The Average Car Crash Settlement

You were hurt in a car crash, and the other driver’s insurance company has made an offer, or soon will. You want to know what’s normal, and whether the number in front of you is fair. Here’s the honest answer: settlement amounts usually aren’t made public, so there is no official average to check your offer against. The closest national figure comes from insurers. In 2024, the average bodily injury liability claim paid under personal auto policies was $28,278, according to the Insurance Information Institute (Triple-I). That’s an insurer’s average cost per paid claim, including its own claim-handling costs, across every kind of injury. It isn’t what your claim is worth.

Below: what that number leaves out, what really moves a claim’s value, and how to size up your own claim before you sign anything. Michigan’s no-fault rules are in boxes marked “In Michigan.” If no one was hurt and only your car was damaged, skip to what a claim with no injury is worth.

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What is the average car accident settlement?

There isn’t a trustworthy single number, because a settlement is a private agreement. The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) notes that settlement terms typically aren’t made part of the public record. So before you trust any “average settlement,” ask which claims, which years and who counted them.

The most credible national figure measures what insurers pay on injury claims. Triple-I, an insurance industry research group, publishes it using data from ISO, a Verisk Analytics business. For 2024, it reports that “the average auto liability claim for bodily injury was $28,278.” Bodily injury liability is the part of a driver’s policy that pays for injuries the driver causes to other people (National Association of Insurance Commissioners, or NAIC).

What the $28,278 figure includes, and what it leaves out

Triple-I’s table notes explain what the number is:

• Only paid claims count. Claims closed without a payment aren’t in it.
• Every injury and every policy is mixed together. A sore neck and a spinal cord injury each count as one claim, under every liability limit.
• It includes the insurer’s handling costs. The notes say it includes loss adjustment expenses, the costs of handling claims, which Triple-I describes as things like claims adjusters, legal help and investigators. It isn’t only money that went to injured people.
• Most no-fault states are left out. It excludes Massachusetts and most states with no-fault auto insurance laws, so it says even less about a claim in a no-fault state such as Michigan.
• It covers personal auto policies, not commercial ones such as a trucking company’s.
• It’s counted before anything comes out: no lawyer’s fee, case costs or repayments to a health plan.
• It changes every year. It was $17,014 in 2015, dipped to $16,082 in 2016 and has gone up every year since.

So $28,278 is roughly what one paid injury claim cost an insurer, on average, in 2024. It isn’t a settlement negotiated for a serious injury, and it isn’t a target, a floor or a ceiling for your offer.

Why can an average be so misleading?

An average adds up every claim and divides by the number of claims. When a few claims are very large, they pull it up, so it can sit well above what most claims pay. Crash injuries are that uneven. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates what they cost, grouped by each person’s most serious injury on the Abbreviated Injury Scale, a medical scale that runs from 1 (minor) to 6 (maximal). For crashes in 2019:

Source: NHTSA, The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2019 (Revised), Tables 1-2 and 1-3, in 2019 dollars. Includes crashes never reported to police; future losses are counted at their present value.

About 3.9 million of the 4.5 million people NHTSA counted as injured (a total that includes 36,500 deaths) had minor injuries, with average medical costs of about $2,200. A critical injury averaged about $363,000 in medical costs. An average across all of them describes almost no one. These are estimates of what injuries cost, not what anyone was paid, and they leave out pain and suffering. But they show how much the injury itself moves the numbers.

What is the average settlement for a car accident with no injury?

When no one is hurt, the claim is about property, mostly your car, so it usually comes down to the cost of repairs, or the car’s value if it’s totaled, plus a rental car while yours is being repaired. The closest thing to a national average is another insurance statistic: Triple-I reports that in 2024, “the average auto liability claim for property damage was $6,770.”

Like the injury figure, that’s an insurer’s average cost per paid claim, not a price for your car. Triple-I’s table notes say it counts only paid claims, includes insurers’ claim-handling costs and leaves out Massachusetts, Michigan and New Jersey. The coverage behind it pays for more than cars, too: property damage liability covers “not only damages to other vehicles, but also other property such as walls, fences and equipment” (NAIC). Your repair estimate, or your car’s value, tells you far more about your own claim.

What can you recover when no one was hurt?

• Repairs, or the car’s value if it’s totaled. When repairs would cost more than the car is worth, insurers “total” it and pay what it was actually worth, as a used car, the moment before the crash. The Blue Book is only a guide, so research your car’s value yourself too (NAIC).
• A rental car. When you claim against the other driver’s insurer, it “should pay your rental car cost for a reasonable length of repair time.” If the car is totaled, your right to a rental ends once a settlement has been offered. Under your own policy, a rental is covered if you paid for rental reimbursement coverage (NAIC).
• A loan balance, only with GAP insurance. If your car is worth less than you owe on it, your auto policy won’t pay off the loan. GAP insurance, if you bought it, covers the difference between what you owe and the car’s actual value (NAIC).

Who pays for the damage?

• The at-fault driver’s insurer. Property damage liability coverage pays for damage the insured driver causes to someone else’s car, and most states require it (NAIC). The insurer may still say its driver wasn’t at fault, say you share the blame or say its driver doesn’t have enough insurance to pay all your costs (Texas Department of Insurance).
• Your own insurer, if you have collision coverage. Collision coverage pays for damage to your car from a collision (NAIC), minus your deductible: the amount you agreed to pay toward repairs before the insurer pays the rest (DIFS). Your insurer may then try to recover what it paid from the other driver’s insurer, and if it gets anything back, you might get your deductible reimbursed (Texas Department of Insurance).
• If the other driver had no insurance, your collision coverage or your uninsured motorist property damage coverage pays, if you bought it. Either way, you pay a deductible (NAIC).

Most no-fault states handle car damage the same way: your own insurer pays for injuries, but you still file a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurer to be paid for damage to your vehicle (NAIC). Michigan works differently (see the box below).

Before you accept an offer for your car, ask for the insurer’s estimate and its reasons in writing, especially if it refuses to pay (NAIC; Texas Department of Insurance). If you and an insurer can’t agree, your state insurance department’s consumer services staff can help (NAIC). And if you’re asked to sign a release, read what it covers before you sign.

Why are the settlement numbers you find online unreliable?

Each number you’ll find measures something different, and none of them measures your claim:

A tort is a civil wrong that causes harm, such as careless driving. The BJS median was figured before any post-trial motions or appeals, and one side or the other filed post-trial motions in nearly 1 in 3 tort trials.

Be especially wary of formulas. The law’s method is judgment, not arithmetic: Michigan’s model civil jury instructions, for example, tell jurors that the amount for some losses “cannot be proved in a precise dollar amount” and that “the law leaves such amount to your sound judgment” (M Civ JI 50.01). The same caution applies to every “average settlement” you see, including those quoted for slip-and-fall claims.

Do online settlement calculators work?

Not for telling you what your claim is worth. A calculator can only do arithmetic with the numbers you type in, and it can’t see what actually decides a claim’s value: your medical records, the evidence on fault, the insurance available and your state’s rules.

Many calculators apply a formula, such as your medical bills times a number. As the table above shows, that multiplier is a rule of thumb with no official basis, so the result can be too high or too low for your facts. Here’s what no calculator can know:

• How badly you’re hurt, and what’s ahead. Your future care, your time off work and whether an injury is permanent come from your doctors and your records, not from a form.
• The evidence on fault. A calculator can’t weigh the police report, photos or witnesses, or predict what share of the blame an adjuster or a jury would put on you. In most states, your share reduces what you can recover (Cornell LII).
• How much insurance there is. The at-fault driver’s liability limit is the most that insurer will pay (DIFS). A calculator doesn’t know that limit, or whether you have underinsured motorist coverage.
• Your state’s rules. Shared-fault rules vary from state to state (Cornell LII), and in Michigan you can claim pain and suffering from the at-fault driver only if the crash caused death, serious impairment of body function or permanent serious disfigurement (MCL 500.3135(1)).
• What comes out before you’re paid. The lawyer’s fee, case costs and liens, such as Medicare’s right to be repaid (42 CFR 411.24), all come out of a settlement.

Adding up your own losses is still worth doing. The next section explains each of these factors, and the steps under “How can you estimate your own claim’s range?” below show how to build a range you understand and have a lawyer test it.

What actually decides what a car accident claim is worth?

Some pieces decide how large your losses are. Others decide how much anyone can collect, and how much you keep.

Your injuries and your treatment

The injury is the biggest driver, as NHTSA’s numbers show. Michigan jurors are asked to compensate each loss “taking into account the nature and extent of the injury” (M Civ JI 50.01). Losses come in two kinds: economic damages, such as medical bills, future care, lost pay and lost earning capacity, and noneconomic damages, such as pain, mental anguish and the loss of things you used to enjoy (M Civ JI 50.02, 50.21). Our guide to pain and suffering damages explains what jurors are told about valuing them.

Your medical records are the proof, and gaps in treatment give the insurer room to argue you weren’t badly hurt. Until your doctors can say what your recovery will look like, no one can price the claim well. For a fuller walk-through, see how to evaluate a personal injury claim.

Who was at fault, and how well you can prove it

Clear evidence of fault makes a claim stronger: the police report, photos and video, witnesses and the damage to each car. When fault is disputed, both sides weigh the risk of losing at trial. In the BJS study, plaintiffs won about 64% of car accident trials. A settlement prices that risk in.

Your own share of the fault

In most states, being partly at fault reduces what you can recover rather than ending the claim. Many states bar recovery once your share reaches 50% or 51%, and a few (Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Washington, D.C.) can bar it for even slight fault (Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, or Cornell LII). An adjuster may assign you a share of fault when valuing your claim, so a remark like “I didn’t see him” can cost you. See each state’s shared-fault rule.

How much insurance there is

A claim is usually worth only what can be collected, and for most crash claims that means insurance. The at-fault driver’s bodily injury liability limit is the most that insurer will pay per person and per crash (Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services, or DIFS). State law sets minimum limits, and the NAIC warns that those minimums are too low to fully cover a driver who causes a serious accident. Other sources of payment:

• Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which pays when an uninsured or hit-and-run driver hits you, or when the at-fault driver doesn’t have enough insurance. Some states require it (NAIC). See how uninsured motorist claims work.
• Other responsible parties, such as the driver’s employer, if the driver was on the job (Cornell LII), or a trucking company. Interstate for-hire carriers hauling ordinary freight in vehicles rated at 10,001 pounds or more must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage (49 CFR 387.9). See how truck crash claims differ from car crash claims.
• The driver personally, who owes costs above the limit (DIFS), though collecting depends on what the driver has.

What your own coverage already paid

Medical payments coverage (MedPay) or personal injury protection (PIP) on your own policy pays for treating injuries to you and your passengers, and PIP can also cover lost wages (NAIC). In no-fault states, PIP pays first, and you can sue the at-fault driver for pain and suffering only if your injury passes a threshold (Triple-I). Depending on your policy and your state’s law, an insurer that paid your bills may be able to recover what it paid, either from your settlement or by claiming against the at-fault driver itself. This is called subrogation (Cornell LII).

Liens: who else gets repaid

Whoever paid for your crash-related care may have a right, often called a lien, to be repaid from your settlement. If Medicare paid, it must be repaid within 60 days of the settlement money arriving, and it can recover from anyone who received the money, including you and your lawyer (42 CFR 411.24(g), (h)). Health plans may have repayment rights too, depending on the plan and your state’s law. Liens come out of your share, so ask early which ones exist and whether they can be reduced.

Where the case would be tried

Venue, the court where a lawsuit can be filed, is set by statute, aiming for a place that is reasonable and convenient given where the evidence, witnesses and defendants are (Cornell LII). It decides which community’s jurors would hear your case, and what a jury would likely do is what both sides are trying to predict when they negotiate.

Time, and the risk of going to trial

Few cases end in a trial: in the BJS study, trials resolved nearly 4% of tort cases. A settlement trades a certain amount now for the chance of more, or less, later. Car accident cases that did go to trial took a median of about 20 months from the day the lawsuit was filed to the verdict (BJS).

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How does no-fault insurance change a settlement?

Twelve states and Puerto Rico have no-fault auto insurance laws (Triple-I). There, your own PIP pays your medical bills, and can also cover lost wages, whoever caused the crash (NAIC). In exchange, you can sue the other driver for serious injuries and pain and suffering only if your case passes a threshold:

• A verbal threshold describes the injury. Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania use one.
• A monetary threshold is a dollar amount of medical bills. Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah use one.
• In New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, drivers can choose a policy that keeps the full right to sue.

So in a no-fault state, your own insurer pays part of what a settlement would cover elsewhere. That’s one more reason an average doesn’t carry over from state to state, and why it matters that Triple-I’s bodily injury figure leaves most no-fault states out.

How do insurance companies decide what to offer?

The at-fault driver’s adjuster weighs the same pieces: your medical records and bills, proof of lost income, the evidence on fault, any share of fault the insurer can put on you, and the policy limit. The first offer is the insurer’s estimate, made by the side that pays. You have no contract with the other driver’s insurer (Texas Department of Insurance), so you don’t have to give it a recorded statement, and it’s safer not to before you’ve had advice. For more, see how insurance companies evaluate injury claims.

How much of a settlement do you actually keep?

The settlement amount isn’t what you take home. The lawyer’s fee comes out: injury lawyers often work on a contingency fee, a share of what’s recovered under a written agreement, with no fee if nothing is recovered. Case costs, such as filing fees, medical records and experts, come out too, and depending on your agreement and your state’s rules, you may owe them even if you lose. Then any liens are repaid. Before you accept an offer, ask for a written estimate of your net. How personal injury lawyers get paid walks through the math with a worked example.

How can you estimate your own claim’s range?

You can’t look it up, but you can build it, and a lawyer can test it:

1. Add up your losses so far: every medical bill, including ones insurance paid, plus lost pay, mileage to appointments, help at home and vehicle costs.
2. Ask your doctors what’s ahead: future treatment, work limits and whether any of it is permanent.
3. Write down how your life changed: what you can’t do, or can’t do the same way, at work, at home and for fun. That’s the evidence for pain and suffering.
4. List every source of payment and its limit: the other driver’s liability coverage, your own underinsured motorist coverage and anyone else who shares the blame.
5. Take off what reduces it: your share of fault, what your own coverage already paid in a no-fault state, and the fee, costs and liens.
6. Ask a lawyer for a range, with reasons: What range do you see for a claim like mine, and why? What could move it up or down? What would I take home at each end?

A range you understand is worth more than an average from other people’s crashes.

Should you accept the first offer?

Not before you can answer these:

• Do you know how badly you’re hurt? A signed release generally ends the claim for good, even if the injury turns out to be worse.
• Does it cover future losses, not just the bills you have now, and what would you net after the fee, costs and liens?
• How close is your deadline? Negotiating usually doesn’t stop the clock for filing a lawsuit.

What about the million-dollar results you see advertised?

Large verdicts and settlements happen, but each one reflects its own injuries, evidence, insurance and court. Our directory of Michigan injury lawyers lists the $1 million-plus results firms report on their own websites, each linked to its source. Every result there is labeled “reported by the firm,” meaning it hasn’t been independently verified; how we list and rank lawyers explains the labels. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

What to do next

1. Get medical care, and follow the plan. Describe every symptom and keep your appointments. Our checklist of 10 things to do after a car accident covers the first days.
2. Start a damages file: bills, insurance statements, pay stubs, receipts, photos of your injuries and a short daily log of what you can’t do.
3. Find every policy and its limits, starting with your own declarations page (the summary of your coverages) and the other driver’s insurance details.
4. Hold off on signing. Notify your own insurer as your policy requires, but don’t sign a release or give the other driver’s insurer a recorded statement until you’ve had advice.
5. Get a free case review, and the fee in writing. Get a free case review, or in Michigan, compare injury lawyers near you. Before you hire anyone, get the fee agreement in writing. Our guide to what a car accident lawyer costs shows what to check.

What waiting can cost

• Your right to sue. Every state sets a deadline to file a lawsuit, and a late one is generally barred, however strong the case.
• Coverage you already paid for. Your policy can set a short deadline for uninsured or underinsured motorist claims. In one Michigan case, the state Supreme Court enforced a policy’s one-year limit, and the injured people lost their uninsured motorist claim (Rory v Continental Insurance Co, 2005).
• Evidence and leverage. Video gets recorded over and cars get repaired, and a release signed early ends the claim before you know what it’s worth.

What a good outcome looks like

Before anyone asks you to sign, you know what your claim is made of: your bills and future care in writing, the evidence on fault, every policy that could pay and its limit, and what you’d take home. Your own coverage pays what it owes on time. If you settle, the amount reflects your injuries and your records, not an average from other people’s crashes. From wondering whether an offer is fair to knowing what an average leaves out, what really drives a claim’s value and how to size up your own.

For the bigger picture, see the complete car accident lawsuit guide, or browse our car, truck and motorcycle accident guides.

Updated September 25, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.