Ontario Accident Benefit Deadlines
The dates that govern an Ontario accident benefits claim. Free. No email required. For drivers, passengers, cyclists and people on foot.
Three deadlines run an Ontario claim. Seven days to report. Thirty days to return the application. Two years to dispute a refusal.
Missing one does not automatically end your claim. It does create an argument you will have to win later, at the point when you are least able to fight it. Everything below explains each deadline and what to write down at the moment it matters.
AT A GLANCE
| You have | To do this | Counting from |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | Report the accident to your broker, agent or insurance company | The day of the accident |
| 30 days | Return the completed accident benefits application | The day the package reaches you |
| 2 years | Dispute a refused benefit at the Licence Appeal Tribunal | A clear and unequivocal refusal |
How long do you have to report a car accident in Ontario?
Seven days. The regulator is direct about this one. You must file a report with your broker, agent or insurance company within seven days, or as quickly as possible after that. Failing to report within a reasonable time may mean your insurer does not honour the claim. The clock starts on the day of the accident. This is a phone call, not a form.
Have these ready before you call. Your policy number. The make, model, year, registration and plate of the vehicle. The date, time and location. The extent of any injuries. How many passengers were involved. Names and licence numbers of every driver. The insurance company of every driver. The name and badge number of the investigating officer if police attended.
Write down before you hang up. The date and time you called. The name of the person who answered. Your claim number. What they told you to do next. What they said they would send you and when.
If you are already past seven days. Call today rather than tomorrow. You will be asked to explain the delay, so write down now why it happened while you still remember it clearly. Being in hospital, being seriously injured and being unable to function are all understood reasons.
How long do you have to return the accident benefits application?
Thirty days. Once you report, your insurer sends you an application package. The completed and signed application must go back within thirty days of you receiving those forms. Your thirty days runs from the day the package reached you, not from the day of the accident.
Note the day it arrived. Not the date printed on the letter. The day it landed in your hands or your inbox. That is the date your thirty days is measured from and you are the only person who knows it.
Use the form your insurer sent you. The application was redesigned, and a newer version applies to policies taking effect on or after July 1, 2026. A copy downloaded from an older article may be out of date.
When does the two year deadline to dispute actually start?
Not on the day of your accident, and this is the most misunderstood rule in Ontario. Section 56 of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule gives you two years from the insurer's refusal to pay the amount claimed. The dispute goes to the Automobile Accident Benefits Service at the Licence Appeal Tribunal.
The clock is started by the refusal and by nothing else. There is no rolling deadline that resets each time you ask again.
A refusal only starts the clock if it was properly made. The courts require an insurer's denial to be clear and unequivocal, and the denial has to meet the requirements set out in the Schedule, including telling you that you have a right to dispute it.
Where a denial falls short of that, the two years may never have begun running at all. So a letter that seems to have expired is still worth showing to someone who can read it properly.
The Tribunal can also extend the two years where there are reasonable grounds, but it is not a formality. Applications have been refused where the person could not explain a delay of a few months. The extension is a rescue, not a plan.
Keep every letter that refuses or reduces anything, with the date it arrived written on it. Which benefit it refused. Whether it gave a reason. Whether it told you how to dispute it. Those details are what decides, years later, whether your two years ever started.
Where do you apply if you do not own a car insurance policy?
This is the part almost nobody knows. If you do not have your own auto insurance and are not listed on anyone else's policy, you can still claim medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits. What changes is which insurer you apply to.
| Your situation | Where your application goes |
|---|---|
| You were driving a company vehicle | The insurer of that company vehicle |
| You were a passenger in someone else's vehicle | The insurer of that vehicle |
| You were a passenger in an uninsured vehicle in a multi-vehicle accident | The insurer of an insured vehicle involved |
| You were on foot or on a bicycle | The insurer of the vehicle that hit you |
| None of the above applies | The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund, the payer of last resort |
What changed for Ontario accident benefits in July 2026?
Most of the safety net became optional. For policies entered into on or after July 1, 2026, only standard medical, rehabilitation and attendant care benefits remain mandatory. Income replacement, non-earner, caregiver, housekeeping, death and funeral benefits all became optional.
Where optional benefits were purchased, they reach only the named insured, their spouse, the dependants of either, and people listed on the policy as drivers. Someone on foot or on a bicycle who would have been covered before may no longer be eligible.
Ask your insurer in writing which optional benefits sit on the policy responding to your claim, and keep the answer.
Last verified: July 2026
Checked against: Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario, Tribunals Ontario, Licence Appeal Tribunal Automobile Accident Benefits Service, and the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule, O. Reg. 34/10, sections 54 and 56.
Deadlines change. If you find something on this page that is out of date, write to Recovery@hurtsquare.ca and we will correct it publicly.
Keeping the record these deadlines depend on
Every deadline above turns on something you were supposed to write down. The day a letter arrived. The name of the person on the phone. What you were told and when. Whether a refusal ever told you how to challenge it.
Two things decide how an injury claim goes. What you wrote down and whether you did the right thing at the right time for where you live. The National Recovery Guide handles the first, the daily record of symptoms, appointments, calls and costs that a claim is eventually judged on. The Provincial Companion Guide handles the second, the deadlines on this page and the forms, boards and appeal routes behind them. People who have only one tend to end up with a careful record aimed at the wrong process, or the right dates and nothing to put in front of them.
Recovery First. Pressure Last.
See the Ontario MVA Companion Guide
The scene checklist for the first three days is at hurtsquare.ca/72. It is free and asks nothing of you.
This page is general information for people in Ontario. It is not legal or medical advice. Rules differ by province and change over time. Confirm anything specific to your situation with a lawyer, your insurer or your provincial regulator.