The collision is over and now there is a system. It does not pause while you recover, and nobody hands you its timetable.
In Ontario you have 7 days to notify your insurer that you intend to claim accident benefits and 30 days to submit the application. You have 24 hours to report at a Collision Reporting Centre if combined damage looks to be over $5,000 and 2 years from the collision to start a lawsuit against the at-fault driver.
Ontario runs two parallel tracks after a crash. Accident benefits come from your own insurer regardless of who was at fault. A tort claim is a separate action against the driver who caused it. They have different forms, different clocks and different people deciding them, which is why so many people manage one well and miss the other entirely.
How long do you have after a car accident in Ontario?
| Step | Time limit |
|---|---|
| Report at a Collision Reporting Centre where combined damage appears over $5,000 | 24 hours |
| See a doctor and have your symptoms recorded | 24 to 48 hours |
| Notify your own insurer of an accident benefits claim | 7 days |
| Submit the completed accident benefits application | 30 days |
| Start a tort claim against the at-fault driver | 2 years |
| Dispute a denied benefit at the Licence Appeal Tribunal, from the refusal | 2 years |
The last row catches people because the clock runs from the insurer's refusal rather than from the date of the collision. Full detail sits on our Ontario accident benefit deadlines page.
What should you do at the scene?
Safety first. If anyone is injured, call 911. Even where injuries look minor, a record created that day can matter enormously later.
If the vehicles can be moved safely and nobody is hurt, Ontario requires you to report at a Collision Reporting Centre within 24 hours where the combined damage to all vehicles and property appears to be more than $5,000. Ontario raised that threshold from $2,000 on 1 January 2025, so a great deal of advice still sitting online is out of date. Where there are injuries, where public property is damaged or where the scene cannot be cleared safely, call police directly.
Damage is easy to underestimate. A bumper that looks scuffed can hide sensors, brackets and calibration work that carry a repair well past $5,000 once it comes apart. If you are unsure, report.
Collect at the scene:
- The other driver's name, licence number, address and phone number
- The other vehicle's plate, make, model and colour
- The other driver's insurance company and policy number
- Names and contact details for any witnesses
- Photographs of all vehicles, the road, traffic signals, the weather and any visible damage or injury
Write down the exact time and location while it is still clear. The details you hold in the first hour are not the ones you will hold in the first week.
How soon must you notify your insurer?
In Ontario you report to your own insurance company regardless of who caused the collision. This is not optional and it is not an admission of fault. Ontario's accident benefits system makes your own insurer responsible for your immediate benefits whether or not the other driver was to blame.
Most policies require notice as soon as reasonably possible. For accident benefits specifically you have 7 days to notify and 30 days to submit the application. Missing either can complicate the claim. Call the same day if you can.
How does Ontario's two-track system work?
Track one is accident benefits. These come through your own insurer regardless of fault. Some of them are on every Ontario policy and some are now optional coverage you have to buy, which the next section sets out. You apply through your own insurance company using the OCF forms, short for Ontario Claims Forms.
Track two is the tort claim. Where your injuries are serious or permanent under Ontario's legal threshold, you may also have the right to sue the at-fault driver. This is a separate process with its own timelines, including a two year limitation period from the date of the collision.
Many people do not know both tracks exist or lose a deadline on one while managing the other. Both matter and both carry their own paperwork.
Which Ontario accident benefits are mandatory?
Three of them. This changed on 1 July 2026 and most drivers have not caught up with it.
For policies entered into on or after that date, only medical benefits, rehabilitation benefits and attendant care are mandatory. Those three sit on every Ontario policy.
The rest became optional coverage you buy separately.
- Income replacement if you cannot work
- Non-earner benefits
- Caregiver benefits
- Housekeeping and home maintenance
- Death and funeral benefits
Whether you hold any of them depends on what you purchased. Find your declaration page and read it now rather than after a collision, because income replacement is the one people assume is automatic and it is the one that pays the rent.
Which rule applies to you turns on when your policy was entered into, so check the date on the policy itself.
What happens if the other driver has no insurance?
You are still covered. This is the part almost nobody knows until it happens to them.
Accident benefits in Ontario are paid regardless of fault and regardless of whether the other driver was insured. They come from your own policy first. If you have no policy, they come from the policy of someone in your household, then from the insurer of the vehicle you were in and as a last resort from the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund.
For damages beyond those benefits, every Ontario auto policy carries mandatory uninsured automobile coverage. Many drivers also hold an OPCF 44R family protection endorsement, which steps in where the at-fault driver is insured but carries too little coverage to pay what you are owed. Look for that endorsement on your policy now rather than after you need it.
Hit and run works much the same way with one condition attached. Report it to police promptly. A late report on an unidentified driver is the most common reason this coverage gets questioned.
Should you get a lawyer after a car accident?
Not every collision needs one. A modest claim your insurer handles without argument usually does not.
Talk to a personal injury lawyer if any of these is true. You were seriously injured, or your recovery is not going the way anyone expected. Your accident benefits have been denied, reduced or cut off. An insurer has scheduled you for an independent medical examination. You are being asked to sign something you do not fully understand. Fault is disputed. You have lost time from work and nobody has told you clearly what you are entitled to.
Most personal injury lawyers in Ontario offer a free first consultation and work on contingency, meaning the fee comes out of a settlement rather than out of your pocket up front. Asking questions costs nothing. You are allowed to speak to more than one.
Whether or not you hire anyone, the record is yours to build. A lawyer who takes your file in month eight can only work with what you wrote down in month one.
How long does a car accident settlement take?
Months for a simple claim. Years for a serious one. Anyone who promises you a date in the first few weeks is guessing.
The reason is medical rather than legal. A claim is usually not settled until your injuries have stabilized enough that a doctor can say what your recovery looks like over the long term. Settling before that means settling for less than you may turn out to need. After a significant injury that assessment can take a year or more, which is frustrating and is also protecting you.
The outside limits still run throughout. A tort claim generally must be started within two years of the collision, while accident benefits run on the much shorter 7 day and 30 day clocks above. Missing a short deadline early quietly shrinks what is available at the end.
Why see a doctor if you feel fine?
Adrenaline and shock suppress pain in the hours after a collision. Whiplash, soft tissue damage and concussion often do not become obvious until the next day or later, with whiplash inflammation typically peaking 24 to 72 hours in. Seeing a doctor within 24 to 48 hours creates the record that ties your symptoms to the crash.
Tell your doctor clearly that you were in a car accident. It changes how the visit is documented and how your care is coded. More detail sits in why car accident injuries sometimes appear days later.
What are you allowed to do?
You are allowed to decline a recorded statement to the other driver's insurer until you have taken advice.
You are allowed to say you do not know yet rather than estimating speeds, distances or how badly you are hurt.
You are allowed to report a symptom that appeared days after the collision and to keep reporting changes as they happen.
You are allowed to ask an adjuster to put a decision in writing and to ask which policy or section it rests on.
What should you document from day one?
The collision was one moment. The recovery runs for weeks, months, sometimes longer, and the insurance process runs alongside it. The people assessing your claim will measure your injury by what is written down.
Record six things.
- Every symptom and the date it first appeared
- What you could not do that you could do before the collision
- Every appointment, who you saw and what they said
- Every call with an insurer, with the date, the name and what was agreed
- Every letter received, with the date it arrived written on it
- Every expense, with the receipt attached
Not perfectly. Not formally. Consistently.
The National MVA Recovery Guide holds the daily record of symptoms, appointments, calls and costs. The Ontario MVA Companion Guide holds the deadlines, the OCF forms and the dispute routes for this province. You can also read the fuller Ontario recovery guide.
Read next
- The first 72 hours after a car accident
- How long does recovery after a car accident take
- What happens at an independent medical examination
Keep your recovery in one place
The National MVA Recovery Guide covers what applies anywhere in Canada. Your provincial Companion Guide adds the insurer, the forms and the deadlines where you live.
Last verified August 2026 against the Government of Ontario and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario. We re-check these pages quarterly. If you find something wrong here, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly. This article is general information for people in Ontario. It is not legal, medical or insurance advice.