How Much is Pain and Suffering Worth in a Car Accident?

After suffering an accident, you often suffer more than just physical injuries. Besides physical damage, you're also eligible to receive compensation for pain and suffering damages, depending on the severity of your accident. They fall under general damages and comprise all non-financial losses such as emotional damage, permanent disabilities, and inability to work resulting from the accident.

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How Insurance Companies Determine How Much to Compensate You for Pain and Suffering Damages

1. The Multiplier Method

In the past, insurance companies have used the multiplier method to calculate how much compensation to give you for pain and suffering. This method involves taking all your medical bills and hard costs and multiplying them by a constant number. This multiplier used to be either 2 or 3 in most cases.

However, in the recent past, insurance companies have been deviating from the traditional multiplier method to be fairer to accident victims. Instead of the old compensation method, they started using their unique formula to calculate the amount of compensation to pay. The following factors influence how the insurance companies determine how to compensate the general damages:

• The severity of the accident victim's injuries

• The cost of medical treatment that you will require to treat the injuries, both in the present and in the future

• Whether or not you will suffer from long-term damages as a result of the car accident

• Whether your injuries can limit your ability to handle your daily activities or follow your usual interests

• An additional factor is any gross negligence on the part of the driver who's at fault

2. Compensation Using the Current Multiplier Method

Insurance companies follow the following steps to determine your compensation:

1. Start with how much they owe you in physical damage

They add the total car repairs, medical costs, and other hard costs.

2. Evaluating and rating the severity of your accident

The severity of your situation is subjective, but they can apply some logic to come up with a figure. For example, how long after the injury do you have to live with pain? Living with the pain for years or the rest of your life is more severe than living with it for several months. If you lose the ability to walk, it might be even worse. They rate the severity of your pain on a scale of 1-5.

3. Multiplying the starting cost by the rating of your pain

They multiply your starting cost by the rating of your pain. For instance, if your starting expense in medical bills and hard costs was $100,000 and they rated your suffering with a 4, your pain and suffering damages will amount to $400,000.

3. The Per Diem Method

This method calculates the number of days you suffer from the accident and multiplies it by a monetary value. Through this method, the victim's daily income also affects how much compensation they get. For example, if your wage is minimum, you may get higher pain compensation. Also, if you're the primary caregiver in your home and take care of most house chores, this may increase your compensation amount.