An insurer assessing a claim is not asking whether you are telling the truth. It is asking what can be proved, and how consistently. The people who do best in injury claims are not the ones with the worst injuries; they are the ones whose records line up. Most of that evidence is created in the first weeks, long before a lawyer is involved.

Key points

  • Claims are decided on records: photographs, incident reports, medical notes made in the first days, receipts and a diary.
  • Consistency between what you tell each doctor and the insurer matters more than any single document.
  • Insurers look at public social media and may lawfully use surveillance; describe your capacity accurately from day one.

Photographs

Photograph the scene before it changes: the vehicles and their positions, the hazard on the floor, the broken step, the machinery. Include something for scale. Photograph your injuries as they appear and as they heal, dated. A phone photo taken on the day is worth more than a professional one taken a month later.

Report it, and get the record

Report a motor accident to the police; it is a requirement of the CTP claim. Report a workplace injury to your employer and keep a copy of the incident report or the email you sent. Report a fall to the centre manager or owner and ask for it to be recorded, then note the name of the person you told. Later, an insurer will ask "was it reported?" and the answer needs to be yes, with a date.

See a doctor, and describe it the same way each time

Medical records are the backbone of every claim. Go to a doctor promptly, describe exactly how you were hurt, and describe every symptom, not only the worst one. The record made that day will be compared with everything you say afterwards. Inconsistencies between what you told the GP, the physiotherapist, the specialist and the insurer are the most common reason claims are discounted, and they usually arise from carelessness rather than dishonesty.

Keep every receipt

Treatment, medication, travel to appointments, equipment, help you have paid for. Keep them in one place. Small amounts add up, and unreceipted expenses are rarely recovered.

Keep a diary

A short weekly note of pain levels, what you could not do, appointments attended, and help you received from family: who did what and roughly how many hours. The Civil Liability Act only allows compensation for unpaid family care where it reaches six hours a week for six months, and the diary is how that is proved. It is also the best record of the days you could not work.

Witnesses

Names and phone numbers of anyone who saw what happened or helped you afterwards. Memories fade and people move; a name recorded on the day can be found a year later.

Ask for footage early

CCTV in shopping centres, venues, car parks and on buses is routinely overwritten within weeks. A written request from a lawyer preserves it. If footage exists of your incident, it is usually the single most valuable piece of evidence, and it is the first to disappear.

Social media: assume the insurer will see it

Insurers are entitled to investigate claims, and looking at public social media is routine. A photograph of you at a party, on a hike or lifting a child, posted while you are claiming that you cannot work or need help at home, will be put to you at the conference. The point is not that injured people must stay home; it is that a snapshot rarely shows the pain before or the recovery after, and an insurer will not add that context for you. Post less, and never post about the accident or the claim.

Surveillance

In CTP claims, insurers may lawfully conduct surveillance, and the Motor Accident Insurance Commission's claims management standards regulate how. Surveillance is used most where a claim's value depends on what a person can physically do. The best protection is the simplest: describe your capacity accurately from the first day, neither understating it nor overstating it, and it will match whatever anyone films.

Frequently asked questions

Should I keep a diary after an injury? Yes. A short weekly note of symptoms, what you could not do, appointments, and the help family gave you (who and how many hours) is the evidence that proves economic loss and care claims.

Can an insurer look at my social media? Yes, anything public. Posts that appear to contradict your stated limitations will be raised at the conference, without the context you would add. Post less and never post about the accident or claim.

How long is CCTV kept? Often only a few weeks before it is overwritten. A written request from a lawyer preserves it, which is one reason to get advice early.

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