Accident benefits in Ontario

What are accident benefits?

Accident benefits are a collection of coverages that are part of every car insurance policy in Ontario. While car insurance policies certainly cover damage to the vehicle itself, they also help with the financial burden that arises when someone is injured (or killed) in an accident.

Ontario’s Statutory Accident Benefits Schedule (SABS) describes the benefits available on every car insurance policy sold in the province. There are standard benefits that are always available, but there are also several options for expanding those benefits — more to come on that later.

One thing to note before we continue:

Some accident benefits differentiate between catastrophic injuries and non-catastrophic injuries. What’s the difference? Generally speaking, a catastrophic injury is one that causes severe, permanent impairment to the injured person. That includes loss of limbs, paralysis, loss of vision, and similar severe injuries that permanently affect the injured person’s ability to carry on their normal life.

How do accident benefits work?

One major difference between accident benefits and many other insurance coverages is that some accident benefits are available to everyone. That includes people who don’t have car insurance policies. Everyone involved in an accident can access medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits — drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and other bystanders.

If you’re involved in an accident, and you have car insurance, your own claims adjuster will help you apply for accident benefits. If you’re injured in a vehicle accident as a pedestrian, you can claim some accident benefits from the insurer of the vehicle that injured you. Even if there is no insurance policy available whatsoever (like a pedestrian injured in a hit and run or by an uninsured motorist), it’s possible to claim accident benefits from the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund.

Medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits

This set of benefits helps cover additional costs associated with the actual process of recovering from an injury. While some medical and rehab costs are covered by public (or private) health care, this benefit will help with costs that aren’t already covered.

These benefits are standard on all policies, and are available to anyone injured in an accident: drivers, passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, or bystanders.

One important aspect to note: these benefits are the first payer for medical and rehabilitation claims. “First payer” means that the policy will pay covered costs before other coverage that may be available, like workplace benefits. This allows someone to keep their other benefits available for injuries or illnesses that don’t arise from car accidents.

Medical and rehabilitation benefits will cover a wide range of expenses if they aren’t covered by the insured’s other insurance options (including public health coverage). That includes things like medical and dental procedures, physiotherapy, prescriptions, and even transportation to and from medical treatment sessions — as long as these things relate to the injuries sustained in the accident.

Attendant care benefits cover reasonable expenses if an injured person needs to hire a caregiver to help them while they’re injured, or if they need to move into a long-term care facility.

Medical, rehabilitation, and attendant care benefits are grouped together under one coverage limit. That limit, by default, is $65,000 for non-catastrophic injuries and $1 million for catastrophic injuries. There are several options available for increasing these limits:

1. Increasing coverage for non-catastrophic injuries to $130,000.
2. Increasing coverage for non-catastrophic injuries to $1 million and coverage for catastrophic injuries to $2 million.
3. Increasing coverage for catastrophic injuries by another $1 million.

By choosing options 2 and 3 together, it would result in $1 million in coverage for non-catastrophic injuries and $3 million for catastrophic injuries.

The full list of covered expenses and limitations is also available in the SABS.

Income replacement, caregiver benefits, and non-earner benefits

This collection of accident benefits provide financial assistance to people who are unable to fulfil certain regular duties (such as work, caregiving, or attending school) due to a car accident.

These benefits are optional. If you choose to add a benefit to your policy, you can choose a coverage limit alongside.

Income replacement

Income replacement helps cover lost wages for people who need to take time away from work because of their injuries. The default benefit covers up to 70% of a person’s gross income, capped at $400 per week. There are options available to raise that cap to $600, $800, or $1000 per week.

If someone has disability benefits through their employer, it’s possible to co-ordinate those benefits and the income replacement benefit to avoid shortfalls.

Non-earner benefits

Non-earner benefits provide compensation to people who are injured in an accident, but under different circumstances than income replacement.

There are two possible conditions that someone might qualify for non-earner benefits. In either case, they must have suffered a complete inability to carry on a normal life because of the accident. In addition to that, they must meet either of the conditions below:

• They do not qualify for income replacement.
• They were enrolled in elementary, secondary, or post-secondary education full time, or they completed their education less than one year prior to the accident and weren’t employed (or self-employed) in a position that reflected their education.

In either case, non-earner benefits are only available for up to two years following the accident. The benefit will pay $185 per week to eligible people for the duration that they’re unable to carry on their normal life.

Non-earner benefits aren’t available for people who choose to receive the income replacement benefit instead.

Caregiver benefit

The caregiver benefit will help cover the cost of hiring a caregiver if a primary caregiver is injured in an accident. The conditions to qualify for the caregiver benefit are:

• The caregiver has to live with the person in need of care (someone under 16, or who requires care due to a physical or mental incapacity).
• The caregiver is the primary caregiver for the person in need of care, and wasn’t paid for their caregiving activities.

For example, a caregiver may be a single parent, a stay-at-home parent, or someone taking care of a disabled family member or elderly parents. To qualify, they mustn’t receive any payment for providing care.

The caregiver benefit is limited to $250 per week for one dependant, plus $50 per week for each additional dependant. This benefit is available either for catastrophic injuries or for any injury — check your policy documents to be sure which injuries you’re covered for.

The caregiver benefit is available for up to two years following the accident.

Death and funeral expenses

If the absolute worst should happen and someone dies as a result of a vehicle accident, the death and funeral expenses benefit will compensate the deceased person’s family.

Death benefit

This benefit provides a one-time payment if an insured person dies as a result of an accident. This applies if they die within 180 days following the accident, or three years if they were continuously disabled by the accident during that time.

The payments include:

• $25,000 to the deceased person’s spouse
• $10,000 to each of the deceased person’s dependants, and former spouses to whom they have a financial obligation

There is an option to increase these benefits to $50,000 and $20,000, respectively.

Funeral benefit

This benefit will cover funeral expenses if an insured person dies as a result of a car accident. By default, coverage is limited to $6,000, but this limit can be increased to $8,000.

Other accident benefits

Accident benefits don’t stop there — there are several other benefits available.

Payment for other expenses

There are a number of expenses that accident benefits will cover for an injured person. These coverages include:

• Lost educational expenses will provide up to $15,000 to cover expenses for tuition, textbooks, equipment, or room and board that the insured already paid for an educational program that they can’t continue due to their injury.

Should I get this coverage?

Consider buying this coverage if you, your spouse or dependants, or any listed driver are enrolled in a qualified education program for which you have paid tuition, books, room and board, or equipment.

• Expenses of visitors covers reasonable expenses for family members or certain other people to visit the insured person while they receive treatment for their injuries. This benefit is available for up to 2 years following the accident if the injury was non-catastrophic, or indefinitely if the injury was catastrophic.

Should I get this coverage?

Consider buying this coverage if you live in an area where medical facilities are remote or far away, or where parking costs are high, and if these expenses would create financial hardship.

• Housekeeping and home maintenance is a benefit that will cover (predictably) housekeeping and home maintenance costs if the insured person suffers an injury that prevents them from doing the unpaid housekeeping and maintenance tasks they normally did. This benefit is limited to $100 per week. It’s available either for catastrophic injuries or for any injury — check your policy documents to be sure which injuries you’re covered for.

Should I get this coverage?

Consider buying this coverage if you don’t have access to other benefits to assist you with housekeeping and home maintenance and would need to hire someone to do this work for you.

• Damage to personal items covers reasonable expenses to replace the insured’s medical or dental equipment (prescription glasses, hearing aids, prostheses, etc.) that was damaged in the accident. It also covers expenses to replace clothing damaged in the accident.

Should I get this coverage?

Consider buying this coverage if you don’t have coverage for your personal items through a home insurance policy or other medical or health insurance plan, or if you would not make a claim under those plans for damage to the items covered by this benefit due to those plans’ deductibles or limits.

Dependant care benefit

This is an optional benefit that isn’t automatically included in your accident benefits.

The dependant care benefit will pay some additional costs necessary to care for the insured person’s dependants following an accident. To qualify, the insured must have been employed at the time of the accident and must have sustained an impairment as a result of the accident. They also must not be receiving the aforementioned caregiver benefit.

This benefit is limited to $75 per week for one dependant plus $25 for each additional dependant.

Indexation benefit

This is another optional benefit that drivers in Ontario can choose to add to their car insurance policy. The indexation benefit protects weekly benefit payments from lost value due to inflation after a claim. The adjustment is based on the Consumer Price Index, so the amount that each payment will change is different each year.

The benefits that can be indexed are:

• Weekly income replacement benefit
• Weekly non-earner benefit
• Weekly caregiver benefit
• Attendant care benefit
• Medical and rehabilitation benefits

The adjustment to payments happens on January 1 each year.

Commonly asked questions

How long are accident benefits paid in Ontario?

Each type of benefit has its own time limitations. Income replacement, non-earner, and caregiver benefits are typically available for up to 104 weeks (2 years) after the accident so long as the insured person continues to suffer impairment from their injuries. However, the income replacement benefit isn’t available for the first week of the disability. The non-earner benefit isn’t available for the first four weeks of the onset of disability.

Medical, rehabilitation, and caregiver benefits are available for up to 260 weeks (5 years) after the accident so long as they’re needed, though this limit doesn’t apply for catastrophic injuries.

Who can apply for accident benefits in Ontario?

Some accident benefits are available to anyone injured in a vehicle accident in Ontario: drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and bystanders.

Optional accident benefits are only available to the named insured, their spouse, the dependants of either person, and drivers specifically listed on the policy.

What are the optional accident benefits in Ontario?

Since July 1, 2026, all benefits except for Medical, Rehab, and Attendant Care are optional. Income replacement, non-earner, caregiver, and many other benefits will be optional after this date.

What’s the difference between a catastrophic and non-catastrophic injury?

A catastrophic injury or catastrophic impairment is one that results in paralysis, amputation of a limb, loss of vision in both eyes, traumatic brain injuries, or similar impairments that seriously compromise a person’s ability to continue their normal life. The Schedule of Accident Benefits describes the precise definitions and limitations of catastrophic injuries.

Why did Ontario’s accident benefits change?

Ontario’s government passed legislation to change accident benefits with the goal of improving flexibility for drivers. Some people have access to similar coverages through employer or private insurance plans. By making some benefits optional, Ontarians have the option to reduce their car insurance costs by declining coverages that they may have access to elsewhere, or that they simply don’t want.

Anyone opting out of accident benefits should carefully consider whether the cost savings are practical compared to the loss of coverage. Remember, if someone opts out of a benefit, they won’t have access to that coverage even if another driver is at fault for an accident — they’d have to pay out-of-pocket or pursue legal action (at their own cost). Additionally, making revisions to a policy mid-term to remove accident benefits could actually result in a cost increase if the policyholder had new driving convictions or claims, or if their insurer raised their base rates since the policy was purchased.

Optional accident benefits came into effect on July 1, 2026. Since this date, policies renew with their existing coverages, options and limits. Policyholders can contact their insurance provider to add, change, or remove optional accident benefits. Anyone buying a new policy after July 1 can buy or decline optional coverages during the application process.

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