What Compensation Can You Claim After a Car Accident in Queensland?

The question most people ask after a Queensland car accident is not "should I make a claim?" — it is "what exactly can I claim, and how much is it worth?" The answer depends on whether you are pursuing statutory benefits, a common law claim, or both, and on a set of personal factors — your income, your age, the severity of your injury — that are specific to you. This guide explains the full range of available compensation and the steps that protect your entitlements from the day of the accident.

The two-track system: statutory benefits and common law damages

Queensland's Compulsory Third Party (CTP) scheme operates on two parallel tracks. Understanding the difference is the first step in understanding what your claim is worth.

Statutory benefits are available to anyone injured in a Queensland motor vehicle accident, regardless of fault. If you were the at-fault driver, a passenger, a pedestrian, or a cyclist, you can access statutory benefits from the day of the accident. Statutory benefits cover medical and rehabilitation expenses, income support if you cannot work, and a lump sum payment for permanent impairment where your injury meets that threshold.

Common law damages are available where another party was at fault and your injury is classed as "serious" under the Civil Liability Act 2003 (Qld). Common law damages are uncapped and substantially larger — they can include your full income loss past and future, all medical and care costs over your lifetime, and general damages for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. Most seriously injured people pursue both tracks. See our car accident claims page for an overview of how AMK handles each stage of the process.

Statutory benefits: what is covered

Statutory benefits are paid by the CTP insurer of the at-fault vehicle. If the at-fault driver is unidentified — such as in a hit-and-run accident — the Nominal Defendant steps in and your claim proceeds in the same way.

Medical and rehabilitation expenses

All reasonable and necessary medical expenses caused by the accident are covered. This includes hospital treatment, GP visits, specialist consultations, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology, prescription medications, surgery, and rehabilitation programs. There is no cap on medical expenses under statutory benefits, provided the treatment is reasonable and related to the accident injuries.

Income support

If your injuries prevent you from working, you can claim income support equivalent to 80% of your pre-accident weekly earnings, capped at five times the average weekly earnings. For most workers this cap is not an issue, but higher earners should note it. Income support continues for as long as you are unable to work due to your injuries, subject to periodic reassessment. Superannuation contributions are not included in statutory income support but are recoverable as part of common law damages.

Lump sum for permanent impairment

If your injuries result in permanent impairment, you may receive a lump sum payment assessed against the degree of Whole Person Impairment (WPI). The amount increases with severity. Receiving this statutory lump sum does not prevent you from also pursuing common law damages if you are eligible — the two are not mutually exclusive.

Care and assistance

If your injuries mean you need help with household tasks, personal care, or transport to medical appointments, the insurer must fund reasonable care and assistance. This includes professional carers or reimbursement for help provided by family members, valued at the market rate for equivalent services.

Common law damages: what can be claimed

If another party was at fault and your injury is serious, common law damages represent the full measure of your past and future losses. These are the categories your lawyer will build a claim around.

Past economic loss

All income lost from the date of the accident to the date of settlement or trial. This includes wages, salary, business income, superannuation, and the value of leave you have depleted. Where your employment has been disrupted or terminated, the actual earnings loss — not just the hours you could not work — is what is recoverable.

Future economic loss

Compensation for the income you will lose from settlement into the future, because your injuries permanently affect your capacity to work. This is calculated by reference to your pre-accident earning trajectory, your current and likely future restrictions, expert medical opinion on prognosis, and an actuarial discount for early receipt of a lump sum. For a person in their 30s or 40s with significant permanent impairment, future economic loss is often the largest component of a claim.

Past and future medical expenses

All medical costs not already covered under statutory benefits, and the reasonable cost of all future treatment your injuries require. This includes surgery, specialist care, physiotherapy, psychology, equipment such as wheelchairs or home modifications, and medication. Expert specialist evidence about the nature and cost of future treatment is essential — vague prognosis evidence produces smaller outcomes.

Past and future care and assistance

If family members have cared for you since the accident — driving you to appointments, assisting with personal care, taking over household tasks — that has a compensable value even if it was provided without charge. Future care needs, including professional in-home support if your injuries are severe, are claimable as a lump sum assessed against your likely future requirements.

General damages — pain, suffering and loss of amenity

This compensates you for the non-economic consequences of the accident — the pain and suffering you have experienced, the activities and relationships you have lost, and the psychological impact of living with a serious injury. General damages in Queensland are assessed using a statutory scale tied to your degree of impairment, but they can still be substantial. Psychological injuries including PTSD, anxiety, and depression that arise from the accident are compensable as general damages in their own right, not merely as incidental to a physical injury.

Not at fault, or partly at fault?

You do not need to be entirely blameless to make a claim. Queensland's CTP scheme allows for contributory negligence — meaning that even if you were partly responsible for the accident, you may still recover compensation reduced in proportion to your fault. A person assessed as 30% at fault, for example, may still recover 70% of their full damages.

Determining fault is not always straightforward. Police reports, witness statements, dashcam footage, traffic engineering evidence, and accident reconstruction can all contribute to the fault assessment. Our guide to not-at-fault car accidents in Queensland explains how fault is assessed and what evidence matters most in contested cases.

What about passengers, cyclists, and pedestrians?

Queensland's CTP scheme covers all road users — not just drivers of registered vehicles. If you were a passenger, cyclist, or pedestrian injured by a registered Queensland motor vehicle, you have exactly the same access to statutory benefits and common law damages as any driver. The CTP insurer of the at-fault vehicle handles your claim.

If you were a passenger in a vehicle whose driver was at fault, you claim against that driver's CTP insurer. There is no awkwardness in doing so — it is what CTP insurance exists for, and the driver's personal financial position is irrelevant to your entitlements.

What factors most affect the value of a claim?

Two claims arising from the same accident can produce very different compensation amounts. The key variables are:

• Severity and permanence of injury — the degree of Whole Person Impairment drives both the lump sum and the general damages assessment. A soft tissue injury that resolves in 12 months sits in a different category from a spinal cord injury with permanent neurological deficit.
• Pre-accident income — higher earners have larger economic loss claims. A professional earning $150,000 per year with a permanent 50% loss of earning capacity has a materially larger claim than someone earning $50,000 with the same functional restriction.
• Age at the time of injury — a younger person has more working years ahead of them, which substantially amplifies the value of future economic loss.
• Prognosis — specialist medical evidence about your condition in 5, 10, or 20 years determines how future loss is calculated. Accurate, pessimistic (but truthful) prognosis evidence produces larger outcomes than cautiously worded reports.
• Quality of documentation — contemporaneous records of your symptoms, treatment, and the impact on your work and daily life are the evidentiary foundation of every head of damage. Gaps in the record weaken every component of the claim.

See examples of how these factors play out in real matters in our recent CTP claim results.

Steps to protect your claim from day one

1. Seek medical attention immediately — even if you feel relatively uninjured. Soft tissue injuries, concussions, and psychological reactions sometimes do not fully present on the day. A gap between the accident and your first medical treatment is routinely used by CTP insurers to argue the injuries are not serious or not caused by the accident.
2. Report the accident to police — particularly where there are injuries, significant property damage, or a dispute about what happened.
3. Gather evidence at the scene — photographs of all vehicles, the road environment, traffic controls, skid marks, and any visible injuries. Retrieve dashcam footage immediately — it overwrites. Note names and contact details of all witnesses.
4. Lodge the Accident Notification Form within 28 days — contact the CTP insurer of the at-fault vehicle, or the Nominal Defendant if the at-fault driver is unidentified. AMK can manage this process for you at no cost.
5. Tell your doctors everything — every symptom, every restriction, every activity you can no longer perform. Medical records that understate your condition understate your claim. Do not minimise your symptoms to appear stoic.
6. Get legal advice before giving recorded statements to the insurer — CTP insurers are focused on minimising their liability. Recorded statements can be used to identify inconsistencies and reduce your claim. Speak to a lawyer first.

You can also read our step-by-step guide on what to do after a car accident in Queensland for a practical checklist from the scene to the claim.