Top Five Questions Regarding a Personal Injury Calculator PDF Print E-mail
Written by Asif L Shaikh   
Thursday, 07 April 2011 23:29
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.
by AsifLShaikh


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 Bills + 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 very next step that is involved in the claims formula is your medical expenses, also called "special damages." These bills include the price of your medical treatments, visits to the hospital, ambulance ride, X-Rays, pain supplement 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 important time to use the personal injury calculator is towards the end of your medical treatment. Always have your injuries accurately diagnosed and reviewed before filing an injury claim. This provides you a more precise estimate of your total medical bills that ought to be provided in your final settlement.

3. Who Must Avoid Using 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.

Nonetheless, there are insurance claims which can't be handled without the help of a competent injury lawyer. Each of these auto accident claims involve serious and long-term injuries like irreversible disabilities, lost or severed hands or legs, painful head injuries etc. If you were significantly hurt, your best course of action is to talk with a lawyer who is familiar with claims related to your particular injuries.

4. How Accurate 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 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.

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 severeness of your injuries

*Your complete medical costs

*Your lost wages

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 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.

DISCLAIMER: This article is provided as information only and is not to be taken as financial advice.