Enter - Injury and Medical Expenses, Car and Other Property Damage, Loss of Earnings, Future Lost Income And Cost of Future Medical Care. The settlement calculator will estimate Economic Compensation, Non-Economic Compensation and Total Compensation.
You need to consider the gravity of the injury, the likelihood that there will be a re-injury, the likely expenses for future treatment, and more importantly, the future pain and suffering. Other variables include your jurisdiction's culture, the average bodily injury award in your county, and the average personal injury settlement in mandatory arbitration.
You can claim for physical and psychological injuries if medical evidence confirms the injuries were caused by the accident.
Common injuries include bruising, sprains, cuts, burns, fractures and sometimes post traumatic stress disorder.
Pain and suffering calculators add up all the costs associated with your personal injury, and then multiply them by 1.5 to 3 times.
So just add up your costs and multiply by 1.5 to 3 or occasionally to as much as 5.
(Insurance companies have what they think is an auto accident pain and suffering settlement calculator. The above personal injury settlement calculator is your own "Colossus" to use to dispute your insurance company claim computer results. Make the right move and put your insurance adjuster in checkmate and talk turkey to settle your claim for more money.)
Colossus
It’s a computer program. The main one is called Colossus. It’s believed to be used by many of the largest insurance companies in the country including Allstate, Aetna, Erie, The Hartford and USAA. Insurance companies that defend its use argue that Colossus makes injury claim settlements consistent and takes the guess work out of evaluating claims for settlement. (Another benefit, that the insurance companies don’t publicize, is that it results in lower settlement payouts.)
Colossus considers such things as the age of the injured person, where the injury occurred, the reputation of the injured person’s lawyer (if there is one) and, of course, the nature of the injuries.
Different insurance companies use their computer programs differently. Some use them to establish the amount they will pay for a pain and suffering settlement and they stick to that figure. Others use the computer result as a tool to be used, along with other considerations, by the person evaluating the claim and deciding how much to pay.
Generally, however, less experienced claims adjusters are required by all of the companies to stick closely to the Colossus evaluation.
One problem with Colossus and the other similar programs is that it is based on the information put into the program by the operator. In other words, garbage in, garbage out. If all of the symptoms aren’t accurately considered, there is a different result than there would be if the symptoms were accurately entered. So if you happen to get a rookie claims adjuster you might as well have obamacare auto insurance.
Another problem is that it is based on statistical averages and your case may not be average. Still another problem is that no computer program knows anything about the individual that was injured. It doesn’t know, for example, how that person tolerates pain, what their usual activities are and how their life was affected by the injuries. And these are the very things a judge or a jury will consider if the case ends up in court.
So, you need to know that the insurance company you are dealing with thinks it has an auto accident pain and suffering settlement calculator in Colossus or their version of it.
Hopefully, you will be dealing with an insurance company that recognizes the problems with Colossus that I just explained and will not be limited by the computer’s evaluation. If the insurance company gives discretion to its claims representative, and does not tie the representative’s hands with the computer program result, there are at least two other common ways to calculate auto accident pain and suffering settlements.
Multiple Of Specials Claim Evaluation Method
No one admits it, but a common method for determining the settlement value of a claim is to multiply the “special damages” (financial losses such as medical bills and lost income) times some multiplier to arrive at the total claim value. In routine cases, multipliers range from 1 ½ to 3, or occasionally to as much as 5. For example, if the special damages are $5,000 expect an adjuster using this approach to offer somewhere between $7,500 (1 ½ times $5,000) and $15,000 (3 times $5,000).
Per Diem Claim Evaluation Method
It would seem the best auto accident pain and suffering settlement calculator is the per diem approach.
This common sense method assigns a value to each day (that’s what per diem means) or each week or month – some period of time – and then adds those values up. Under this method, a certain amount would be assigned to each month of pain and suffering and the total for pain and suffering would be added to the financial losses to arrive at the total settlement.
For example, if the injured person was treated for her injuries for 4 months and you decided that $3,000 per month was fair compensation for dealing with the injuries, the pain and suffering settlement amount would be $12,000.
By adding that amount to the amount of the medical bills and lost income, you arrive at the total settlement value. So, if the medical bills and lost income were $5,000, for example, that would be added to the pain and suffering calculation of $12,000, yielding a total settlement value of $17,000.
If you want the driver who was at fault to pay you for your pain and suffering, which includes punishing the at fault driver for their reckless driving use this method.
Calculating the settlement value of a car accident claim is not a straightforward process, but it's possible to arrive at a rough estimate of compensable damages by examining the numbers in your case. Gather all your claim-related records together (including medical bills, vehicle damage estimates, and records of time missed at work) and plug your information into this calculator. What you'll end up with is a very rough estimate of the economic and non-economic damages that might be involved in your case.
Keep in mind that there is no universal, foolproof formula that can tell you what your car accident case is worth (learn more about various car accident settlement formulas). Settlement of any injury claim usually depends more on mastering the art of negotiation than on breaking down numbers. This calculator is intended to provide a rough starting estimate of compensable damages in a car accident claim, and is not a substitute for legal advice.
After you enter your data and hit "Calculate," the two dollar figures you see above the "Estimated Total Compensation" field represent the two main types of damages that are possible in most car accident cases: economic and non-economic. Economic damages are fairly easy to calculate (and to prove through documentation), including things like medical expenses (past and future), lost income (past and future), and the cost of getting your car repaired. Non-economic damages are consequences of an injury that are harder to put a dollar figure on -- things like pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life pursuits, and the emotional impact of the accident and resulting injuries.
Pain and suffering is considered the stress you experience from your injuries. It can include:
The definition is vague, but the law allows you to file an insurance claim for pain and suffering compensation. This amount is separate from lost wages and other medical expenses, such as x-rays, medications, and hospital visits.
If you do not seek medical treatment for the injuries that you sustain in a car accident, your car insurance company is unlikely to accept your claim of pain and suffering. Remember that the best ways to get adequate compensation for your claim are to:
There is no standard way to calculate the costs of pain and suffering. However, some commonly used methods by car insurance companies include:
In general, the more serious your injuries, the greater amount of compensation you can expect for your pain and suffering. Remember, going to the doctor will substantiate your personal injury claim and show that you were in fact suffering symptoms that required medical attention.
Auto Accident Claims Examples The best way to understand how to use an injury calculator for your personal settlement, is to look at an example of an auto accident injury claim.Whichever method you choose, be aware that you will need to provide the car insurance company with proof and evidence to support your personal injury claim. Provide as much documentation as you can, such as the following.
If you don't think you will be able to get the compensation you think you deserve working solely with your claims adjustor, consider hiring a personal injury lawyer. (NEVER accept the adjuster's first offer of compensation. He is hoping you a a sucker and will take it.)