Not legal advice; Ontario information as of October 6, 2026. Source: the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (O. Reg. 34/10), as quoted in a Tribunals Ontario decision, Ozdemir v. Economical Mutual Insurance Company, 2024 ONLAT 23-002000/AABS-PI (Licence Appeal Tribunal). We read the decision, not the regulation text itself, so check which version of the Schedule applies to your accident date.
The three steps
- 1. Tell your insurer. Section 32(1) says a person who intends to apply for accident benefits must notify the insurer no later than the seventh day after the circumstances giving rise to the entitlement arose, or as soon as practicable after that day.
- 2. Your insurer sends the package. Under section 32(2), once the insurer gets your notice it must give you the application forms (the OCF-1), a written explanation of the benefits available, and information to help you apply.
- 3. You return the application. Under section 32(5), you must submit a completed and signed application within 30 days after you receive the forms. The 30 days run from when you get the forms, not from the accident.
If you are late
Section 34 says that failing to meet a time limit does not take away your benefit if you have a reasonable explanation. The tribunal summarized how that works:
- It is your job to prove the explanation, and it must be credible.
- Not knowing the law is not, by itself, a reasonable explanation.
- The test looks at your personal situation and at what a reasonable person would do.
- The insurer not being harmed by the delay does not make your explanation automatically reasonable.
Section 55(1) also says you cannot apply to the Licence Appeal Tribunal if you did not give notice or submit the application within the section 32 times.
What happened in one real case
In the 2024 decision, the applicant was in an accident in November 2020 and first sent the insurer an OCF-1 in April 2021, more than five months later. The form was incomplete and was never fully completed. He said he did not know his rights, had COVID and was injured, but gave little medical evidence for those reasons. The adjudicator found no credible reasonable explanation and held he was barred from proceeding. This is one decision on its own facts, not a rule that every late claim fails.
Telling your insurer about the crash is not the same as claiming
A September 2026 Ontario Court of Appeal decision, Jakupovic v. Intact Insurance Company, 2026 ONCA 651, looked at exactly this. As reported by Law Times, the driver reported his February 2019 crash and his vehicle damage to his insurer the next day, but did not apply for accident benefits until December 2020. The court held that section 32(1) required him to tell the insurer he intended to claim benefits, and that the insurer had no duty to ask him whether he did. Phoning in the crash was not enough. We have not read the judgment itself (the court and CanLII pages could not be fetched), so read the full decision or ask a lawyer before relying on it.
What to do now
If you have been in a crash, give your insurer written notice that you intend to apply for accident benefits (not only that the accident happened) as early as you can, keep a copy, and note the date you receive the forms. Deadlines for suing the at-fault driver are separate; see our limitation periods guide. For court disputes generally, see the Small Claims Court process.