The claim is about more than lost income
There's a common assumption that a retired person has no claim because there's no wage to lose. That misses most of what a CTP claim actually covers. While income loss may be small or absent for someone who's retired, the rest of the claim is fully open — and for older people it's often the larger part:
- Treatment funding — GP and specialist care, physio, imaging, surgery, medication.
- Rehabilitation — to recover mobility and function as far as possible.
- Care and domestic assistance — help around the home when the injury makes daily tasks hard.
The care component, in particular, is frequently the most valuable part of an older person's claim. See statutory benefits explained.
Slower recovery is recognised, not penalised
Older bodies heal more slowly, and a crash injury can take longer to settle and leave more of a mark. The claim is built around the real recovery picture, not an idealised one. A fracture that would mend in eight weeks for a younger person might take far longer and affect mobility and independence well beyond that — and the claim reflects that reality.
Pre-existing conditions and aggravation
The worry we hear most: "They'll just say it was my age / my arthritis / my bad hip." The law doesn't work that way. It doesn't expect an older person to have a perfect, injury-free body. What it looks at is the change the crash caused — new pain, new restriction, new care need on top of the baseline.
An aggravation of an age-related or pre-existing condition is claimable where the crash made things materially worse. The key, as always, is an honest before-and-after picture and good medical documentation. See back injury after a car accident for how aggravation works in practice.
Independence and living arrangements
For an older person, the biggest impact of a crash injury is often on independence — being able to manage at home, drive, get to appointments, live the way they did before. The claim is built to recognise that:
- Care and assistance with daily tasks, now and forecast into the future.
- Home modifications where access becomes difficult.
- The cost of help that family can't fully provide.
Where the injury is non-threshold, these future care needs become a central part of the damages claim.
Fractures and older people
Fractures deserve a special mention, because they're common in older crash victims and often more serious — slower to heal, more likely to need surgery, more likely to affect mobility long-term. Most fractures are non-threshold, opening the damages claim, with future care and loss of independence often at the centre of it. See fractures after a car accident.
Pedestrians and the older crash victim
Not every older person's claim comes from being in a car. Older pedestrians are over-represented in serious injuries — struck at a crossing, in a car park, or near a bus stop. The motor accident scheme covers an older pedestrian hit by a vehicle just as it covers a driver or passenger, with the same statutory benefits and, where the injury is non-threshold, the same damages claim. For an older pedestrian, where the injury often lands hard on mobility and independence, the care and future-needs side of that claim is frequently the part that matters most.
Claiming on behalf of an elderly parent
Families often run the claim for an older parent — managing the calls, the forms, the insurer — especially when the injury makes all of that hard. We're glad to work with you as the point of contact with appropriate authority, and to keep the pace gentle and the explanations clear. You don't have to navigate the scheme alone.
What we do for you
One call. We get the claim in inside 28 days, set up treatment and the care and assistance that matters most, and build the future-care case where the injury is non-threshold. We handle the insurer and the paperwork so the focus can stay on recovery and getting life back. We don't take a contingency cut from your damages.
Take the short check at /check, or call (02) 7238 7379 and a real person picks up.