What Is the Average Car Accident Settlement Worth?

What Determines the Value of Your Car Accident Case?

There are a number of factors that determine how much an accident settlement is worth. The examples chosen here are the ones that most commonly come up in a car accident case. Some of these numbers are relatively straightforward to estimate, but only an experienced attorney can offer you a reasonably accurate estimate of the value of your particular case.

• Medical Costs
Damages for medical costs are meant to cover any medical expenses you or your loved ones might incur as a result of the accident. This includes medical costs that have already been paid, as well as expected medical costs in the event of a chronic injury.

• Lost Income
Most injuries will lead to at least some loss of productivity. A person with relatively light injuries might have to take a short period of time off from work, while a person with more severe injuries might permanently lose the ability to work. Damages for lost income are meant to cover this past and future drop in an individual’s earning ability.

• Property Loss
Most of the time, damages for property loss cover the cost of repairing or replacing the vehicle involved in the crash. It can also cover any other major property loss that took place as a result of the accident.

• Pain and Suffering
Damages for pain and suffering are meant to cover any physical or emotional hardship that a person suffers as a result of an injury. Because these things are hard to put a dollar value on, pain and suffering is usually applied as a multiplier to the other damages in a case. This multiplier usually ranges from 1.5 to 5, with only the most painful injuries multiplying the total damages by a factor of 5.