If you were injured in a motor accident in Queensland, you are entitled to compensation under the following Claim Items.  Claimify can advise and assist you with your Claim Valuation.

Pain and Suffering

This compensates for how the injuries have affected you, including the pain, suffering and inconvenience you experience now and in the future. The amount claimable is governed by law, taking into account the severity of your injuries and other factors.

Past Economic Loss

This includes loss of earnings (wages, salary, business earnings) you have suffered because of your injuries from the date of the accident to now. Loss of superannuation and interest can also be claimed.

Future Economic Loss

This means the loss of earnings you are likely to suffer in the future because of your injuries. In calculating this loss, we’d like to know what your future career plans were prior to the accident and how these have been impacted.  For example, you have reduced your hours, missed out on promotional opportunities, or need to look for other jobs. You can also claim future loss of superannuation.

Past Out of Pocket Expenses

This means reasonable expenses paid in the past because of your injuries, including for medical treatment, medication, travel, rehabilitation, medical aids or equipment, and services (personal care, mowing lawns, property maintenance). You can claim interest (at a prescribed rate) on the amounts you have paid yourself. If other providers (eg. Medicare, your Private Health Fund, WorkCover or other insurers, Hospitals) have already paid all or part of your expenses, we must recover these as part of your Claim and refund benefits paid to the benefit provider. It is important that we have evidence of your expenses, so please keep and upload any receipts or documents on My Documents & Expenses in ClaimHQ.

Future Out of Pocket Expenses

This means future expenses you are likely to incur because of your injuries. For example – medical treatment, medication, travel, rehabilitation, medical aids or equipment, and services (personal care, mowing lawns, property maintenance). It is helpful to have these expenses supported by evidence, often by medical professionals. We will discuss this with you during the Claim Valuation process.

Past Care

This compensates for any voluntary care you have received because of your injuries. Past care can be for personal assistance (bathing, dressing, washing), domestic assistance (cooking, cleaning, house duties), or property maintenance (mowing, gardening). We are able to recover for this time at commercial rates. Note that you must have required care services for at least 6 hours per week for 6 months to qualify for this Claim Item.

Future Care

This compensates for any voluntary care needs you are likely to require in the future because of your injuries. Future care can include for personal assistance, domestic assistance, or property maintenance. Again, this is claimable at commercial rates.

Claimify will discuss these items further with you during the Claim Valuation process.

Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance is the insurance that covers people for injuries sustained by an at fault driver of a motor vehicle. It is compulsory and paid with the vehicle’s registration.

You have 2 options:

• Recover against the Driver at Fault’s comprehensive car insurance policy
• Recover under your own comprehensive car insurance policy

Recovering against the Driver at Fault’s insurance policy

Ask the driver at fault to make a claim on their comprehensive insurance policy and provide them with a couple of quotes. Once lodged, the insurance company will liaise with you to try to agree on a payment amount. They may want to inspect your vehicle or use their own repair company to fix the damage. Remember you have the right to use your own suppliers.

Recovering under your own comprehensive car insurance policy

Consider this option if the driver at fault has no comprehensive insurance and no means of paying the damage bill. A couple of things to think about when claiming on your policy:

• Future premiums may be impacted
• No claim bonus status may be impacted
• Excess may be payable

To make a Claim, contact your insurance company who will ask you to complete the Claim Form.  They will help manage the process for you.

If neither party is insured

If neither party is comprehensively insured you will need to obtain multiple quotes for your vehicle’s repair. You should provide these to the at-fault driver, asking them to agree to pay the reasonable repair amount, in a reasonable timeframe.

If the at-fault party won’t pay for the vehicle’s repair, you will need to commence court action to obtain court orders compelling them to do so. For most claims, where the damage is $20,000 or less, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) will be the appropriate court in which to commence the action. QCAT is very user friendly: parties are encouraged to act for themselves, with helpful ‘how to guides’ available on the QCAT website. All necessary forms are also available on the website.

Your Entitlements

The Insurance Company is obliged to pay for your rehabilitation if they admit fault for your injuries. In some cases, they will agree to pay for some rehabilitation even if they deny fault or have not yet admitted it. They are obliged to make sure that you have access to reasonable and appropriate rehabilitation services.

Rehabilitation Examples

Some examples of rehabilitation are:

• Physiotherapy
• Psychological counselling
• Diagnostic services, e.g. nerve conduction studies, x-rays, scans, and MRIs
• Acupuncture and chiropractic treatment (although these are less commonly accepted by insurers)

The process

1. The Insurance Company must be satisfied that you require rehabilitation. They may require something in writing, or they may be happy to contact your Doctor directly.
2. You will need to see a Rehabilitation Provider who will prepare a Treatment Plan. When you see your Rehabilitation Provider (e.g. Physiotherapist):
   • Tell them that you are bringing a CTP Claim
   • Tell them your Claim Reference Number and which Insurance Company is involved (we will be able to tell you this information once the Claim is underway)
   • Ask them to complete a Treatment Plan and send it to the Insurance Company for approval.
3. Do not expect the Insurance Company to pay for any treatment that they have not approved in advance – they usually won’t.
4. Once the Insurance Company approves the Treatment Plan, you can start the Treatment Plan.
5. If you need further treatment, your Rehabilitation Provider will need to submit a new Treatment Plan and have it approved in the same way, before proceeding.
6. The Rehabilitation Provider will send their account directly to the Insurance Company, and this will be paid for you.
7. The Insurance Company may refuse to approve a Treatment Plan if they do not believe the treatment is necessary.
8. The Insurance Company will appoint an Injury Management Advisor or Rehabilitation Officer to oversee your recovery. This person’s responsibility rests solely with ensuring you receive the treatment you need and will have nothing to do with the compensation side of your Claim. If you have any questions about your rehabilitation, you should speak to this person.

Claimify’s Involvement

Please organise your own rehabilitation directly with the Insurance Company and your Rehabilitation Provider. This way, we can concentrate on the Claim process and keep your legal costs as low as possible.

However, we’d really like you to check in with us throughout your recovery. Your recovery means a lot to us, even though Claimify isn’t arranging your Treatment Plan.

Once your Claim has settled, we will deduct the following items from your Claim:

• Our Legal Fees
• Legal Expenses such as search fees, Treatment Provider notes, and Medical Expert’s fees that have been paid on your behalf throughout your Claim
• Refunds to organisations and government departments such as Medicare, Centrelink, Private Health funds, Workers’ Compensation or Income Protection insurer, etc., who have already paid benefits to you.

When we can, we will give you real-time estimates of these, so that you can make informed decisions regarding settlement.

To represent you, we are required by law to:

1. Give you information about our legal services and your rights
2. Enter a formal agreement with you regarding our services.

Our Engagement contains:

1. Our Disclosure Notice – informing you about your rights regarding legal costs
2. Our Engagement Details – informing you about our costs and the scope of our work
3. Our Engagement Terms – the terms on which we will act for you, including cost protection, your obligations, cooling off period, privacy, confidentiality and termination.

Insurance companies often search Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social media websites to find information about you that might impact your Claim. This information could be pictures, videos, posts, comments, stories, check-ins, or anything else that you publish online.

Check your security settings and be mindful of being tagged in posts by friends.

Sometimes, insurance companies engage private investigators to observe and record you. This is usually in an attempt to prove that your injuries are not as bad as you have claimed.

Insurance companies are within their rights to do this, provided the investigator does not trespass or threaten you.

If you believe that you are under surveillance, please let us know. It’s best to carry on with your normal activities and not to approach anyone who you believe is conducting surveillance on you.

Our goal is to resolve your claim fast. Most cases settle out of court. We will give you the best options if we are unable to reach an agreement with the insurance company.

The Insurance Company is obliged to pay for your rehabilitation, if they admit fault for your injuries. In some cases, they will agree to pay for some rehabilitation even if they deny fault or have not yet admitted it. They are obliged to make sure that you have access to reasonable and appropriate rehabilitation services.

Rehabilitation Examples

Some examples of rehabilitation are:

• Physiotherapy
• Psychological counselling
• Diagnostic services, e.g. nerve conduction studies, x-rays, scans, and MRIs
• Acupuncture and chiropractic treatment (although these are less commonly accepted by insurers)

The process

1. The Insurance Company must be satisfied that you require rehabilitation. They may require something in writing, or they may be happy to contact your Doctor directly.
2. You will need to see a Rehabilitation Provider who will prepare a Treatment Plan. When you see your Rehabilitation Provider (e.g. Physiotherapist):
   • Tell them that you are bringing a CTP Claim
   • Tell them your Claim Reference Number and which Insurance Company is involved (we will be able to tell you this information once the Claim is underway)
   • Ask them to complete a Treatment Plan and send it to the Insurance Company for approval.
3. Do not expect the Insurance Company to pay for any treatment that they have not approved in advance – they usually won’t.
4. Once the Insurance Company approves the Treatment Plan, you can start the Treatment Plan.
5. If you need further treatment, your Rehabilitation Provider will need to submit a new Treatment Plan and have it approved in the same way, before proceeding.
6. The Rehabilitation Provider will send their account directly to the Insurance Company, and this will be paid for you.
7. The Insurance Company may refuse to approve a Treatment Plan if they do not believe the treatment is necessary.
8. The Insurance Company will appoint an Injury Management Advisor or Rehabilitation Officer to oversee your recovery. This person’s responsibility rests solely with ensuring you receive the treatment you need and will have nothing to do with the compensation side of your Claim. If you have any questions about your rehabilitation, you should speak to this person.

Claimify’s Involvement

Please organise your own rehabilitation directly with the Insurance Company and your Rehabilitation Provider. This way, we can concentrate on the Claim process and keep your legal costs as low as possible.

It is important that you report the accident to the Police. If the Police weren’t at the accident scene and didn’t record all the details of the accident, please visit your nearest police station and report the accident.

We understand if you’re nervous and stuck for words when you talk to the police officer. After your online submission, we will summarise your accident in your ClaimHQ. You can take your ClaimHQ  with you to the police station to help explain what happened.

Here are some tips:

• Tell the officer that you were involved in a road accident and need to report the accident because you intend to bring a CTP Claim for your injuries
• Take your driver’s licence with you (if you have one), as well as any pictures you have from the accident.

The officer will ask you for details of the accident including:

• Your vehicle’s details
• Details of the car that caused the accident
• How the accident occurred
• Your injuries
• Details of all parties involved, including any witnesses.

Make sure you collect the following details from the Police Officer:

• Police Accident Report Reference Number (also called Traffic Incident Number)
• Date reported
• Police Officer’s name
• Police Station
• Details of any charges likely to be made.

In addition to bringing a CTP Claim, you might be entitled to benefits under the Workers’ Compensation scheme. We can provide guidance and options here when assessing your Claim.

You can still start a Claim if you can’t identify the vehicle or driver at fault. Strict Time Limits apply for these Claims so it’s important to seek help early. Keep all evidence of the accident handy (reports, documents, photos) to boost your Claim prospects.

The insurance company can argue that you contributed to the accident or your injuries, by your own actions. This can reduce the amount of compensation you receive. Typical examples are passengers not wearing seatbelts or riding in a car driven by someone under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Claimify will guide you through this during your Claim.

ClaimHQ is your personal online portal – always know what the next steps are and keep up to date with your claim on your time. On ClaimHQ you can:

• View your Claim info and status via Claim Tracker
• Action Tasks
• Update your details
• View Notes from us
• Upload documents and expense receipts
• Access FAQs
• Give us your feedback.

We understand you want to know what’s happening right now with your Claim. That’s why we send you email or SMS notices when we pass a milestone. These milestones are also displayed in real time on ClaimHQ.

Thanks for playing an active role in your Claim! ClaimHQ has a [My Tasks] tab where your tasks are listed. Please tick off each task when you finish them, so we know that we can move on with your Claim. We really do appreciate you contributing to your Claim; it helps us move your case faster and keeps our fees down.

Yes. There are important dates by which certain things must be done. The ClaimHQ [My Key Dates] tab lists these key dates for you. For more information, have a read through What Time Limits apply?

Great! Thanks for taking the time to collect documents for your Claim! ClaimHQ has a [My Documents & Expenses] section where you can upload pictures of your accident and records of your expenses.

Well, we don’t want you to accidentally delete anything either. Please email us at [email protected] and we’ll delete any files which won’t be relevant for your Claim.

The whole team at Claimify care about how you feel throughout the Claim process. ClaimHQ has a [Feedback] tab where you can leave a smiley and a comment for us. We’d love to hear how you’re feeling, or if there’s anything we can do to make things easier for you

Life goes on throughout your Claim – addresses, phone numbers and email addresses can change. You can update your contact details at ClaimHQ [My Details].

The best way for you to update details of your Claim (eg. injury updates, work changes, etc.) is to email us at [email protected].

That’s okay, lots of people have so many passwords online and it’s hard to keep track of all of them. Please email us at [email protected] and we’ll help you with this.

Tip: password managers, such as KeePass, are a great way to store lots of passwords 🙂

At the top right of ClaimHQ where it shows that you are logged in, click the box and select [Change Password].

Claimify is providing a real legal service. To provide this legal service, we need to formally validate the identity of our clients.

We need two pieces of ID from you: both must have your full name, and one must be an Australian government issued ID. For example, a Driver’s Licence and a Medicare Card are acceptable.

Other examples of government issued ID are an Australian passport or visa, Citizenship certificate, Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, Change of Name Certificate and Centrelink concession card.

Yes, you can also verify your identity in person at a post office. Click here to search for your nearest post office.

Check the address in your web browser (top left). The address should start with ‘https://’ instead of just ‘http://’. This means information sent between us is encrypted and secure.

No. Claimify needs to know the identity of the people who are using our legal services. Being a legal firm, we have professional obligations to keep your Claim confidential. If you have any specific concerns about who will know what about your Claim, please email us at [email protected].

Claimify will send out documents to you to sign online via DocuSign. We will always tell you when a document needs to be read and signed.

First, we will send you an email/SMS and a notice so you know to expect a document requesting your signature.

Second, you will receive an email with a link to the document to read and sign. Please do not forward this document to anyone else. This email has your signature credentials.

You should receive an email requesting you to view and sign a document. If you click the link to your documents, you should arrive at the screen where you can sign your documents.

Once you agree to sign the document online, the [start] button should guide you to where your signature and other input is required. Please give the document a check over before you sign them. Claimify has automated most of your forms for you, so it’s super important that you check that everything is correct and complete.

Once you have finished signing and filling in any other areas, please click the [Finish] button.  If the form requires another Signer, like a Witness, then you will receive a second email asking for a witness signature. If the form is now complete, then your form will go to Claimify’s legal team, and an email with the completed form to you, and if applicable, your Witness(es) or any other Signers.

Please email us at [email protected] and tell us what’s up. We’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible. If a form needs changing, we will send out a new form for you to sign.

Once you have signed, you will receive a second email for the Witness. Please do not forward your DocuSign emails. You will need to open this document, then change the sender. At the top right of the signing screen, there is a [MORE OPTIONS] menu where you can select [Change Signer].

Here you can type the name and email address of your Witness or new Signer, and even leave them a little message. The new Signer will then receive an email with a link to the document with their credentials.

We strongly encourage you to view and sign your documents online. Claimify is purely online and we do not keep paper records. If you are really struggling to sign online, or would prefer to not sign online, please email us at [email protected] and we can arrange something for you.

No, you don’t need to have a DocuSign account. You may choose to open an account, but that is completely up to you. You will be emailed a copy of your signed documents if you don’t have a DocuSign account.

For more information about DocuSign, click here.