Queensland Consolidated Acts

MOTOR ACCIDENT INSURANCE ACT 1994 - SECT 21

21 Selection of insurer

(1) On lodging an application for the registration of a motor vehicle with transport administration, the applicant must select a licensed insurer to be the insurer under the CTP insurance policy for the vehicle by exercising 1 of the following options—

(a) the applicant may, at the time of lodging the application, nominate, in a way approved by transport administration, a particular licensed insurer to be the insurer under the CTP insurance policy for the vehicle and pay the appropriate insurance premium to transport administration;

(b) the applicant may lodge with the application a certificate in a form approved by the commission certifying that the appropriate insurance premium has been paid to the licensed insurer on whose behalf the certificate is issued.

(2) The registered operator of a registered motor vehicle may, on lodging an application for renewal of registration or at any other time, change the insurer for the vehicle as from the end of the current registration period by nominating, in a way approved by transport administration, another licensed insurer as the insurer of the motor vehicle.

(3) However—

(a) if a registered operator lodges an application for renewal of registration before the end of a current period of registration, a nomination to change the insurer for the period for which the renewal is to take effect can not be made after the time of lodging the application for renewal; and

(b) a nomination under subsection (2) becomes void if, between the time it is lodged and the time it is to take effect—

(i) the registration of the motor vehicle is transferred; or

(ii) a further notice of nomination is lodged with transport administration under subsection (2) .

(4) On lodging an application for renewal of the registration of a motor vehicle with transport administration, the applicant must—

(a) pay the appropriate insurance premium to transport administration; or

(b) lodge with transport administration a certificate in a form approved by the commission certifying that the appropriate insurance premium (for the period for which the registration is to be renewed) has been paid to the licensed insurer on whose behalf the certificate is issued.

(5) If an applicant for registration or renewal of registration of a motor vehicle pays to transport administration an amount that is (after subtracting any amount payable to transport administration by way of registration fees and charges) less than the appropriate insurance premium but within the tolerances set by the commission—

(a) the applicant is taken to have paid the appropriate insurance premium; and

(b) the amount is to be applied as follows—

(i) first to paying the registration fees and charges, the administration fee and the levies;

(ii) secondly to paying the remaining balance to the insurer.

(6) However, in a case to which subsection (5) applies, the CTP insurer may recover, as a debt, from the registered operator of the motor vehicle the difference between the insurer’s premium the insurer would have received if the insurance premium had been paid in full and the amount actually received by the insurer.

(7) The commission may—

(a) fix tolerances for subsection (5) ; or

(b) change or replace tolerances previously fixed for subsection (5) .

(8) When the commission fixes the tolerances (or changes or replaces tolerances previously fixed), the commission must give written notice of the tolerances (or the new tolerances) to transport administration and all licensed insurers.

(9) For this section—

(a) a person is taken to have made a nomination in a way approved by transport administration if the nomination is communicated to transport administration in a way transport administration considers acceptable; and

(b) a person is taken to have lodged a certificate with transport administration if the certificate or its contents are transmitted to, and received by, transport administration in a way transport administration considers acceptable.

(10) In this section—

"appropriate insurance premium" means the gross insurance premium calculated by reference to—

(a) the period for which registration is to be granted or renewed; and

(b) the class of motor vehicle; and

(c) the insurer’s premium for the insurer last selected under this section for the relevant class of insurance.