Lower North Shore & Ryde · Car accident compensation

Car accident compensation after a crash near Cammeray

No figures, no guesses. Just what compensation can include and what the amount depends on.

“How much will I get?” is the question everyone asks, and the true answer is that it depends. It depends on whether your injury is more than a threshold injury, whether someone else was at fault, what you earned before and your whole person impairment. For people in Cammeray, our free claim check sorts out which of these apply before you commit to anything.

Postcode: 2062

  • Free claim check, no obligation
  • By phone & online, no office to visit
  • Helping people in Cammeray & Crows Nest

Claiming compensation from Cammeray

If your commute runs on the Metro to Macquarie Park or on buses along Military Road and the crash has kept you home, lost earnings are worked out from your own records, including any recent rise in pay. Coming under North Sydney Council has no bearing on compensation. Someone in Cammeray and someone at the other end of the state are assessed under the same NSW rules, based on their injuries, their earnings and who was at fault. Specialists you see through Royal North Shore Hospital may later be asked about your capacity to work. Their opinions can shape a claim for future lost earnings, so tell them about the work you did before the crash, not just your symptoms.

From Cammeray, the Sydney CBD is around 5 km away. That doesn't limit your options: an independent lawyer can run a damages claim by phone, email and video, and the claim check itself runs over the phone or online.

Region
Lower North Shore & Ryde
Postcode
2062
Local government area
North Sydney Council
Nearest public hospital
Royal North Shore Hospital
From the Sydney CBD
~5 km

How NSW CTP compensation is structured

The first question isn't “how much?” but “which kind?”. If your injury is a threshold injury, or you were mostly at fault, compensation is generally limited to statutory benefits for up to 52 weeks. If neither applies and someone else caused the crash, a damages claim may sit on top of your benefits.

Read next:Statutory benefits vs damages

When a damages claim can be made and settled

Unless your whole person impairment is assessed as more than 10%, a damages claim generally can't be made until 20 months after the accident. It generally can't be settled within 2 years of the accident unless impairment is more than 10%. And the claim must generally be made within 3 years of the accident, with only limited room for a late claim that comes with a full and satisfactory explanation.

Before you accept an offer

Get advice before accepting any settlement offer. A settlement generally ends your damages claim, and once signed it's usually final.

Read next:CTP settlementsShould I accept the first offer?

Compensation for income you've lost

Your pre-accident earnings are the anchor for both weekly payments and economic loss damages. Since amendments passed in 2022, pre-accident earnings can reflect higher income in the 12 months before the accident, and actual earnings after the accident are also considered. If you'd recently had a pay rise, a promotion or more shifts, make sure the insurer knows.

  • Tax returns and notices of assessment
  • Evidence of a recent pay rise or promotion
  • Rosters showing regular overtime or shifts
  • Your Certificates of Fitness

Read next:CTP weekly payments

The two kinds of CTP compensation

It helps to see the two side by side. The points below are general and depend on your accident date, so treat them as a guide to the right questions rather than an answer.

Statutory benefits

  • Available to most injured people, regardless of fault
  • Weekly payments: up to 95% of pre-accident earnings, then up to 80% or 85%
  • Treatment and care that is reasonable and necessary
  • Up to 52 weeks for a threshold injury or if mostly at fault (accidents from 1 April 2023)
  • Weekly payments generally end at 104 weeks unless a damages claim is pending
  • Claim within 28 days for back-paid weekly payments

Common law damages

  • Only if another driver was at fault and you weren't mostly at fault
  • Your injury must be more than a threshold injury
  • Can include past and future lost earnings
  • Pain and suffering only if whole person impairment is more than 10%
  • Generally doesn't include treatment and care or unpaid care from family
  • Generally must be claimed within 3 years of the accident

General information, not legal advice. We give no dollar figures because every claim is different. Time limits apply.

A woman on a phone call, listening intently

Free claim check

Get clarity before you accept anything

Our claim check is free, by phone or online, with no obligation. Where a damages claim looks possible, we can introduce you to an independent lawyer.

Free · No obligation

Compensation claims: lawyer or not?

Most people don't need a lawyer just to receive weekly payments. When a lump sum may be involved, it's a different story. Use these lists to get your bearings.

Often worth talking to a lawyer

  • An offer to settle has come from the insurer
  • A family member died and dependants may have a claim
  • Your pre-accident earnings seem to have been set too low
  • Fault is disputed or shared

You may not need one

  • The insurer is approving your treatment
  • You've recovered and are back at your usual work
  • You were mostly at fault and don't dispute it

Your treating team shapes the evidence for lost earnings, starting with the Certificate of Fitness. If you don't have a team yet, doctors and allied health practitioners who work with CTP claims are a sensible place to start.

Not quite your situation?

  • If your injury is serious and you want to know how impairment is assessed and where the threshold line falls, the injury compensation page covers it. Injury compensation lawyer in Cammeray
  • Before asking what you can get, you may need to know what kind of claim you have, and the car accident claim page starts there. Car accident claim in Cammeray
  • If you only need the basics of weekly payments and how to lodge, the CTP claims page for Cammeray sets out the steps. CTP claims in Cammeray

When weekly payments can run past 2 years

Weekly payments are where statutory benefits and damages overlap. A pending damages claim can stretch weekly payments past the usual 104 weeks: to as long as 156 weeks for impairment at or below the 10% line, or 260 weeks where impairment is more than 10%. Because a damages claim generally can't be made until 20 months after the accident unless impairment is above 10%, the window to lodge in time for this is narrow.

The 2-year lodging rule

To keep weekly payments going past 2 years, lodge the damages claim within 2 years of the accident. Waiting until the general 3-year limit can mean payments stop in the meantime.

Read next:CTP weekly payments

Pain and suffering: the 10% line

Where your injury sits against the 10% line is often unclear early on, and it isn't something to guess. Some injuries are plainly above it and many are below it. How and when impairment is assessed is a subject of its own; for compensation, what matters is that pain and suffering damages depend on the line, while lost-earnings damages don't.

10% or less?

If your whole person impairment is 10% or less, you may still have a damages claim for lost earnings, as long as the other conditions are met.

What damages generally don't include

CTP covers personal injury only, so vehicle repairs sit outside it altogether and are generally a matter for your own car insurer or the at-fault driver's insurer. Within the injury claim, damages generally cover lost earnings and, above 10% impairment, pain and suffering, while treatment stays with statutory benefits. If you've paid for treatment yourself, keep the receipts and raise them with the insurer as a statutory benefits question.

Online estimates and their limits

Instead of a figure, get clarity on the questions that matter. Is your injury more than threshold? Were you mostly at fault? What did you earn before? Could impairment exceed 10%? Our free claim check works through those questions, and where a damages claim is possible, we'll connect you with an independent lawyer.

Read next:Can I claim damages?

Frequently asked questions

Ready to talk it through?

Get a free, no-obligation claim check. It's the first step toward understanding where your claim stands and what help it needs.

CTP Lawyer is not a law firm. This page is general information, not legal advice; the independent lawyer you speak with can advise on your own situation.

Call now(02) 7238 7379Free claim check