Walking away from a car accident doesn’t mean walking away unscathed. Millions of Americans are injured in car accidents yearly, with the National Safety Council reporting 2.4 million injuries in 2022.
You shouldn’t be left out of pocket because of someone else’s negligence, so it makes sense that the first question you probably have is how much you’re entitled to.
The answer is simple: it depends.
In this guide, we’ll explore how much your car accident claim could be worth and the factors influencing payouts.
Key Takeaways
- Car accident settlement calculators provide a quick and easy way to estimate how much your car accident settlement could be worth.
- Calculators factor in both economic and non-economic damages. The best way to get an accurate estimate is by gathering evidence about your accident.
- Different calculators rely on alternate methodologies to calculate settlements, such as through the Per Diem and multiplier methods.
- These tools have several limitations, such as being unable to factor in long-term injuries and disability. Use these tools as a starting point before contacting a lawyer for a more accurate estimate.
- Auto insurers also rely on settlement calculators to provide generalized estimates of car accident damages. They tend to favor the multiplier method to determine settlement offers.
- The best way to get an accurate car accident settlement estimate is to talk to an attorney who will refine a calculator’s figures using additional sources of evidence, including recent Texas car accident lawsuits.
How Much are Most Car Accident Settlements?
Data from the Insurance Information Institute reveals the average car accident payout was $26,501 for bodily injury and $6,551 for property damage. These figures are nationwide averages and don’t take into account serious accidents, which could be worth millions.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 5.9 million police-reported crashes in 2022, with a significant number resulting in insurance claims and lawsuits. The best way to find out how much your crash is worth is to speak to a lawyer.
How Do I Calculate My Settlement Amount?
Your settlement amount is determined by economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include direct financial losses, such as medical bills and lost wages. Non-economic damages consider issues like pain and suffering, and emotional distress.
The general principle is that the more severe your losses, the more you can expect from your settlement. However, every case is unique, which is why it’s wise to contact an experienced car accident attorney for more information on how much you could be entitled to based on the specifics of your case.
What is a Good Settlement Offer?
A good settlement offer depends on your case. Generally, a car accident settlement offer from the at-fault driver’s insurance company should fully cover your medical expenses, time away from work, and property damage. Additionally, you should be properly compensated for accident-related trauma.
Proficient lawyers leverage their experience to determine the dollar value of your damages and then push for a number as close to this as possible. In cases where insurers don’t present a worthwhile settlement offer, your lawyer may recommend filing a lawsuit and settling the matter in court.
How Do Settlement Calculators Work?
Settlement calculators provide a ballpark figure of how much your personal injury claim could be worth based on publicly available data. Simply enter the relevant details, such as the severity of your injuries, and the calculator will provide a dollar figure.
Understand that calculators aren’t designed to be definitive figures because they focus only on the general nature of your accident. The exact nuances are issues managed by your attorney, so it’s not uncommon for your actual settlement to be higher than what the calculator claims.
Additionally, it’s critical to mention that your accident-related expenses may not be initially available, such as if you’re receiving ongoing treatment. Nevertheless, they remain an essential tool for giving you a basic idea of how much you could be entitled to.
Key Factors Influencing Your Settlement Amount
Your settlement amount revolves around the extent of the damages you sustained. Someone with life-changing injuries will always be entitled to more than someone who walks away from an accident with cuts and bruises.
Let’s go into the core factors influencing your settlement amount.
Injury Severity and Medical Expenses
Injury severity is the primary factor involved in calculating personal injury settlement values. Not only will the initial impact of your injuries be considered, but so will the long-term implications. For example, you’ll get a larger settlement if your injuries leave you with a permanent disability and you’re unable to return to a normal life.
Your medical expenses will be calculated dollar-for-dollar, including:
- Ambulance costs
- Physiotherapy
- Surgery
- Prescription costs
- Medical aids (crutches, wheelchairs, etc.)
- Mental health treatment
Lost Wages and Future Earning Capacity
Every shift you miss because of your injuries will be added to your settlement demand. You’re entitled to every dollar lost due to missed hours. Furthermore, if you can’t return to your job, you’ll also receive compensation for future lost income.
Pain and Suffering: Defining Non-Economic Damages
Pain and suffering damages address the trauma of your car accident. It’s often the largest part of any settlement because it’s calculated using a multiplier between 1.5 and 5. Long-term trauma, like physical pain that turns chronic, will result in a higher multiplier.
According to an NBC News report, 39.2% of car accident survivors develop symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), meaning more car accident victims than you think will receive substantial pain and suffering damages.
The only proper way to get an accurate idea of what your pain and suffering could be worth is by consulting a personal injury lawyer. However, you can get an idea by adhering to some general guidelines. For example, if you’ve got a permanent disability, multiply your economic damages by the maximum pain and suffering multiplier of five.
Comparative Negligence: How Fault Affects Your Settlement
Texas is an at-fault state that utilizes the comparative negligence model. Under Texas law, fault may be shared, meaning your settlement will be reduced based on your contribution to the accident.
For example, if you were considered 30% responsible for your accident, your final settlement will be reduced by 30%.
Moreover, under the 51% bar rule, you cannot claim any financial compensation if you were 51% or more to blame for the accident, regardless of the damages you sustained.
Methods Used in Car Accident Settlement Calculators
Car accident settlement calculators may use different formulas to calculate payouts. Some calculators may allow you to select multiple methodologies to see how they impact your payout.
Regardless of the specific calculator, the multiplier and Per Diem methods are the two most common methodologies because they align with how Texas courts assign dollar values to car accident calculations.
The Multiplier Method
The multiplier method is the most common technique for calculating car accident settlements. It involves adding together all economic damages and multiplying them using an assigned multiplier number between 1.5 and 5.
The chosen multiplier relies on different factors, including pain and suffering, injury severity, and long-term impact. Often, this is one of the biggest points of contention during settlement negotiations.
Understanding the Per Diem Method
The Per Diem Method determines compensation by assigning a daily rate to your pain and suffering. In other words, if it takes 180 days to recover from your accident, a daily dollar rate will be chosen and multiplied by 180 for a final dollar figure.
It’s a less common methodology reserved for victims with temporary injuries where the expected recovery time has been defined. The reason it isn’t used as often is that it’s far less effective when dealing with long-term injuries and disability.
For example, if your daily rate is $300 and you take 180 days to recover, your settlement will be worth $54,000.
Combining Approaches for Accurate Estimates
Occasionally, car accident claims may use a hybrid approach, using the multiplier and Per Diem methods to arrive at a more accurate settlement estimate. It’s the least common option, but attorneys will sometimes advocate for it.
Cases where the combined approach is more suitable include:
- Chronic pain/disability
- Severe but short-term injuries
- Moderate to extreme emotional address
The aim of the hybrid method is to overcome the weaknesses of the multiplier and Per Diem methods.
Common Limitations of Settlement Calculators
Settlement calculators aren’t perfect, and they shouldn’t be taken as gospel. On the contrary, they’re designed to provide an instant estimate based on broad generalizations. They’re a starting point that doesn’t factor in personal nuances and the difficulties of complex cases.
Why Personal Nuances Matter
Every case is unique isn’t a slogan but a fact. Settlement calculators use general formulas and basic numbers to arrive at a final figure, but cases are far more complex than that.
Injury severity is hard to gauge. Likewise, the picture gets even blurrier when pre-existing conditions come into play. Add on qualify of life changes, where you’re claiming for loss of quality of life and loss of enjoyment, and it becomes even more complicated.
So many aspects of personal injury cases are subjective, which is why calculators alone can’t be relied on.
The Importance of Legal Advice in Calculating Damages
The best way to calculate damages is to get a case consultation from an experienced personal injury lawyer. They’ll calculate your settlement award based on a broader range of factors that a calculator can’t manage.
For example, they’ll use their experience of recent and historical legal cases as a benchmark. They might also consider issues of comparative negligence and insurance policy limits alongside state law.
And it’s also vital to mention that plaintiffs using calculators are often asked to estimate issues like multipliers, which they might not be equipped to do.
Potential Oversimplification of Complex Cases
Personal injury settlement calculators are best used for basic, straightforward cases with few wrinkles. The fact is that complicated medical and legal problems make calculators less effective.
Some of the issues that calculators can’t appropriately account for include:
- Emotional trauma
- Multi-party liability
- Long-term injuries
- Permanent disabilities
- Punitive damages
The Role of Insurance Companies in Settlement Calculations
Insurance companies perform their own calculations using strict formulas. In essence, they also use calculators and expert intervention to determine what they’ll put forward as an offer. Understand that insurance companies are purely about profit, so their calculations will always be lower than your attorney’s.
As a rule, always assume an insurer’s initial offer is a gross underestimation of what you’re actually entitled to. Instead, see it as a starting point for several rounds of negotiations.
How Insurance Firms Calculate Offers
Insurance adjusters begin by inspecting the details relating to your accident and then calculate both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are straightforward enough but non-economic damages are where disputes often occur.
Auto insurers usually use the multiplier method, but they’ll often use a lower multiplier than your attorney, which is why initial settlement offers are often so far apart. It’s also not uncommon for them to not account for the nuances of your case. This one-size-fits-all approach is why working with an attorney is crucial to avoid leaving money on the table.
Understanding Policy Limits and Their Impact
Under Texas law, no cap exists on personal injury damages related to car accidents. However, all insurance policies have damage caps in place, meaning there’s an upper limit to how much an auto insurer will pay for your accident.
For example, the minimum legal auto insurance requirement in Texas is $60,000 in bodily injury per accident. You cannot receive more than $60,000 in bodily injury damages if this is what the at-fault driver had as their policy.
That’s why you must be prepared to file a lawsuit against the driver personally if their insurance is insufficient to cover your losses. It’s also why it’s strongly recommended that all motorists take out underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage so they’re not left out of pocket.
Negotiation Tactics: Tips for Maximizing Your Settlement
Insurers have the sole purpose of minimizing your payout because their priority is their bottom line. Entering negotiations means assessing their arguments and demolishing them with hard evidence, which is where the value of an attorney comes to the fore.
Follow these tips for maximizing your settlement:
- Never accept the first offer.
- Let your attorney do the talking.
- Gather additional evidence to campaign for a higher settlement.
- Stick to the facts, and don’t speculate.
- Never admit any degree of fault.
- Threaten to file a lawsuit early to put the pressure on.
Above all, hire a lawyer as early as possible during the process and allow them to take charge of negotiations. You’re not obligated to speak to insurance adjusters, and you’re not required to tell them anything, which extends to providing recorded statements.
Consulting a Personal Injury Lawyer for Accurate Case Evaluation
Personal injury lawyers are experts in case evaluation because of their knowledge and expertise. Naturally, accident victims don’t know where to begin when it comes to calculating their own settlements, even using the help of a handy calculator.
Your lawyer will also use calculators as a starting point before refining the calculation to arrive at an accurate figure. And that’s why enlisting a lawyer is the best decision you can possibly make.
When to Seek Assistance from a Car Accident Lawyer
Car accident lawyers play an integral role in ensuring you get the compensation you deserve. Auto insurers spend millions on legal professionals to protect their bottom lines, so don’t put yourself at a disadvantage by tackling your case alone.
If any of the following applies to you, consult a local car accident attorney immediately:
- Severe injuries
- Permanent disabilities
- Disputed liability
- Bad-faith insurance tactics
- Denied claims
- Multiple liable parties
- Wrongful death cases
How Lawyers Use Calculators to Advocate for Clients
Your attorney will use a personal injury calculator to provide a quick idea of what a potential case could be worth. With a starting point, they’ll dig into the various nuances associated with your case that a calculator cannot account for.
Here are some of the ways they might refine your settlement calculation after obtaining an initial figure:
- Finding the Correct Multiplier – When using a calculator, a lawyer will use a generic range. After gathering extra evidence, they’ll refine that pain and suffering multiplier to arrive at a more accurate figure.
- Long-Term Costs – The next step is to factor in the long-term medical costs you may encounter after your condition has stabilized. For example, this might include future medical expenses or lost earning potential.
- Previous Cases – Your lawyer is also likely to research the outcomes of similar cases. Focusing on other Texas cases informs your estimated settlement figure and can also be used as a weapon against the at-fault driver’s insurer for demanding a higher settlement.
Calculators aren’t the final decision makers when estimating car accident case value, but they are a tool to help them arrive at a defensible figure.
Maximizing Your Claim: Tips for Using a Settlement Calculator Effectively
Your settlement calculator is an excellent starting point, but how valuable it is depends entirely on how it’s used. The quality of the data you enter will determine the quality of the number you get out of it.
So, how can you make the most of your settlement calculator?
Gathering Necessary Information for Accurate Estimates
Settlement calculators are only as good as the numbers you put into them. Increase their accuracy by gathering as much information as possible related to your losses.
Before you start using a settlement calculator, you should have the following:
- Your medical bills
- Lost wages
- Property damage estimates
- Pain and suffering factors
- Specific injury severity
Ensure that you already have an idea of whether you’ll assume any blame for the accident. Since Texas is a shared fault state, your final settlement will be reduced by the percentage you’re responsible for the accident.
Utilizing Multiple Calculators for Comparative Analysis
Settlement calculators aren’t standardized. Ensure you know which methodology a particular calculator uses to determine settlement figures. Aim to get calculations using the multiplier, Per Diem, and hybrid methods.
Comparing the different results will provide a more accurate range of what you could be entitled to. Additionally, using several calculators gives you a higher chance of ironing out more of the inconsistencies.
Once you’ve got a settlement range you can rely on, it’s time to get in touch with an experienced personal injury attorney for a more in-depth case evaluation. At DJC Law, we’ve been fighting for the rights of car accident victims in Texas for over 15 years. With a 99% case success rate and more than $400 million in settlements won, we’re one of the leading personal injury firms in the Lone Star State.
If you’re ready for an accurate estimate of your personal injury settlement, contact DJC Law for your free consultation today.