Overview
Introduction
Compulsory third party (CTP) insurance in Queensland provides financial protection for motorists in the event of a motor vehicle crash. It also delivers fair and timely access to rehabilitation for people who are injured. It is conveniently bundled with vehicle registration to ensure that all registered Queensland motorists receive this important protection.
At the Motor Accident Insurance Commission (MAIC), we regulate CTP insurance in Queensland to ensure it meets these objectives. This year, we continued to review and improve our adherence to our core objectives. Read on to learn more.
Highlights from 2022-2023
During the 2022–23 financial year, we:
- achieved Australia’s first prosecution for claim farming resulting in $1M in fines issued
- commenced a review of Queensland’s CTP insurance scheme to ensure its sustainability while preserving its excellent fairness and affordability
- invested in research and initiatives that aim to reduce the incidence and effects of road trauma
- continued to improve the experience of managing CTP insurance claims, most notably through our online treatment plans and injury coding assistant
- celebrated the tenth anniversary of PCYC Queensland’s Braking the Cycle program which has supported thousands of learner drivers to obtain their driver licence
- commenced a series of CTP claims forums for industry partners to improve the experience of CTP insurance claimants
- renewed five-year funding agreements for Metro North Hospital and Jamieson Trauma Institute and the Road Safety Data Bureau within the Department of Transport and Main Roads
- collaborated with stakeholders including at the BiiG 2023 conference, Australian Lawyers Alliance Queensland Conference 2023 and Queensland Law Society Symposium 2023.
On the horizon
In the year ahead, we will:
- improve our CTP insurer supervision framework to respond to changes in the market
- support a smooth and stable transition of RACQ Insurance’s CTP insurance policies to other insurers
- complete the Scheme review 2023 report and implement any approved actions
- progress the next phase of our innovation journey, exploring cloud-based architecture solutions
- continue to support research and initiatives that reduce the incidence and effects of road trauma
- finalise and promote new CTP Claimant Experience: Guiding Principles together with industry
- increase information security through enhancing our services and encouraging industry adoption of ISO 27001
- improve and automate the way we monitor and manage data quality.
Stay in the loop
Explore our graphs below to learn more about our scheme’s performance.
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Affordability
Delivering the second-lowest CTP insurance premiums in Australia
Affordability level
The affordability level (21.1 per cent) compares the annual CTP premium with the Queensland weekly average wage.
In 2022-23, CTP insurance premiums remained consistent to offer stable and affordable insurance to Queensland motorists.
CTP premium breakdown
The overall CTP insurance premium comprises levies and a fee that fund services for people who are injured in motor vehicle crashes. It also includes an insurer’s premium that is used to meet the expected costs of claims, as well as insurer expenses and profits for administering claims.
Insurer market share
During 2022-23, the market for CTP insurance in Queensland had four operators: Suncorp, Allianz, QBE and RACQ Insurance. In July 2023, RACQ Insurance (RACQI) signaled their intention to leave Queensland’s CTP scheme, effective 1 October 2023. At that time, they held about one-quarter of CTP policies. MAIC will continue to work closely with insurers and the Department of Transport and Main Roads to support a smooth redistribution of CTP policies and to ensure people who have claims with RACQI are not affected.
New registrations through motor dealers
Motorists select their CTP insurer when they purchase a new or used vehicle through the motor dealer.
Number of motorists switching insurers
While the number of motorists that are actively comparing and choosing their CTP insurer has increased in the past several years, it is still a small proportion of the overall number of motorists.
motorists switched insurers in the last month.
Nominations to switch insurer
Some motorists elect to switch insurers during the term of their policies or when their policies are due for renewal. There has been an ongoing trend in motorists switching away from Allianz and QBE and moving to RACQI or Suncorp. With RACQI’s upcoming exit from the scheme on 1 October 2023, the number of policies switching insurers may show a large increase over the next 12 months.
Efficiency
Balancing claimant benefits with scheme delivery costs
The efficiency of a CTP insurance scheme can be judged by how well insurer delivery costs are controlled while maximising the amount paid to benefit the person who was injured. We consider a minimum benchmark for our privately underwritten scheme is for 60 per cent of CTP insurance premiums to be delivered as claimant benefits.
This year, the claimant benefit increased by 2 per cent compared to the previous 5-year average and reached a new high of 73 per cent. Correspondingly, delivery costs have further reduced by 2 per cent to a new low level of 27 per cent. We continue to see the increase in claimant benefit and decrease in delivery cost following the 2016 scheme review, mainly due to measures implemented to address persistently high insurer profits.
Ensuring timely resolution of claims
Our legislation requires insurers to deal with claims as quickly as possible, with insurers determining liability within 6 months of receiving a compliant claim. We continue to see a high level of timely resolution consistently achieving over 99 per cent. This data indicates that insurers and lawyers continue to work constructively together to resolve claims quickly.
of claims met this requirement in the last 12 months.*
Legally-represented claimants – Average claim duration (months)
We continue to monitor insurers’ legislative compliance and claims management practices, including claim durations and stages of settlement. Where variations exist between insurers, we are analysing the data and consulting with insurers to understand the reasons behind it. The duration of a claim can be influenced by injury severity, circumstances around liability, evidence gathering, and claims management approach.
Over the last 12 months, MAIC has worked closely with all insurers to help identify areas of claims management improvements. Suncorp has shown a slight reduction in their liability and settlement timeframes, while RACQI has seen an increase in their settlement and finalisation timeframes. QBE remains fastest across industry, while Allianz continues to show an increase in overall claim duration as they settle older claims.
Direct claimants – Average claim duration (months)
People who lodge claims directly with an insurer tend to experience shorter claim durations than people who lodge claims through legal representatives. This may be because people often seek legal assistance when their claim is more complex.
Claims settled before, during or after compulsory conference (CC) by insurer
Some claims involve a compulsory conference (CC), or meeting, between parties to resolve the claim. When negotiations at a compulsory conference are unsuccessful, claims may progress to court proceedings. Many claims are settled without the parties needing to hold a compulsory conference, some are settled at or within 14 days of compulsory conference, and very few claims proceed to court.
The data shows that the proportion of claims settling prior to CC has continued to decrease. However, the number of claims settled with proceedings issued also decreased over the last 12 months. We are continuing to monitor the change in proportion of settled claims. Following our claim farming reforms, there has been a reduction in lower severity claims, so there has also been a reduction in claims finalised prior to compulsory conference.
Fairness
Facilitating fair and timely access to compensation and rehabilitation
Total payments by heads of damage for finalised claims
In Queensland, CTP insurance enables people who are injured in vehicle crashes through no fault of their own to claim fair and timely compensation and access rehabilitation. The compensation paid to the person who was injured depends on the extent of their injuries resulting from the vehicle crash and how these injuries affect their work and social functioning.
The number of claims finalised over the last 12 months grew by approximately 10 per cent and so did total payments.
Number of new claims per quarter
Overall, the number of new claims continues to show a slight decreasing trend. The number of new claims notified by Queensland law firms has decreased over the last 12 months, while the number of direct claimants increased.
Proportion of claims added per quarter
In 2022–23, the proportion of claims added per quarter has shifted slightly, with almost one-quarter of claimants choosing to lodge their claim with the insurer directly. This applied to the claim lodgment stage however some people may later choose to be legally represented during the course of their claim.
Number of claims added per quarter by severity
During 2022–23, claims added per quarter were comparatively lower in the last two quarters of 2022, while the first two quarters of 2023 were in line with the previous 12 months. Overall, we continue to see fewer claims being lodged after the claim farming reforms were introduced.
Nominal Defendant claims received by financial year
The Nominal Defendant ensures that people involved in crashes with unidentified or uninsured vehicles still receive fair and timely access to compensation and rehabilitation.
In 2022–23, the Nominal Defendant added 163 managed claims involving unidentified vehicles and 63 claims involving uninsured vehicles.
Claimants by role in accidents involving an unidentified vehicle
The Nominal Defendant manages claims for various types of people, ranging from cyclists to drivers to pedestrians. Like in previous years, most claims were lodged by a driver.
For claims involving an unidentified vehicle, 44.9 per cent of claimants were drivers and 17.1 per cent were motorcyclists.
Responsiveness
Responding to many varied types of road users, crashes and traffic patterns
Queensland’s CTP insurance scheme supports a wide range of people with different ages, genders, roles in crashes and types of crashes.
Age groups of claimants by gender
In 2022–23 most claims were lodged by people aged between 26 and 35. The second-largest cohort of people lodging claims was people aged from 36 to 45.
Queensland crash claims by region
Similar to previous years, more CTP insurance claims were lodged by people in metropolitan areas than regional areas, but regional crashes generally led to more severe injuries than metropolitan areas.
Number of crashes per time and day of week
The data continues to demonstrate that the most common time of day for crashes to occur is between 3pm and 6pm on weekdays. The likely cause is higher traffic volumes at this peak period for road travel.
Percentage of serious crashes per time and day of week
Although fewer accidents occurred during the evening, the crashes that did occur were more likely to be more serious, particularly on weekends with the peak periods being Sunday 9pm-12am and Saturdays 12-3am.
Claim severity, role and crash details
Our data shows that majority of claims are of a minor severity, with 61.9 per cent of claims by drivers, and 52.1 per cent of the accidents occurring when vehicles are travelling in the same direction.
We continue to support initiatives led by the Department of Transport and Main Roads and Queensland Police Service to reduce distracted driving that can cause these types of collisions.
Injuries by body regions
From 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2023, the largest proportion of people lodging CTP claims had experienced spinal injuries (79.9 per cent). The majority of these injuries were reported as whiplash, while 1.4 per cent experienced severe spinal injuries.
While head injuries make up a smaller percentage (11.3 per cent) of reported accidents, the severity level relative to the injury is high (7.9 per cent). The thorax continues to remain the most likely part of the body to be seriously injured at 12.1 per cent.
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Number of registered vehicles by vehicle class
Vehicle classes continued to see a steady growth in the overall vehicle fleet from July 2022 to June 2023, with an increase of almost 150,000. Class 4 (hire vehicles) continue to show strong growth with an increase of more than 13 per cent over the last 12 months.
Average road traffic flow, in comparison to corresponding months in 2019
Data sourced from the Department of Transport and Main Roads showed that traffic volumes over the last 12 months have consistently been below the levels they were in 2019 across South-East Queensland.
For several years, MAIC has been using traffic data to assist with our modelling and predictions. As the traffic volumes and claim frequency have begun to stabilise, we have removed adjustments based on this data. However, we will continue to monitor it closely.
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