Overview
A positive quarter concluded the year of 2020, positioning Queensland’s Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance scheme well for the year ahead.
From October to December 2020:
- CTP insurance premiums remained affordable to motorists and claims costs remained stable
- car crash scamming (or claim farming) reforms continued to deter scammers
- the first trial of 350 connected vehicles began in Ipswich to test potential road safety benefits of this new technology in a program delivered by the Department of Transport and Main Roads and sponsored by MAIC
- our online claim form became available to people who have been injured, and their legal representatives, to improve process of lodging a CTP insurance claim.
As we enter the first quarter of a new year, we will:
- progress our First Peoples initiative to ensure Queensland’s CTP insurance scheme is respectful, safe and supportive for First Peoples injured in vehicle crashes through no fault of their own
- continue to leverage digitisation to enhance the experience of making a CTP insurance claim
- publish our first insurer claims management standard to promote fairness, transparency and consistency in claims management.
At the end of the 2020-2021 financial year, we look forward to sharing insights with you for the past year.
Please explore our graphs below to learn more about our scheme’s performance.
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Affordability
Affordability index
Queenslanders continue to enjoy the most affordable CTP premiums in mainland Australia. From 1 October to 31 December 2020, the Class 1 premium ($351.60) was 21.4 per cent of Average Weekly Earnings.
CTP premium breakdown
Premiums remained steady despite the uncertainties presented by COVID-19. Stable claims costs and fewer claims improved the claim experience overall, which will likely be reflected in future quarters.
Insurer market share
Four insurers offer CTP insurance in Queensland with market share fairly stable from month to month.
Number of motorists switching insurers
Fewer motorists switched insurer in the December 2020 quarter compared to the prior quarter.
Efficiency
The efficiency of a CTP insurance scheme can be judged by how well insurer delivery costs are controlled while maximising the amount paid to the benefit of the injured person. A best-practice benchmark for a privately-underwritten scheme is for at least 60 per cent of CTP insurance premiums to be delivered as claimant benefits. Each year, we measure the prior five-year average of these figures, and our last measurement not only improved on the 2019 result but also exceeded the best-practice benchmark by six per cent.
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Current claimant benefits
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Current delivery costs
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Ensuring timely resolution of claims
Our legislation requires insurers to deal with claims as quickly as possible, with insurers determining liability within six months of receiving a compliant claim. MAIC, insurers and lawyers continued to work together this quarter to resolve claims quickly.
of claims met this requirement in the last 12 months.*
The duration of legally-represented claims increased slightly across all insurers in the December quarter. The duration of a claim can be influenced by the severity of the injury and circumstances around liability, as well as other factors such as claims management approach and evidence gathering.
Legally-represented claimants – Average claim duration (months)
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. This quarter, the average duration of claims for direct claimants shifted slightly for each insurer, although there was no overall trend of durations increasing or decreasing.
Claims settled before, during or after compulsory conference (CC) by insurer
Some claims involve a compulsory conference, or meeting, held between parties to resolve the claim. When negotiations at a compulsory conference are unsuccessful, claims may progress to court proceedings. Claims are most frequently settled without the need for parties to hold a compulsory conference or they are settled during or within 14 days of a compulsory conference. A small proportion of claims see negotiations continue after the compulsory conference or progress to court proceedings.
Fairness
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. In the past year, the allocation of compensation remained consistent with past periods, with most compensation supporting loss of income, care, medical treatment and rehabilitation.
Number of new claims per quarter
There were fewer new claims in the last four quarters due to claim farming reforms and less traffic on the roads. With COVID-19 restrictions easing, claim numbers are recovering slightly though they still remain lower than previous years. This suggests that our claim farming reforms are still having their intended effect.
Proportion of claims added per quarter
People who lodge claims continue to rely on Queensland law firms for assistance with their claims.
Number of claims added per quarter by severity
The proportion of higher-severity claims remained fairly stable over time, including the COVID-19 period.
Responsiveness
Number of registered vehicles by vehicle class
The overall number of vehicles grew at a steady pace similar to before the COVID-19 pandemic. Class 3 (taxis), class 4 (hire vehicles) and class 26 (booked hire vehicles and limos) are still sitting below the pre-COVID level but are slowly recovering.
Age groups of claimants by gender
The most common cohort of people lodging claims are those aged 26 to 35 years of age, followed closely by people aged 36 to 45. We see slightly more claims being lodged by females than males.
Most claims involve injuries of minor severity where motorists were travelling in the same direction (for example, nose-to-tail crashes where ‘tailgating’ may be involved). We continue to support measures targeting driver distraction led by the Department of Transport and Main Roads with the aim of reducing the incidence of these crashes.
Queensland crash claims by region
We continue to see that residents in metropolitan areas are more likely to bring claims but for lower-severity injuries than their regional counterparts. This is likely due to higher traffic volumes within metropolitan areas which increases a person’s exposure to potential crashes. Regional areas often have less traffic and higher travelling speeds which can lead to fewer claims but for crashes involving more severe injuries.
Injuries by body regions
Spinal injury (78.9%) is still the most common injury that people lodge CTP insurance claims for, but injuries involving the thorax and head tend to be more serious.
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Number of crashes per time and day of week
Crashes are most common during the afternoon peak time due to high traffic volumes.
Percentage of serious crashes per time and day of week
The most serious (28.3%) injuries occur on Saturday nights between 3am and 6am. We use this information to work with other agencies to diagnose possible interventions which could be made to improve road safety and avoid serious collisions.
Want to learn more? Contact our Analytics team.
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