Do South Carolina Car Accident Settlement Calculators Really Work?
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Calculating the Settlement Value of a South Carolina Car Accident
If you were in a South Carolina car accident and are considering filing a claim for damages, you probably want to know how much to expect from your settlement.
That way, you can gauge any proposed settlement agreement to see whether it is fair and to avoid some potentially unsettling surprises in the process.
Looking around the web, you may have seen some accident settlement calculators. Car accident injury settlement calculators are popping up more and more these days. These auto accident payout calculators promise that they can accurately predict what a given accident settlement is worth.
The logical question is, Do these auto accident settlement calculators really work as promised? If they do, they are a handy tool for anyone to have. But if they don’t, they may do more harm than good.
Unfortunately, car accident settlement amounts calculators just don’t work. The only real way to get an educated estimate of your accident claim’s worth is to speak with an experienced car accident attorney.
Why Don’t Car Accident Lawsuit Calculators Work?
Car wreck settlement calculators do not work accurately for one reason: they cannot take into account the numerous factors that go into a settlement.
Every settlement is different, just like every car accident is different. There is simply no way that a car accident lawsuit calculator can account for all the external factors that go into a settlement.
What Can a Car Accident Estimate Calculator Do?
The only useful thing that a car accident estimate calculator can do for you is to calculate your total economic damages.
Economic damages are tangible and concrete; they have a precise dollar value. When we talk about economic damages, we are talking about things like missed wages, medical bills, and vehicle repair costs. Any bills that you have to pay as a result of the accident are economic damages.
Because economic damages are readily identifiable and quantifiable, car accident payout calculators can easily add them up. All you have to do is account for all the expenses and plug them into the calculator. This is useful, but the calculator on your phone can do it just as easily.
What Are Some of the Factors that Car Accident Settlement Calculators Fail to Account For?
As noted, there are several factors aside from economic damages that go into calculating any settlement value. In fact, the number of factors that can come into play is seemingly infinite.
In this section, we will go over just a few of those factors. The one common thread is that they all involve a degree of subjectivity and are difficult to predict. An experienced car accident attorney will know how to account for them when a car crash settlement calculator won’t.
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Non-Economic Damages
Settlement calculators may try to include non-economic damages in their calculations, but there’s no way that they can do so accurately. For one thing, non-economic damages like pain, suffering, and emotional distress don’t have a specific dollar value. Thus, their value is always subject to interpretation.
In addition, due to their subjective nature, proving the existence of non-economic damages is more difficult than providing economic damages. There’s just no way for a settlement calculator to accurately calculate the value of non-economic damages in a given claim.
Adding to the inherently subjective nature of non-economic damages, a settlement calculator cannot quantify them. Often, lawyers and judges calculate the value of non-economic damages using economic damages as a base number. Lawyers will compare the general severity of economic damages against the value of economic damages.
Then, they calculate the non-economic damages’ value by multiplying the value of the economic damages. In a case with $10,000 in economic damages and a lot of non-economic damages, they might use a factor of 10.
This would put the non-economic damages at $100,000. In a similar case with less economic damages, they may apply a factor of 4, which places the non-economic damage’s value at $40,000.
There is just no way that a simple online calculator can account for both the subjective nature of non-economic damages and the comparative subjectivity and interplay between the two types of damages. The good news is that attorneys have the tools and expertise to do both.
Punitive Damages
Though they are rare in car accident claims, punitive damages can be available when the defendant acts coercively, with malicious intent, or purposely in a given incident. But there is no way for a settlement calculator to determine the validity of your claim for punitive damages or chances of success in that regard.
Other External Factors
There are several factors related to all the different parties involved in a case that can impact a settlement’s outcome. Something as small as the day that an individual is having can influence settlement negotiations. People have good days, and people have bad days.
Sometimes lawyers do well negotiating with one lawyer but not so well with others. Some defendants have deep pockets and will go as far as possible to avoid paying anything out. Conversely, other defendants may go for a fair settlement offer right off the bat. Even a lawyer’s experience level can have an impact.
While a lawyer can’t necessarily account for all of these factors with 100% accuracy, they have experience with insurance companies, other attorneys, and insurance adjusters that will help give them an idea of how those individuals operate in settlement negotiations.
Where Calculators Can’t Do the Job, the Peace Law Firm Can
Don’t waste your time with car crash settlement calculators. At best, their answers will tell you how much your economic damages are worth. At worst, their answers can mislead you into thinking that a lowball settlement offer is fair. Don’t take that chance: once the settlement is done, it’s done.
Talk to the experienced car accident attorneys at the Peace Law Firm. Our team’s primary goal is to step up and advocate for those who have suffered injury and mistreatment. We’re here to represent real people, not the insurance companies.
Our knowledgeable team will work closely with you to estimate your settlement’s value using every tool and factor at our disposal. Our consultations are always free, so reach out for help today!
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