Car accident settlement calculator: what it can and cannot tell you
No car accident settlement calculator can tell you what your case is worth. Courts say there is no formula for pain and suffering. Any personal injury settlement calculator, or settlement calculator for car accident claims, that shows a total is guessing. The tool below does one honest job. It subtracts fees, bills and costs from an amount you enter.
Last checked November 9, 2026 · Official sources (29)
How do I use this car accident settlement calculator?
Type the amount of an offer or settlement. Then enter the medical bills and liens you must repay, your lawyer's fee as a percent, and the case costs. The tool shows what you would keep.
The starting numbers are an example. A $25,000 offer, $6,000 in bills and liens, a 33 percent fee and $500 in costs leaves $10,250. The tool takes the fee from the whole offer first. If your agreement takes costs out first, you would keep about $165 more. Arizona and Texas both require the fee agreement to say which way it works.
This is a subtraction tool, not a value tool. It does not know your injury, your share of fault or the other driver's policy. Those decide whether $25,000 is even on the table.
Can a settlement calculator for a car accident tell me what my case is worth?
No. Utah's model jury instruction says there is no fixed rule, standard or formula for pain and suffering. Massachusetts jury instructions give no math for pain, so no web form can either. Arizona asks jurors for the full amount that will reasonably and fairly compensate the injured person. Utah's insurance department adds that only a judge or jury can decide how much another person owes you.
Most online tools ask for your bills, your injury and your state, then multiply. We could not find a court or statute that uses a multiplier. It is a rule of thumb that tool makers chose.
| What the tool asks | What it leaves out |
|---|---|
| Total medical bills | Whether that is the amount billed or the amount paid. Arizona and Texas treat them differently. |
| Type of injury | Whether your records show it, and whether a doctor ties it to the crash. |
| Your state | Fault rules, insurance minimums and medical-bill rules that change from state to state. |
| Months of treatment | Why you treated that long. Length of care is a clue, not a price. |
Why do online personal injury settlement calculators give different answers?
They start from different medical numbers. In one Arizona case, providers charged almost $59,700 and accepted $16,837. The court let the plaintiff claim the full amount she was charged. Texas limits recovery to the amount actually paid or incurred, and its Supreme Court says that limit also controls the evidence at trial. In the Arizona case the two numbers differ by about $42,900.
They also lack real data. Federal researchers could not see tort settlement terms, because most stay private. A different federal report said settlement terms are typically not part of the public record for cases that settle. When a tool says it uses thousands of settlements, ask whose settlements and who checked them.
What really moves the number in a car accident case?
| What moves the number | What the law says |
|---|---|
| Medical care | Arizona jurors consider necessary care already received and care likely to be needed. |
| Lost pay | Lost earnings to date, and any lasting drop in earning power. |
| Pain and limits | Pain, disability, scars and anxiety, past and likely future. There is no formula. |
| Fault | Arizona reduces your damages by your share. Texas does too, and bars you above 50 percent. |
| Insurance | The other driver's policy limit. The legal minimum is $25,000 per person in Arizona and $30,000 in Texas. |
Notice what is missing: the age of your car, the size of the dent and the number of therapy visits. Each can point to a problem. None of them sets a price.
How do fault and policy limits change a real number?
EXAMPLE ONLY. These numbers are made up and predict nothing. Say a jury decided your full damages were $60,000. Here is what each rule leaves you, before fees and bills.
| What changes (example) | Arizona | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| No fault on you, enough insurance | $60,000 | $60,000 |
| You are 20 percent at fault | $48,000 | $48,000 |
| You are 55 percent at fault | $27,000 | $0 |
| No fault on you, but only a minimum policy and no other money | $25,000 | $30,000 |
The third row is the widest gap. The facts are the same, and one state pays $27,000 while the other pays nothing. The last row assumes no other source of money. Your own coverage may help, as the state table below shows.
What comes out of a car accident settlement before I get paid?
Lawyer fees, case costs and repayments come out first. Here is one made-up settlement run two ways. It uses a $30,000 settlement, a 33 percent fee, $3,000 in costs and $6,000 in bills and liens.
| Example only | Fee on the whole amount | Costs taken out first |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement | $30,000 | $30,000 |
| Case costs | minus $3,000 | minus $3,000 |
| Lawyer's fee | minus $9,900 | minus $8,910 |
| Bills and liens | minus $6,000 | minus $6,000 |
| You keep | $11,100 | $12,090 |
The $990 difference comes from one line in the fee agreement.
If Medicare paid for your care, its conditional payment must be repaid when you settle. Medicare reduces its recovery to account for the cost of getting the settlement.
Most injury money is not taxable income. Money paid for a physical injury is left out of gross income under IRS rules. Ask a tax professional about your own case.
How do Arizona and Texas rules change what a calculator should show?
| Issue | Arizona | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| Shared fault | Reduced by your share. | Barred above 50 percent. Otherwise reduced by your share. |
| Medical bills | An appeals court allowed the full amount charged. | Limited to the amount actually paid or incurred. |
| Minimum liability insurance | $25,000 per person, $50,000 for two or more. | $30,000 per person, $60,000 per accident. |
| Your own medical coverage | You need Medical Payments coverage for your own injuries to be covered. | Medical payments coverage pays your and your passengers' bills. Auto policies include PIP unless you refuse it in writing. PIP is not required above $2,500. |
| Deadline to sue | Two years. | Two years. |
A tool that never asks for your crash date is not watching the clock. If a government vehicle was involved, the notice deadline can be much shorter than two years.
What should I do instead of trusting a calculator?
- Collect every bill. Write beside each one what was charged and what was paid.
- Ask the other driver's insurer, in writing, for the bodily injury limit.
- Ask your own insurer whether your policy has MedPay or PIP, and uninsured motorist coverage.
- Ask your doctor, in writing, what care you will likely still need.
- Hold off on any release while your care plan is still open. A signed release usually ends the claim.
- Mark your deadline to sue on a calendar.
- Run any offer through the tool above. Then ask a lawyer to show you the same math with real numbers.
This tool is arithmetic, not legal advice, and we are not a law firm. A free case review from an injury lawyer beats any calculator. Bring your folder and ask them to put the numbers in dollars.
Questions
What is the average car accident settlement?
No government agency publishes an average you could plug in here. Federal researchers could not see tort settlement terms, because most stay private. Ask where any average came from.
Is a personal injury settlement calculator accurate?
Only the subtraction part. The value part cannot be, because courts say there is no formula.
Is pain and suffering three times my medical bills?
No court rule says so. Jury instructions in Utah and Massachusetts say there is no fixed formula.
Will I pay taxes on my settlement?
Money paid for a physical injury is left out of gross income under IRS rules. Check with a tax professional about your own case.
Does Medicare take part of my settlement?
If Medicare paid for your care, it must be repaid when you settle. It reduces its recovery for the cost of getting the settlement.
Find out if you are owed money.
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See if I’m owed moneySources (29)
- Utah Model Jury Instructions, checked 2026-11-09. “Pain, suffering, disfigurement and other such general damages are not capable of being exactly and accurately determined and there is no fixed rule, standard or formula in determining these general damages.”
- Massachusetts Superior Court Model Jury Instructions, checked 2026-11-09. “The law gives you no special formula to assess PLF’s damages.”
- Arizona Rules of Professional Conduct, ER 1.5 (State Bar of Arizona), checked 2026-11-09. “whether such expenses are to be deducted before or after the contingent fee is calculated.”
- Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct, checked 2026-11-09. “The agreement shall state the litigation and other expenses to be deducted from the recovery, and whether such expenses are to be deducted before or after the contingent fee is calculated.”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.001, checked 2026-11-09. “a claimant may not recover damages if his percentage of responsibility is greater than 50 percent.”
- A.R.S. § 12-2505, checked 2026-11-09. “If the jury applies either defense, the claimant's action is not barred, but the full damages shall be reduced in proportion to the relative degree of the claimant's fault which is a proximate cause of the injury or death, if any.”
- Arizona Department of Transportation, checked 2026-11-09. “$25,000 bodily injury liability for one person and $50,000 for two or more persons”
- Texas Department of Insurance, checked 2026-11-09. “Texas law requires you to have at least $30,000 of coverage for injuries per person, up to a total of $60,000 per accident”
- CMS, checked 2026-11-09. “must be repaid to Medicare when a settlement, judgment, award, or other payment is made.”
- Revised Arizona Jury Instructions (Civil), State Bar of Arizona, checked 2026-11-09. “you must then decide the full amount of money that will reasonably and fairly compensate”
- Utah Insurance Department, checked 2026-11-09. “Only a judge or jury can ultimately decide who was at fault in an accident or how much another person owes you for your damages.”
- Lopez v. Safeway Stores, Inc. (Ariz. Ct. App. 2006), checked 2026-11-09. “totaled almost $59,700, even though the providers accepted only $16,837”
- Lopez v. Safeway Stores, Inc. (Ariz. Ct. App. 2006), checked 2026-11-09. “Lopez was entitled to claim and recover the full amount of her reasonable medical expenses for which she was charged”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.0105, checked 2026-11-09. “recovery of medical or health care expenses incurred is limited to the amount actually paid or incurred by or on behalf of the claimant.”
- Haygood v. De Escabedo (Tex. 2011), checked 2026-11-09. “this statute limits recovery, and consequently the evidence at trial, to expenses that the provider has a legal right to be paid.”
- Bureau of Justice Statistics, Tort Cases in Large Counties, checked 2026-11-09. “Therefore, details of tort settlements are unknown.”
- Bureau of Justice Statistics, Tort Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005, checked 2026-11-09. “would typically not be made part of the public record for tort cases that settle.”
- Revised Arizona Jury Instructions (Civil), State Bar of Arizona, checked 2026-11-09. “Reasonable expenses for necessary medical care, treatment, and services already incurred and reasonably probable to be incurred in the future.”
- Revised Arizona Jury Instructions (Civil), State Bar of Arizona, checked 2026-11-09. “Lost earnings to date, and any decrease in earning power or capacity in the future.”
- Revised Arizona Jury Instructions (Civil), State Bar of Arizona, checked 2026-11-09. “The pain, discomfort, suffering, disability, disfigurement, and anxiety already experienced, and reasonably probable to be experienced in the future.”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 33.012, checked 2026-11-09. “the court shall reduce the amount of damages to be recovered by the claimant with respect to a cause of action by a percentage equal to the claimant's percentage of responsibility.”
- 42 CFR § 411.37, checked 2026-11-09. “Medicare reduces its recovery to take account of the cost of procuring the judgment or settlement”
- IRS, checked 2026-11-09. “IRC Section 104 explains that gross income does not include damages received on account of personal physical injuries and physical injuries.”
- Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions, checked 2026-11-09. “You need Medical Payments coverage to have your own injuries covered under an auto policy.”
- Texas Department of Insurance, checked 2026-11-09. “Medical payments coverage pays your and your passengers’ medical bills.”
- Texas Department of Insurance, checked 2026-11-09. “All auto policies in Texas include PIP coverage. If you don’t want it, you must tell the company in writing.”
- Tex. Ins. Code ch. 1952, checked 2026-11-09. “does not require an insurer to provide personal injury protection coverage in an amount that exceeds $2,500”
- A.R.S. § 12-542, checked 2026-11-09. “there shall be commenced and prosecuted within two years after the cause of action accrues”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003, checked 2026-11-09. “personal injury, forcible entry and detainer, and forcible detainer not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues.”