Non-economic damages specific to a vehicle crash.
Rough estimate only. Not legal advice - consult an attorney.
We multiply your crash-related medical bills by a severity factor, adding half a point if the injury is permanent, to estimate pain & suffering.
Only expenses tied directly to the accident count here, not unrelated medical history. This is the base figure everything else scales from, so keep your billing records organized and complete before running the numbers.
Pick the tier that matches your diagnosis and treatment course, from a 1.5x minor injury up to a 5x severe or permanent one. This mirrors the same tiers used across the site's other calculators, so a moderate crash injury and a moderate non-crash injury start from the same baseline.
If a physician has documented that the injury will not fully resolve, this tool adds an extra half point on top of the severity factor. That reflects the reality that a permanent limitation from a car accident, even a moderate one, tends to carry more long-term cost than a similar injury that heals completely.
We also have other calculators covering pain, suffering, and total compensation.
Car accidents produce a fairly predictable range of injuries: whiplash, soft-tissue strains, fractures, and occasionally something more serious like a herniated disc or a concussion. Insurers value the pain and suffering component by multiplying your crash-related medical bills by a severity factor. Whiplash that resolves fully within a few months sits at the low end of that scale. Surgery, nerve damage, or anything with lasting functional effects pushes the factor toward the top of the range. The adjuster's opening figure in a crash claim is rarely their final one, so treat this estimate as a starting reference rather than an expected outcome.
The single biggest factor beyond initial severity is permanence. A lasting functional limitation, chronic pain, or visible scarring supports the top of the multiplier range regardless of how the initial injury was classified. Back it up with imaging results and a physician's written opinion to make the higher figure defensible in negotiations, since permanence claims without documentation are the easiest for an adjuster to dismiss. For a broader look at total crash compensation, including lost wages and your share of fault, see the car accident compensation calculator.
Because permanence is a distinct factor from initial severity. A moderate injury that never fully resolves can end up valued similarly to a more severe injury that heals completely, so this tool adds a separate half-point rather than folding permanence into the severity dropdown alone.
The calculation method stays the same, but liability often gets more complicated with multiple vehicles, which can affect how much of the total claim you are entitled to collect. The pain and suffering formula itself does not change based on how many cars were involved.
Generally yes. Estimating too early, before your medical bills and prognosis are finalized, risks understating the claim if additional treatment or complications emerge later. A rough working estimate is fine early on, but treat any number before maximum medical improvement as provisional.
Not in terms of the pain and suffering formula itself, but rear-end collisions often come with clearer liability, since the rear driver is usually presumed at fault. Clearer liability tends to speed up negotiations rather than change the injury valuation directly.