The purpose of a car accident claim calculator is to help you determine the damages you are set to recover in your motor vehicle accident claim. Typically, these calculators take into effect your economic damages, your pain and suffering, and the percentage of fault attributable to you versus the other party. Once you input all of that information, the calculator provides an approximate value of your likely damages.
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What Types of Damages Can be Recovered in a Car Accident Case?
There are several types of damages that are incurred in a car accident, including out-of-pocket costs — also known as economic damages or special damages — and non-economic, or general damages, such as pain and suffering.
The following are some of the primary examples:
- The costs of medical bills, doctor’s visits, hospital stays, prescription medication, and medical tests and treatments.
- The damages to your personal property, such as the cost to repair or replace your vehicle.
- The wages or income you lost as a result of being unable to work after the accident.
- The value of your pain and suffering, mental anguish, psychological trauma, or scarring.
- The value of your overall decline in your quality of life, including the loss of enjoyment of activities that you are no longer able to do.
- The value of any future income you are losing as a result of not being able to work in your current position any longer.
Should you Trust a Car Accident Settlement Calculator?
Quite simply: no. While these calculators might seem like a convenient and quick way to determine the amount you might recover in your claim, they are far from accurate. They do not have the capacity to take into consideration the specific facts of your case, for starters—your injuries might be nuanced and different from run-of-the-mill personal injuries that people tend to suffer in a car accident, or the issue of liability may not be clear-cut. Moreover, these calculators are generic, and they don’t take into effect the different values in dealing with different parties or insurance companies. Online calculators might be somewhat precise regarding your actual costs incurred, but they are unlikely to be precise regarding your general damages, including pain and suffering and the loss of future wages.
While an online calculator might serve as a starting point for considering the extent of your damages, it should not be trusted for the purpose of ascertaining the precise amount you seek to recover. For that, you should speak with a knowledgeable and experienced personal injury attorney, someone who will carefully consider all of the various factors that are part of an accurate calculation of damages.
What Are the Individual Factors That Go Into Calculating Your Actual Damages?
There are many, and some of them are more influential than others in determining your damages, whether that calculation is being conducted by a jury during a trial, or by the insurance company during settlement negotiations. Some of those factors include the following:
- The extent of your personal injuries, and the extent of medical care and treatments you need in order to recover.
- The extent of any damage to your personal property, such as the damage to your vehicle.
- The extent of your pain and suffering.
- The extent of disruption to your daily life and the reduction to your overall quality of life.
- The amount of present and future income you are losing as a result of being unable to work after the accident.
- The extent to which you may have been at fault, versus the liability of the other party.
How Can The Francis Firm Help?
A car accident settlement calculator cannot offer you an accurate assessment of your damages, nor can it give you sound legal advice about recovering for the damages you’ve suffered in your car accident—but a knowledgeable and experienced personal injury attorney can. They can carefully consider all of the factors, circumstances, and facts that are unique to your case, applying the law, and assessing your damages accurately, so that you can request a fair and reasonable settlement.
Our experienced car accident lawyers will inform you of your legal rights and options, and we will work with you to make sure you receive the medical care you need. We will handle all correspondence and personal injury negotiations with the insurance company. If the insurance company refuses to offer full value in settlement, our trial-tested Texas personal injury lawyers are always ready to take them to court. Please reach out to us today for a free, no-obligation initial legal consultation online or by calling 817-329-9001. With our office in Southlake, we serve communities throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Tarrant County and Dallas County and other counties of Texas.