The 5 Important Questions When Using a Personal Injury Calculator

Using a personal injury calculator lets you see how much your accident claims are truly worth. Below are the top 5 questions people ask about determining the exact value of their car insurance settlement.

1. How Does the Personal Injury Calculator Work out my Auto Accident Claim?

The most simple method which is widely known to be tried for auto accident injury claims is:

Pain Multiplier X Medical Charges + Loss of Wages

The "pain multiplier" is a number normally between 1.5 and 5. This multiplier number is chosen depending on the extent of your car accident injuries; the more severe your injuries, the higher the multiplier.

For example, a minor injury perhaps a sprained neck is more likely to have a lower multiplier (1.5-3). While a far more significant and painful injury, such as a broken leg, would get a bigger multiplier (3-5). The multiplier range may even go to bigger figures (10) for much more serious and permanent injuries.

The next element which is used in the claims formula is your medical bills, often called "special damages." These bills include the price of your medical treatments, visits to the hospital, ambulance ride, X-Rays, pain medicine etc.

The last thing that is applied in your insurance settlement is your loss of income. This refers to the amount of wages you lost as a result of your personal injuries. For example, if your injuries forced you to stay at home from work, then your lost wages would equal your daily pay rate times the number of work days you had missed.

2. When Should You Begin Using a Personal Injury Calculator?

The most appropriate time to apply the injury calculator is at the end of your medical treatment. You should always have your injuries fully diagnosed and analyzed before filing an injury claim. This gives you a more reliable estimate of your total medical bills that should be included in your final settlement.

3. Who Should Not Use the Personal Injury Calculator?

A lot of personal injury claims involve minor injuries that do not need you to immediately hire a high priced lawyer. For these particular claims, you may use the injury calculator to get a basic estimate of what your car accident settlement may be worth.

Nevertheless, there are insurance claims which can't be handled without the help of a skilled injury lawyer. These kinds of auto accident claims involve more severe and long-term injuries like permanent disabilities, lost or dismembered arms or legs, frightening head injuries etc. If you were badly harmed, your best course of action is to speak to a lawyer who is comfortable with claims very similar to your particular injuries.

4. How Precise is the Personal Injury Calculator?

The injury calculator really doesn't give you the specific final settlement, but a basic estimate of just how much your injuries are worth to the insurance companies.

Most people would claim that the injury calculator is too simplistic. That it does not deal with the intricacies and subtleties of an individual's personal injury claim. Some people are quick to mention Colossus, an advanced software program used by the insurance companies to examine insurance claims.

Having said that, the main advantage of trying the personal injury calculator is not to tell you what will be your exact settlement amount. The most important advantage is to help you recognize how your specific settlement amount will be calculated. The settlement calculator emphasizes that the range of your final settlement amount will be generally based on:

*The seriousness of your personal injuries

*Your complete medical costs

*Your financial loss

These are going to be the essential components in your injury settlement regardless of which specific software application you use.

5. Should I Use the Injury Calculator?

You will always have the option of bringing in a lawyer further down in the claims process. The safest advice is to use the settlement calculator to get a quick analysis of what your car accident claims can be worth.

Find out what to do after a car accident and personal injury