Ontario’s Insurance Act (section 263) establishes a direct compensation — property damage (DCPD) scheme allowing not-at-fault accident victims to claim certain losses directly from their own insurer rather than from the at-fault driver’s insurer. The scheme was implemented to reduce inter-insurer litigation and streamline property damage recovery for not-at-fault claimants.
DCPD covers damage to your vehicle and its contents, and the loss of use of your vehicle, arising from a not-at-fault Ontario motor vehicle accident. DCPD applies when: the accident occurs in Ontario; the other vehicle is identified and insured in Ontario; and the insurer accepts that you were not at fault under the standard fault determination rules. Your own insurer compensates you as if they were the at-fault driver’s insurer.
DCPD limitations: DCPD does not cover personal injury claims — those remain subject to tort litigation and the accident benefits regime. DCPD also does not apply where the other vehicle is uninsured, unidentified, or registered outside Ontario. In those scenarios, your collision coverage or MVAC provides the applicable remedy.
Ontario’s Fault Determination Rules (O. Reg. 668/03) establish a standardized matrix of accident scenarios with prescribed fault allocations. These rules apply to all DCPD claims. Where the accident scenario maps onto a specific rule, fault is allocated according to prescribed percentages. Disputes about fault allocation under the DCPD regime can be pursued through FSRA arbitration.