How long does a RAF claim take?

Expect a Road Accident Fund claim to take years. A straightforward claim with modest injuries and clear liability can settle in roughly one to two years. A serious injury claim with disputed liability, several expert reports and a trial date commonly takes three to five years, and sometimes longer. Nobody can promise you a date.

Before anything else, check that you are still inside the deadline. Under the Road Accident Fund Act 56 of 1996, a claim where the other driver was identified must generally be lodged within three years of the accident. A hit and run or unidentified driver claim must be lodged within two years, and that shorter period is applied strictly. Even once a claim is lodged, summons generally has to be issued within five years of the accident date. Our prescription checker will help you work out where you are.

The stages, and what each one costs you in time

Gathering documents: weeks to months. You need the police accident report and case number, hospital and ambulance records, proof of income and receipts. Hospital records in particular can take a long time to obtain, especially from a busy state facility. This stage is often slower than people expect and it is the part you have the most control over.

Lodging the claim: one day, if your file is complete. You or your attorney lodge the claim form with supporting documents at an RAF office. Keep a stamped copy and your claim number.

Merits investigation: several months to a year or more. The Fund investigates whether the other driver was negligent. It obtains the police docket, considers witness statements and forms a view. Where liability is obvious, such as a rear-end collision, this moves quicker. Where the docket is thin, or the other driver disputes what happened, it drags.

Medico-legal examinations: often the longest stage. You are examined by specialists, which can include an orthopaedic surgeon, a neurosurgeon, a clinical psychologist, an occupational therapist and an industrial psychologist, and an actuary then calculates future loss of earnings. Each report has to be booked, written and exchanged. The Fund usually appoints its own experts too. Diary clashes and postponements are routine.

If you are claiming general damages for pain and suffering, this is also where the serious injury assessment happens. A medical practitioner completes the prescribed serious injury assessment report, and the Fund decides whether it accepts the injury as serious. If it does not, there is a dispute route through an appeal tribunal, and that adds time.

Settlement negotiation or trial: months to years. Many claims settle before trial, sometimes at the door of the court. If it does not settle, you wait for a court date, and court rolls in the high courts that handle RAF matters are heavily loaded.

Payment: further months. Settlement is not the same as money in your account. The Fund is allowed a period after a settlement or court order to pay the capital amount, generally 180 days, and in practice payments are often slower than that. Where an undertaking has been given for future medical expenses, that is not paid as a lump sum at all. It is a written promise to cover qualifying treatment when you actually need it.

A worked example of the timeline

Lerato is a 41 year old bookkeeper. A taxi collides with her car at an intersection and she suffers a fractured pelvis and a mild head injury. The dates below are illustrative only, to show how the stages stack up. They are not a prediction for any claim.

• Month 0: the accident. The police open a case and she spends nine days in hospital.
• Months 1 to 4: she collects the accident report, the hospital file and her payslips. The hospital records take three months to arrive.
• Month 5: her attorney lodges the claim. The Fund issues a claim number.
• Months 5 to 14: the Fund investigates the merits. The taxi driver blames Lerato. The Fund requests the docket and witness statements.
• Months 12 to 26: medico-legal examinations. An orthopaedic surgeon, a neurosurgeon, a clinical psychologist, an occupational therapist and an industrial psychologist each examine her, and the Fund's experts do the same. The serious injury assessment is completed once her pelvis has healed as far as it will.
• Month 27: an actuary calculates past and future loss of earnings from the expert reports.
• Month 30: summons is issued because the Fund has not made an offer, and to protect the claim against prescription.
• Months 30 to 44: pre-trial procedures and a trial date. The matter settles two weeks before trial.
• Months 44 to 50: the Fund pays the capital amount. The undertaking for future medical treatment is issued separately.

That is a little over four years from accident to payment, with no unusual delays. If the taxi had been unidentified, the deadline to lodge would have been two years rather than three, and everything before month 24 would have had to move faster.

What makes a claim slower

• Serious or complex injuries, especially head injuries, where the full effect only becomes clear after treatment and rehabilitation. Settling too early can undervalue a claim badly.
• Disputed liability, particularly at intersections, in multi-vehicle collisions, or where you may have been partly at fault.
• An unidentified driver, where everything rests on witness evidence and the police record.
• Incomplete documents. Missing hospital records or missing proof of income stall a file for months.
• A dispute over whether the injury is serious, which sends the question to a tribunal.
• Being self-employed, because proving lost income takes more work than handing over payslips.

What actually speeds it up

You cannot make the Fund move faster, but you can stop being the reason for the delay.

1. Lodge early. Do not wait until you have recovered.
2. Get your documents together properly the first time. A complete file is the single biggest time saver.
3. Attend every medico-legal appointment. A missed appointment can cost months to rebook.
4. Keep records of every expense, every day off work and every medical visit as you go.
5. Ask your attorney for a written update at fixed intervals and ask specifically what the next step is and who it is waiting on.
6. Tell your attorney immediately if your condition changes or you lose your job because of the injury.

What to do this week if your claim has stalled

If your claim has been quiet for months, do these five things now.

1. Write to your attorney, or to the Fund if you lodged yourself, and ask for the claim number, the current stage, the next step and the date it is expected.
2. Check the accident date against the five year summons deadline. If it is within a year, ask in writing whether summons has been issued.
3. List every expert appointment you have attended and every report you know exists. Ask which reports are still outstanding and from whom.
4. Check that your contact details on file are current. Claims stall because a letter went to an old address.
5. If you get no substantive answer within a reasonable time, put a second request in writing and say that you will complain to the Legal Practice Council if there is no response.

Common mistakes that add months or years

• Missing a medico-legal appointment. Specialists are booked far ahead, so one missed slot can add three to six months.
• Not telling anyone that your job or symptoms changed. The expert reports then describe someone who no longer exists, and they have to be redone.
• Moving attorneys without collecting the file. The new firm has to reconstruct everything, and the old firm may hold the file until its fees are settled.
• Settling under pressure. It is faster, and it can cost you the future part of the claim.
• Assuming the Fund is chasing the claim. It is not. Somebody on your side has to drive it.

Your rights and the Fund's rights

You can: insist on written updates from your attorney; move your file to another firm; issue summons after the period the Act allows the Fund for investigation; and dispute a serious injury rejection through the appeal tribunal.

The Fund can: take the investigation period the Act allows before it has to settle or face summons; require you to attend its own experts; contest liability and quantum at trial; and take the period allowed for payment after settlement or judgment.

If you cannot afford an attorney

Lodging with the Fund directly is free and you can do it yourself. For a modest injury with clear liability, that is realistic. For a serious injury, most claimants use an attorney on a no win no fee basis under the Contingency Fees Act 66 of 1997, which caps the success fee at double the normal fee or 25% of the award, whichever is lower, excluding disbursements. Legal Aid South Africa can be reached on 0800 110 110 and applies a means test.

Do not confuse slow with worthless

The length of the process is not a sign your claim is weak. It is how the system works. What matters is that you are inside the time limits, that your evidence is complete, and that you do not settle before the medical picture is stable.

For how the money is worked out at the end of all this, see How much is a RAF claim worth? and our RAF claim range calculator, which shows illustrative bands only and is not a prediction of your outcome. For the mechanics of lodging, see How to claim from the Road Accident Fund.