What is a Typical Settlement for a Car Accident in The US?

Dealing with a car accident is never a pleasant situation. Sometimes, it doesn’t result in any sort of injury, but there are cases when people can experience some severe injuries. Of course, this is not something that anyone predicts for obvious reasons. But it is always good to have an option for it.

One of the ways is to always have someone to call to help you with this occurrence. We are talking about having an attorney you can always reach out to. In case you require these services, be sure to visit here. Attorneys are there to make sure that you can get a proper settlement.

What needs to be understood about these accidents is that no two situations are the same. So, there’s no magic formula for coming up with a solution for these, especially when it comes to settlement. Today, we want to discuss the settlement and what you can expect from it. Let’s take a look at it.

Factors that Influence the Settlement

First, we want to discuss some factors that influence the settlement.

1. The Severity of Injuries

The first aspect you need to pay attention to is the severity of injuries. As you can presume, walking away from the accident with a few, minor injuries, like bruises, will not result in a high claim. However, if they are severe enough to lead you to the hospital, the settlement will immediately be higher.

What needs to be said is that not only physical damage is taken into consideration. There are two main categories, physical pain, and mental pain. Mental pain, while it can remain hidden for some time, can be even more dangerous than physical ones in some cases. Therefore, both of them should be considered.

2. Partial Guilt

In case some of your activities have led to the accident, then it is clear that you can be held accountable to some degree, for contributing to the whole situation. According to the word of law, the percentage of your guilt is carefully calculated and is deducted from the amount you will get as compensation.

The best example is when you drive too fast and you do not stop at a yellow light, and the next thing you remember is being in a hospital. Now seriously, whatever guilt you have will be taken into consideration and you can be sure that it can decline the amount of compensation quite a bit. So, be careful about that.

3. Financial Losses

Not only physical and mental injuries are taken into consideration. Numerous other financial losses can be caused by one of these accidents. For instance, the damage inflicted to your vehicle is also an important factor in determining the settlement. But this is not the only one.

You surely know that medical bills can become quite high. We can describe this element as an irreplaceable factor in any of these cases. Not to mention that all salaries you have lost during the recovery period should be compensated as well. Combining all of them can lead to a high amount.

4. Insurance Company

The coverage you have on your vehicle also influences the settlement. We are talking about both the type and amount of coverage. That aspect will determine the minimal compensation you can receive when the accident happens, which makes perfect sense. State law also has a say in this aspect.

Sure, you can file a personal lawsuit. But, if the party you’re filing a claim against doesn’t have anything to compensate you, you can end up empty-handed. That’s why it is crucial to have some sort of insurance that covers at least some percentage of the damage you have suffered.

5. State Laws

Every state within the US has its regulation in every field. So, nobody should be surprised that this is the case with car accident laws. Therefore, it is obvious that these affect the settlement, besides other aspects we’ve named here. The regulation you will fall under depends on the location of the accident.

Another aspect we want to discuss is that there are some no-fault states. If you suffer an accident in one of these states, then it is possible to make a personal injury claim if you experienced only minor injuries. We’re going to name just some of them, Kansas, Utah, North Dakota, Kentucky, and Florida.

6. Future Damage

The last element we want to discuss falls under the category of future damage. What do we think about when we say this? Well, future damage occurs when the person that experienced the accident sustains any sort of impairment or permanent disability. It leads to care that can last for a couple of months or years.

Without any doubt, calculating this sort of damage is not an easy thing to do. Numerous elements have a say in this influence. We are talking about the person’s education, career, cost of care, age, salary loss, etc. Each of these aspects is a part of the calculation, you can be sure of that.

What’s the Average Amount?

Anyone who has suffered this sort of accident wonders what sort of compensation is possible. As you can see from the factors we’ve named above, coming up with a precise amount is practically impossible. Sure, there are many attorneys out there who claim that they can win the case and bring riches to their clients.

When you look at it from the realistic side of things, you will see that this is simply not possible. Even though calculating these is not possible, there is an average amount. We are talking about $25k for minor injuries. However, take this with a grain of salt since, as we’ve said, each case is unique.

In Conclusion

As is the case with accidents, the amount for settlement is also highly unpredictable. In this article of ours, you can see an average amount for lesser injuries. Also, we’ve provided you with some factors that determine the amount. We’re sure you will find this insight helpful.