The Motor Accident Insurance Commission’s most recent quarterly statistics reveals the following regarding Queensland’s motor vehicle accident compensation system:-
- The number of new CTP claims in Queensland is steady with about 1,600 new CTP claims being lodged by injured people who have engaged a Queensland based law firm
- 451 CTP claims were lodged directly by injured people with the CTP insurer without any legal representation which is an increase on the previous quarter
- Suncorp Insurance continues to have the largest percentage or portion of the CTP Insurance market at 43% followed by RACQ then Allianz and then QBE which has the smallest percentage of the market and by some margin
- The claims resolution statistics are quite important and revealing. The statistics are most favourable to RACQ with QBE closely in second place with Allianz and Suncorp considerably slower in achieving settlements with Suncorp in fourth place.
- The best statistics for the time period between the date of settlement to finalisation or settlement monies paid to the injured person was in favour of QBE followed by Allianz then followed by Suncorp Insurance with RACQ in fourth place
- The bulk of new claims relate to minor or minor to moderate injuries which primarily relate to whiplash injury claims
Overall, the statistics have been fairly stable.
The statistics demonstrate that Suncorp has the largest portion of the CTP insurance market and by way some margin yet it is the slowest to achieve settlements.
RACQ performed best in terms of time from claim inception to resolution but then came in fourth position from the date of resolution to paying out the claim.
Minor or minor to moderate injuries from motor vehicle accidents continue to dominate the statistics and whiplash injuries feature heavily in this portion of the CTP claim market.
The results that can be achieved for whiplash claims can vary significantly depending on the age of the injured person, the severity of the whiplash injury and the nature of the injured person’s employment.
The writer recently acted for an injured person with whiplash injuries and achieved a judgment award in excess of $450,000.00 with the highest offer made by the interstate CTP insurer prior to trial being $60,000.00. This judgment outcome serves to dispel any myth or misconception that whiplash claims are generally or always lower value claims in the order of say $20,000 to $50,000.
Whiplash injuries from motor vehicle accidents can be valuable claims with injured people being left with chronic injuries and disabilities.
Some whiplash injuries from motor vehicle accident can indeed be minor or lower value claims.
The key to determine the likely quantum or full value of the claim is to obtain quality legal advice from a lawyer or law firm with experience and expertise in this area of law.
In the last quarter, 451 people lodged claims directly with CTP insurers. In the writer’s experience, self-represented people generally achieve significantly inferior ‘in hand’ outcomes as compared with retaining a quality lawyer or law firm to act for them but of course the decision to retain a lawyer or not is entirely a matter for the injured person.
