How Much Is My Auto Accident Claim Worth?

Without a ridiculous amount of detail and a qualified personal injury lawyer licensed to practice in your state, it is difficult to answer this question with any accuracy. However, you can use publicly available data to extrapolate an amount, depending on which claim type you plan to file:

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the average bodily injury car insurance claim in 2019 paid $18,417. That’s assuming you are not the at-fault driver, have a visible-to-serious injury and settle directly with the car insurance provider.

Hospital bills for whiplash or neck-related pain and injuries from car accidents in 2013 totaled about $53,000-$97,000, on average. This number’s nearly a decade old, so expect significantly higher bills for those same injuries treated in hospitals today.

Most personal injury settlements for car accident claims in 2015 paid $64,761, according to the Civil Justice Initiative. However, no insurance company would likely offer that amount unless you have a personal injury attorney representing your claim.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data shows insurance companies typically only cover 54% of injury accident costs.

Let’s look at that first number from 2019, which is $18,417. According to NHTSA data, your actual costs from an auto accident injury are closer to double that amount. However, that’s only if you don’t need to go to the hospital, based on our second point above. Looking at the third number is probably closer to what you might expect filing an auto accident claim through a qualified attorney. However, that $18,417 is just 28.5% of the typical auto accident claim payout in 2015. You can likely expect up to 3.5x more money for your auto accident claim if you have an attorney vs. settling with insurance directly.