a few years.
In most cases, yes. The form has a section where you explain why you’re lodging late, and the insurer decides whether your reason is acceptable.
Meet Our Car Accident Lawyers
Jonathan Wu
Managing Director
Jono leads WT Law with a client-first focus, managing Queensland operations and ensuring positive outcomes.
Sinaumea Taufao
Director
Sinau began at top-tier international firm Minter Ellison, then specialised in personal injury law, driven to fight for underdogs and serve Pacific Island and broader communities.