Car insurance claims in Alberta

Alberta is the province where the answer depends on when you ask. The regime in force keeps the injury lawsuit and has already moved vehicle damage to your own insurer. Section 585.1 of the Insurance Act provides that where two insured automobiles are involved, «an insured may recover for the damages to the insured’s automobile and its contents and for loss of use … from the insured’s insurer … as though the insured were a third party», that the recovery «must be based on the degree of fault of the insurer’s insured as determined under the fault determination rules prescribed by the regulations», and that the insured «has no right of action against any person involved in the accident other than the insured’s insurer» for that damage (s. 585.1(3), (4), (7)(a)). Those fault determination rules are the Direct Compensation for Property Damage Regulation, filed 17 June 2021 and in force 1 January 2022. If you think the grid has mis-assigned your fault, s. 585.1(5) lets you sue your own insurer and have the ordinary rules of law applied instead; if the dispute is about the amount of a proposed settlement, it goes to the process in s. 519.

Enacted but not in force is the Automobile Insurance Act, SA 2025, c. A-47, and its last section is the one that matters most: «104 This Act comes into force on Proclamation». The statute is consolidated and published, and the Government of Alberta’s own publication record labels it unproclaimed. When it does commence, it will apply only «to an accident that occurs on or after the date this section comes into force» (s. 2), and it will do to Alberta’s injury action what British Columbia did to its own — «a person has no right of action and must not commence or maintain proceedings respecting bodily injury or death sustained as a result of an accident» (s. 4(1)) — replacing it with insurer-paid compensation «regardless of whether the person is at fault for the accident» (s. 5(1)), with disputes going to an Alberta Automobile Care-first Tribunal. The machinery is already filed: the Insurance Act’s own regulation table records that the Automobile Accident Insurance Benefits Regulation and the Complaint Resolution Regulation are repealed, and the Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols and Minor Injury regulations amended, on the coming into force of s. 2. No commencement date has been proclaimed as far as this row’s sources go, and none is stated here.

The dates a driver needs today come from three statutes. A claimant who does not seek a remedial order within two years of first knowing that the injury occurred, that it was attributable to the defendant’s conduct, and that it warrants bringing a proceeding — or within ten years of the claim arising, whichever expires first — gives the defendant «immunity from liability» on pleading the Limitations Act (s. 3(1)). Where fault is shared, liability is «in proportion to the degree in which each person was at fault», apportioned equally if different degrees cannot be established, and no one is liable for loss their fault did not contribute to (Contributory Negligence Act, s. 1); two or more persons found at fault are jointly and severally liable to the person who suffered the loss (s. 2(2)). On payment, the statutory conditions deemed part of every policy require the insurer to pay «within 60 days after the proof of loss has been received by it», or fifteen days after a dispute-resolution decision, and no variation of that condition binds the insured (Insurance Act, s. 556, Statutory Condition 6(1)).

Compulsory cover is at least two hundred thousand dollars for any one accident, inclusive of bodily injury, death and property damage, with injury claims taking priority to the extent of $190,000 and property claims to the extent of $10,000 (Insurance Act, s. 571(1), (2)); an insurer may instead write $200,000 for each head separately (s. 571(3)). Alberta’s answer to the uninsured driver is a fund rather than a coverage, and the order of operations is what catches people: you must first recover a judgment for bodily injury or death, exhaust all proceedings including appeals, and only then apply to the Administrator for the judgment or its unsatisfied portion, paid from the General Revenue Fund (Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Act, s. 5(1), (2)). At the scene, the driver must remain or immediately return, render all reasonable assistance, and produce name, operator’s licence number, the registered owner’s name and address, the licence plate number and a financial responsibility card (Traffic Safety Act, s. 69(1)); a report must also go to a peace officer or an authorized police employee in the form the regulations prescribe (s. 71(1)). Whether any damage threshold applies to that report, the current minor-injury cap under Alta. Reg. 123/2004, the maximum payable from the Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Fund, and whether diminished value is recoverable, have not yet been verified against a primary text and are not stated here.