You may lose access to accident benefits if you do not report your car accident injuries to your insurance company in the right way and very quickly

Telling your insurance company that you were in a car accident is not a claim for accident benefits. They are two separate things, and the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed in September 2026 that an insurer who knows about your crash has no duty to ask whether you were hurt or to send you the forms.

If you intend to claim accident benefits, you have to say so. Section 32(1) of the Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule gives you seven days, or as soon as practicable after that.

If you are already past seven days, you are not automatically out. Read the section below on section 34 before you assume the worst, and speak to a lawyer.

What the rule actually says

Section 32(1) reads:

A person who intends to apply for one or more benefits described in this Regulation shall notify the insurer of his or her intention no later than the seventh day after the circumstances arose that give rise to the entitlement to the benefit, or as soon as practicable after that day.

Your notice is what starts the process. Once the insurer has it, section 32(2) obliges the insurer to send you the application forms, a written explanation of the benefits available, information to help you apply, and information about the election between income replacement, non‑earner and caregiver benefits. You then have 30 days from receiving the forms to send back a completed and signed application, under section 32(5).

The sequence matters. Nothing is triggered until you give notice of an intention to claim.

What happened in Jakupovic v. Intact

Hussein Jakupovic was in a collision on 13 February 2019. He phoned Intact the next day and reported the accident and the damage to his car, and he dealt with Intact repeatedly about the property damage after that.

What he did not do was tell Intact he intended to claim accident benefits. He submitted the application, the OCF‑1, on 12 December 2020, about twenty‑two months after the crash. Intact approved it at first, then raised late notice and terminated his benefits on 14 April 2022.

The Licence Appeal Tribunal dismissed his claim. The Divisional Court reversed, holding that telling Intact about the accident was enough and that Intact should then have asked whether he was injured. The Court of Appeal disagreed and restored the Tribunal’s decision.

What the Court of Appeal decided

Wilson J.A., writing for the Court, held that section 32(1) is not ambiguous and that reporting an accident is not the same as giving notice of an intention to claim benefits. The Court put it plainly:

If the legislature meant that simply reporting involvement in an accident was sufficient notice to an insurer that a claim for SABS was being made, it could have said so.

The Court also rejected the argument, advanced by the claimant and by the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association as intervener, that an insurer told about a crash must make inquiries to find out whether its insured was hurt and wants to claim. Section 32(1) imposes no such duty.

On the wider point, the Court accepted that the Schedule is consumer protection legislation but held that the Divisional Court erred by leading with that purpose instead of reading the text, context and purpose together. Quoting the Supreme Court, it noted that even laudable policy objectives do not permit courts to adopt interpretations inconsistent with the text and context.

If you are already past seven days, read this part

This is the half of the decision that is being left out of the commentary, and it is the half that matters most if you are reading this because you think you have missed something.

Missing seven days does not end your claim. The Schedule builds in two separate reliefs, and the Court of Appeal pointed to both:

• Section 32(1) itself allows notice to be given “as soon as practicable after that day”. The seven days is the standard, not an absolute bar.
• Section 34 provides that a failure to comply with a time limit does not disentitle you to a benefit if you have a reasonable explanation.

The Court described section 34, adopting the Divisional Court’s words in an earlier case, as:

a safety valve to make sure rigid adherence to the procedural requirements in claiming benefits based upon time, does not work an injustice in an individual case.

So why did Mr. Jakupovic lose? Not because section 34 was unavailable to him. He lost because the Tribunal considered his explanation for the delay and found it “not credible or worthy of belief”. That was a finding of fact, and it was not open to the Divisional Court to substitute its own view of the facts on an appeal limited to questions of law.

The practical lesson is not that the deadline is fatal. It is that the explanation has to be true, specific and supportable, and that it will be tested. A vague account offered long after the event, by someone who was plainly able to deal with the same insurer about a car repair, is the kind that fails.

What to do if you were injured in a collision

• Say the words. Tell your insurer, in writing if you can, that you were injured and that you intend to claim accident benefits. Reporting the crash or the damage to the car does not do it.
• Do it within seven days of the circumstances that give rise to the entitlement, or as soon as you practically can after that.
• Keep the record. Note the date, who you spoke to and what you said. If it was a phone call, follow it up by email so there is something in writing.
• If you are late, work out why, honestly. Were you in hospital? Did symptoms only emerge later? Were you told something incorrect? A real explanation, documented at the time, is worth far more than a reconstructed one.
• Do not assume a refusal is the end. Whether a delay is excused under section 34 is an argument, and it is one that gets made on evidence.

Does this change anything about the 1 July 2026 accident benefit changes?

It is separate, but the two compound each other. Jakupovic is about when you have to give notice. The 1 July 2026 changes are about what you are entitled to once you do, because income replacement and several other benefits became optional on that date. Our Ontario accident benefits page sets out the system as a whole.

Exceptions may apply ‑ legal advice is strongly recommended for your particular situation.

Speak to a lawyer about a late accident benefits application

If your insurer has refused benefits because you reported late, or you have realised you never told them you intended to claim, the question is whether your explanation is a reasonable one. That is worth a conversation before you accept the refusal. Initial consultations are free. Our fee schedule is published in full, by stage of the case, on our Fair Fees page. Call 905-409-2438, send a text, message us on WhatsApp, or use the contact form.

Steven Polak is licensed as a lawyer in Ontario and practises with Lerners LLP at 123 Athol Street, Whitby.

Case discussed: Jakupovic v. Intact Insurance Company, 2026 ONCA 651, Court of Appeal for Ontario, 17 September 2026, Wilson J.A. This is a case comment, not legal advice, and whether a particular delay is excused turns on the evidence. Last reviewed 3 November 2026.