The 5 Important Questions When Using a Personal Injury Calculator

Using a personal injury calculator helps you work out how much your auto accident claims are really worth. Here are the top 5 questions people ask about assessing the exact value of their car insurance settlement.

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

The most basic approach that is known to be implemented for 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 degree of your auto accident injuries; the more significant your injuries, the larger the multiplier.

For example, a minor injury such as a sprained neck is more inclined to get a low multiplier (1.5-3). While a far more significant and debilitating injury, such as a broken leg, would get a greater multiplier (3-5). The multiplier range might even go to larger figures (10) for much more serious and long term 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 next thing which is applied in your insurance settlement is your loss of income. This refers to the total amount of wages you missed in response to your personal injuries. For instance, if you’re injuries caused you to stay home from work, in that case your lost earnings would equal your daily pay rate times the amount of work days you missed.

2. How Soon 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 Must Avoid Using the Personal Injury Calculator?

A lot of personal injury claims involve minimal injuries that don’t require you to immediately hire an expensive lawyer. For these particular claims, you may use the injury calculator to get a basic estimate of what your auto accident settlement could possibly be worth.

But the truth is, there are insurance claims which should not be handled without having the help of a skilled injury lawyer. Each of these auto accident claims involve more severe and long-term injuries like irreversible disabilities, lost or severed hands or legs, painful head injuries etc. If you were badly injured, your best course of action is to meet with a lawyer who is knowledgeable about claims similar to your various injuries.

4. How Reliable is the Personal Injury Calculator?

The injury calculator doesn’t give you the exact closing settlement, but a first estimate of the amount your injuries are really worth to the insurance companies.

Most of us would argue that the injury calculator is too simplistic. That it does not cover the intricacies and subtleties of an individual’s personal injury claim. Other people are quick to mention Colossus, a complicated software program used by the insurance companies to evaluate insurance claims.

Then again, the main advantage of trying the personal injury calculator is not to tell you what will be your actual settlement amount. The main advantage is to help you recognize how your specific settlement amount will be determined. The settlement calculator highlights that the range of your final settlement amount will be largely based on:

*The seriousness of your personal injuries

*Your total medical bills

*Your lost income

These are going to be the primary elements in your injury settlement no matter which specific software package you use.

5. Should I Use the Accident Injury Calculator?

You will always have the choice of getting a lawyer further down in the claims process. The best advice is to use the settlement calculator to get a quick evaluation of what your car accident claims can be worth.

Find more ways to increase your car accident claims and personal injury settlements