No lawyer-speak. No forms that sell your info. Just an honest settlement range, the math behind it, and plain-English guides for what comes next.
Medical bills, lost paychecks, and repairs. Rough numbers are fine — you can refine later.
From a sprain to a life-changing injury. This sets the multiplier for pain and suffering.
A realistic low and high — the same math adjusters run, minus the games. Every line of arithmetic is printed under your result.
The same multiplier method insurance adjusters use, three ways: instant, a guided walkthrough, or a check of an offer you already have. Every mode prints the arithmetic line by line, applies your state's fault rule, and gives you a printable report — generated on your device, no email asked.
Based on the multiplier method used by insurers and attorneys. This is an educational estimate, not legal advice — every claim is different.
This is the multiplier method — the framework insurance adjusters and personal injury attorneys use to put a first number on pain and suffering. We didn't invent it; we just refuse to hide it.
( Medical bills + Lost wages ) × severity multiplier (1.5× – 7×) + Property damage − your shared-fault % = your settlement range
The multiplier rises with severity and permanence of the injury; your state's comparative-fault rule then trims (or in a few states bars) the result. Every assumption is disclosed on the methodology page — formulas, sources, and what the method genuinely can't see.
There is no verifiable "average car accident settlement": most settlements are confidential, and published figures are marketing, not data — here's the proof. What exists is the multiplier framework. Here it is applied to one worked example — $12,500 in medical bills and $4,000 in lost wages — across every severity level:
| Injury severity | Multiplier | Example range ($16,500 economic damages) |
|---|---|---|
| Minor — soft tissue, full recovery | 1.5× – 2× | $24,750 – $33,000 |
| Moderate — treatment for months | 2× – 3× | $33,000 – $49,500 |
| Serious — fractures, surgery | 3× – 4× | $49,500 – $66,000 |
| Severe — long-term impairment | 4× – 5× | $66,000 – $82,500 |
| Catastrophic — permanent disability | 5× – 7× | $82,500 – $115,500 |
Your numbers will differ — that's the point. Put your real medical bills and lost wages into the calculator above and get the range for your claim, with the arithmetic printed.
No specialist is going to call you. Here's the actual path from injury to settlement — and how long each stage really takes.
See a doctor even if you feel fine — documented treatment is what makes an injury provable, and gaps are the adjuster's favorite argument.
Photos, the police report, witness names, every bill and missed shift. Claims are priced on paperwork.
Run the calculator before you hear the insurer's number, so their first offer doesn't become your anchor.
Paste their number into offer check. If it's below the band, the printed math is your negotiation script.
Under ~$10k with clear fault, self-negotiating can net more. Serious injuries or disputed fault — talk to a licensed attorney before signing anything.
Fault rules, filing deadlines, damage caps, workers' comp rates — every figure on these pages is cited to the statute or agency bulletin it comes from.
Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Texas calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Florida calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Ohio calculator →Modified comparative — 50% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Georgia calculator →Contributory negligence — any fault can bar recovery · 3-year filing deadline
Open the North Carolina calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Pennsylvania calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Indiana calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Oklahoma calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Iowa calculator →Modified comparative — 50% bar · 3-year filing deadline
Open the Colorado calculator →Pure comparative negligence · 2-year filing deadline
Open the California calculator →Pure comparative negligence · 3-year filing deadline
Open the New York calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the Illinois calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 3-year filing deadline
Open the Michigan calculator →Modified comparative — 51% bar · 2-year filing deadline
Open the New Jersey calculator →The full state directory — injury rules and workers' comp charts.
Browse every state →Understand your specific situation before you talk to an insurer — or a lawyer.
Average ranges, fault rules, and what to do after a crash.
Read the guide →Premises liability claims and how severity changes value.
Read the guide →Workers' comp vs. third-party claims, explained simply.
Read the guide →Why bike claims run higher — and how insurers fight them.
Read the guide →Owner liability, scarring multipliers, and typical payouts.
Read the guide →When treatment goes wrong: caps, experts, and timelines.
Read the guide →What you'll actually keep after attorney fees, costs, and medical liens.
Open the tool →Multiplier and per-diem methods side by side, all math shown.
Open the tool →The 17c formula insurers use for your car's lost value — line by line.
Open the tool →What the IRS can and can't touch, under IRC §104(a)(2).
Open the tool →Comp rate × scheduled weeks × impairment rating — the chart, demystified.
Open the tool →Four questions, verdict on the page — no email, no callback, no "specialist."
Open the check →Each page maps the injury onto the same disclosed multiplier framework — with a calculator preset to it, and the documentation that actually moves the number.
Every case links to the court opinion, and every one teaches the same lesson: the headline number is not the check. See the full verified case bank — including the honest reasons ordinary five-figure settlements never make the news.
Liciaga v. NYC Transit Authority (NY 2024). Permanent paraplegia, age 23 — the jury's pain-and-suffering award was cut to $16M on appeal. Catastrophic cases produce the biggest numbers, and appellate review routinely reduces them.
Read the court opinion →Werner Enterprises v. Blake (TX 2025). A nine-figure headline verdict, reversed outright by the Texas Supreme Court seven years later. Appeal risk is why plaintiffs accept settlements below verdict potential.
Read the court opinion →Johnson v. Monsanto (CA 2018). Punitive damages made the headline; post-trial review removed most of them while liability was affirmed. Gross figures are the start of the story, never the check.
Read the court opinion →Every settlement figure you'll ever hear — including ours — is gross. Fees, case costs, and medical liens come out before you see a dollar. Here's the subtraction nobody shows up front:
| Settlement (gross) | the number in the headline | $48,000 |
| Attorney fee | 33.3% contingency | − $16,000 |
| Case costs | records, filing, experts | − $1,800 |
| Medical liens | negotiated before disbursement | − $4,200 |
| What lands in your pocket | $48,000 − $22,000 | $26,000 |
Run your own numbers in the take-home calculator — and see how fee structures actually work and who can claim a lien before you sign anything.
No email walls, no phone number, no 'a specialist will call you shortly.' Your answer appears on this page — including the printable report.
The calculators run entirely in your browser. Open your browser's network tab: from the moment this page loads, your inputs are sent nowhere. We couldn't email your report if we wanted to.
Every result prints its arithmetic line by line — no proprietary scores, no black-box 'AI model' you have to take on faith.
It runs the same multiplier method insurers and attorneys use to anchor negotiations, and it shows you every line of that math. What no calculator can see is the strength of your evidence, your policy limits, and your venue — which is why we output an honest range instead of a fake single number.
Because one number would be fiction. The multiplier method itself produces a band (for example 2× to 3× your economic damages for a moderate injury). Sites that give you a single figure have just picked a point inside that band without telling you.
No. The calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is transmitted, stored, or seen by us. There is no sign-up and no email gate — even the printable report is generated on your device.
Yes — switch the calculator to 'Check an offer.' We grade the offer against the multiplier-method range for your numbers and show the implied multiplier arithmetic, so you can see exactly how far below (or inside) the honest band their number sits.
It's arithmetic, not a lottery: your economic damages (medical bills + lost wages) times a severity multiplier of roughly 1.5× to 7×. A soft-tissue claim with $5,000 in bills lands in five figures at best; a surgical injury with $50,000 in bills can support six. Published 'average settlement' figures are marketing — most real settlements are confidential — so run your own numbers instead.
Typical shape: finish treatment first (weeks to months — you can't price an unfinished injury), then 4–8 weeks for the insurer to respond to your demand letter, then several negotiation rounds. Simple claims resolve in 3–6 months; disputed fault or serious injuries run longer. Our settlement timeline page has a stage-by-stage estimator.
Mostly no: compensation for physical injuries — medical costs and the pain and suffering tied to them — is excluded from federal income tax under IRC §104(a)(2). The taxable exceptions: punitive damages, post-settlement interest, and previously deducted medical expenses. The settlement tax calculator walks your numbers through the split.
One that lands inside or above the honest multiplier band for your documented damages — after you account for the fees and liens that come out of it. First offers are routinely below band; that's a negotiating position, not a valuation. Run the offer through offer check to see the implied multiplier, and never accept before you've reached maximum medical improvement.