How to Determine Pain and Suffering in a Car Accident Case?

Before you file a car accident claim to recover compensation from an insurer it is important that you have an idea of how much your claim is actually worth. Insurers apply various methods to determine compensation in an accident claim. The insurer will reimburse you for medical expenses and loss of income due to absence from work.

In addition, another component of compensation is pain and suffering and there are certain methods applied by the insurance company to calculate this component. Accident lawyers in New York, NY point out that there are actually two methods commonly applied to calculate pain and suffering: the per diem and the multiplier method.

Did someone hit you? Is your car totaled? Even if it is not a wrecked car is no fun to look at and someone else should pay to have it fixed. Body shops do not work unless someone is paying and it should not be you. If you have to pay in the beginning, the other side should reimburse you and then some.

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Multiplier Method

Insurers often multiply the actual damages such as wage loss and medical expenses by three to arrive at a figure that they perceive you are entitled to receive. For example, if your medical expenses are $4,000 and wage loss $1,000 then you will get $5,000. The insurance company will then multiply the $5,000 by 3, which is $15,000, which will be the total amount of compensation for your accident claim.

New York accident attorneys reveal that in the recent past insurers have become more reluctant to offer three times the actual damage amount as compensation. They now apply a complex software system to calculate compensation, as a result of which most claims are undervalued. We saw some complex software in the movie Along Came Polly. In that movie, Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) was an insurance pro who had software that had an algorithm to find out if someone was worth the risk of being insured. So even Hollywood knows about software like this. Just do not use this software to judge your girlfriend to see if she is marriage worthy and if you do, do not let her know you did this like Feffer screwed up doing. That will be an awkward moment!

The multiplier depends on several factors such as the extent of your injuries, whether the injuries have aggravated certain underlying conditions, and the recovery time that you will need.

For instance, if you have suffered a serious injury, then the insurer will allow a multiplier of 3 or 4. If the injuries are relatively minor then multipliers are usually 1 or 2. Multipliers are higher when accidents are caused by drunk drivers. Similarly, accident lawyers in New York, NY reiterate that if you are partly responsible for the accident you will be assigned a lower multiplier.

While determining the multiplier, the insurer also takes into account the type of medical treatment that you have sought. Sometimes victims of an auto accident take advantage of an excessive amount of treatment just to spike up the compensation. For example, there are instances when individuals avail 3 months of chiropractic care for a minor injury. The insurers do not entertain such claims.

Daily Rate or Per Diem Method

Many insurance providers assign a daily value to the number of days you have suffered pain after the accident. For instance, if your per diem amount is $200 and you were taking medication for 90 days then your pain and suffering will be $18,000. But how can you pick a daily rate? Usually the daily rate is the per day income.

This means that if your medical expense is $4,000 and your income loss is $1,000 then your actual claim amount is $5,000. Now your consolidated compensation will be $18,000 plus $5,000 i.e. $23,000.

If you have suffered financial losses and extensive injuries in an auto accident, you can count on a New York accident lawyer to help you get the compensation you deserve from the insurer. Since all personal injury lawsuits must adhere to time limits for filing provided in the statute of limitation, make sure to seek legal counsel as soon as possible.