You may have recently been in a tragic car or truck rear-end accident where the claim and pain of the crash never seem to end. Although a company towed your vehicle to the nearest auto body shop for property damage repair and ambulance drivers sped you to the closest hospital for emergency surgery, the settlement has still not arrived. There may have been the wrongful death of a loved one involved in the accident. As long as there is a conflict regarding settlement costs between you and the at-fault driver, the rear-end collision trauma continues to haunt you.
For our lawyers at Strickland and Kendall, we understand your pain and suffering and have worked with hundreds of clients in similar auto accidents awaiting their settlement. Our team has become experts in calculating rear end settlement amounts due to countless courtroom experiences, dealing with a wide variety of auto accident cases. Not only will we explain more about how to calculate the average settlement for rear end car accidents or truck accidents, but we will also provide real-life examples of clients that won settlements and exited the legal process.
How to Calculate Rear-End Accident Settlement Amount
Although you cannot draw exact numbers for rear-end car accident settlements without an insurance adjustor’s settlement offer, there are economic damages and considerations you can assess to see whether your amount will be higher or lower.
Vehicle Damages
The first damage category judges and insurance adjustors will evaluate for determining an auto accident settlement amount are vehicle damages. Rear-end collisions vary in severity due to the speed and size of both automobiles involved, which will produce different compensation offers. These damages to your car or truck include exterior destruction such as the bumper and windshield and interior impairment on the framework and electrical system.
You should always make sure you hire a car service shop or official dealership to conduct a professional inspection of all vehicle damages so you can earn the settlement you deserve. Also, send photographs at the scene to accompany the review and speed up the settlement process. It is possible to calculate a general rear-end auto accident settlement amount by multiplying the total damage costs by 1.5 to 4.
Medical Expenses
Medical expenses are the next damage type that judges and insurance will consider through the professional insight of doctors and surgeons. Injury costs are multi-faceted and calculated by numerous factors like lost wages, current and ongoing medical expenses, and specific injuries.
Brain injuries settlement amounts for rear-end car accidents, for example, range from $10,000 to $100,000 while herniated discs average $65,000, depending upon the collision details. Whiplash is the most common type of injury for rear-end collisions, so you may have experienced this kind in your crash.
In addition, medical bills go beyond injuries and lost income alone and include appointments, procedures, and treatments that are not immediately apparent. Doctors will force you into these medical treatments to receive a complete recovery, but hidden fees you were unaware of will add and catch up several months later. They are, but are not limited to:
- Ambulance Rides
- Emergency Room Visits
- Hospital Stays
- Doctor’s Visits
- Surgeries
- X-rays, CAT Scans, and MRIs
- Physical Therapy
- Specialist Appointments
- Chiropractic Sessions
- In-Home Care
- Medications/Prescription Drugs
Mental/Emotional Distress
The last category judges and insurance adjustors take into consideration when calculating your rear-end car accident settlement amount is mental and emotional distress. Although abstract groups without quantifiable variables, you can justify a higher settlement amount based on the suffering you personally experienced in a collision. Specific indicators of mental/emotional stress in our client’s car and truck accident crashes are:
- Emotional Distress
- Embarrassment or Humiliation
- Inability to Perform Certain Tasks/Physical Activities
- Loss of Reputation Due to Collision
These unique rear-end damages earn up to 5 times more in courtrooms for settlement amounts than medical and vehicle destruction, making mental/emotional distress excellent legal reasons for obtaining a settlement. While this category can be more challenging to decipher regarding average compensation, an experienced car or truck accident lawyer can help you discover what payment amounts you qualify for based on your auto accident details.
Other Factors that Influence Settlement Cost
Vehicle damages, medical expenses, and mental/emotional distress are crucial case elements that judges and insurance adjustors record and study to determine an average settlement amount for your rear-end car accident. However, other case factors outside the specific collision for you and the plaintiff have equal weight towards a settlement.
In the case of multiple defendants, numerous insurance companies calculate different settlement amounts, every business competing against the other, and judges have to sort between them in the courtroom. Demographic information such as your age, occupation, driving history, and medical history are also significant during the settlement calculation process. Finally, your compensation amount will depend upon which court you appear in and what county that building is located in since each has its judge.
Car or Truck At-Fault Driver?
When calculating your rear-end settlement amount average, it is essential to know whether the at-fault driver was operating a car or truck. You can determine whether your deserved settlement compensation will be higher or lower by the opposing party’s vehicle type since rear-end truck collisions are more dangerous. In 2019, 11% of all motor accidents were caused by large truck accidents and proved they are genuine threats.
When their denser auto body and massive size rams into the back of your vehicle, it will cause more significant levels of critical injuries that spike medical expenses. They will inflict more damage to your car and often leave it in an unrepairable condition.
For instance, a liquid nitrogen-transporting tractor-trailer in California 2020 slammed into an innocent victim’s car, resulting in a tragic rear-end accident. He dealt with an intense herniated disc at the L5-S1 level that shot radicular suffering through his legs and earned him a total of $3.5 million. Similarly, an inattentive truck driver collided into the back of a Michigan finance pair’s automobile in 2015, and both parties agreed to a $1,365,000 settlement amount.
Obtain Your Rear-End Settlement with an Experienced Lawyer
To end your rear-end collision case and move forward in life from the physical and emotional trial you experienced, the judge, insurance adjustors, and jury must agree on your settlement amount. They have to seriously consider vehicle damages, medical expenses, and mental/emotional distress in addition to other factors such as the types of vehicles involved. By yourself, legal proceedings and courtroom hearings will only take longer, and an experienced auto accident lawyer can shorten that time.
We empathize with your exhaustion from the auto accident tragedy and wish to help you obtain a settlement amount and end the case once and for all. Our experienced car and truck lawyers are personal and will maintain a close attorney-client relationship through future legal processes, providing results rather than delays.
If you are interested in learning more about the average settlement for rear end car accidents and how to file a lawsuit with our auto accident attorney experts, call our office at 334.269.3230. We can schedule you for a free consultation to learn specific details about your rear-end collision and help you settle the case.