Injured in a car accident? Find out what your claim could be worth.
Answer a few quick questions and see whether you may qualify for compensation. It is free, confidential, and there is no obligation.
We are not a law firm and do not give legal advice. Submitting information does not create an attorney–client relationship. Attorney advertising.
- Free & confidential
- No obligation
- Takes about 2 minutes
- Connects you with experienced attorneys
What is a motor vehicle accidents claim?
A motor vehicle accident claim is a request for compensation after you have been injured, or your property has been damaged, in a crash that someone else caused. It covers far more than cars — collisions involving trucks, motorcycles, buses, rideshare vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians usually fall under the same body of law.
What happens after a motor vehicle accident
In the days after a crash, most people are dealing with medical appointments, a damaged vehicle, time away from work, and an insurance adjuster who is asking questions. It is a lot to handle at once, and it is usually the point at which decisions get made that are hard to undo later.
Insurance companies are not neutral parties in this process. The adjuster who calls you works for a business, and that business does better when claims settle quickly and cheaply. An early offer often arrives before anyone knows how long your recovery will actually take — which means it is being calculated without the information that matters most.
Why injuries are often worse than they first appear
Adrenaline is very good at hiding damage. It is common for someone to feel more or less fine at the scene and considerably worse two or three days later. Soft tissue injuries, concussions, and back and neck injuries in particular tend to declare themselves slowly.
This matters for two reasons. Medically, it is why getting checked out is worth doing even when you feel alright. And practically, a gap between the crash and your first medical visit is something an insurer will point to later when arguing that your injuries were not caused by the accident.
What an attorney actually does on a case like this
A personal injury attorney handling a motor vehicle claim typically gathers the police report and medical records, identifies every insurance policy that might apply, calculates what the claim is genuinely worth including future costs, and then negotiates with the insurer on your behalf. If a fair settlement does not materialise, they file suit.
The practical effect is that you stop being the person who has to argue with an adjuster while also recovering from an injury.
No two claims are worth the same amount
There is no formula that turns a car accident into a dollar figure, and anyone who offers you one before reviewing your case is guessing. What a claim is worth depends on how serious the injuries are, how long recovery takes, how much work was missed, how clearly fault can be established, what insurance coverage exists, and the law of the state where the crash happened.
That is the honest answer, and it is why the useful first step is finding out whether you may have a claim at all — not chasing a number.
Do I qualify?
You may have a claim if any of the following describe your situation. This is a general guide, not a determination — only an attorney can assess your specific circumstances.
- You were injured in a crash involving a car, truck, motorcycle, bus, bicycle, or as a pedestrian
- Someone else's careless or unlawful driving contributed to the crash
- You received medical attention, or you have symptoms that appeared after the crash
- The accident happened recently enough to fall within your state's filing deadline
- You were a driver, a passenger, a cyclist, or a pedestrian — passengers are very often eligible
- You have missed work, paid medical bills, or had ongoing pain since the crash
What compensation could cover
Where a claim succeeds, the types of loss below are the ones commonly taken into account. What any individual claim is worth depends entirely on its own facts — no amount is promised or implied here.
- Emergency care, hospital stays, surgery, and follow-up treatment
- Physical therapy, rehabilitation, and future medical care
- Wages lost while you were unable to work
- Reduced ability to earn a living going forward
- Vehicle repair or replacement, and other property damage
- Pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life
- Out-of-pocket costs such as transport to appointments and prescriptions
How it works
Three steps, and the first one takes about two minutes.
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Step 1: Answer a few questions
Tell us what happened in a couple of minutes. No documents, no phone call to get started.
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Step 2: See if you may qualify
We check your answers against the general criteria attorneys look for in this kind of case.
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Step 3: Get connected with a firm
If it looks like you may have a claim, we connect you with an experienced attorney in our network.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to check?
Nothing. Checking whether you may have a claim is free, and you are under no obligation to do anything afterwards. Most personal injury attorneys in our network also work on a contingency basis, which means their fee comes out of a recovery rather than out of your pocket up front. Costs other than attorney fees may still apply — ask any firm you speak with to explain their fee agreement in full.
I think the accident was partly my fault. Can I still have a claim?
Possibly. Most states use some form of comparative fault, which allows an injured person to recover compensation even when they share some of the blame, with the amount reduced in proportion to their share. The rules differ significantly from state to state, so this is worth asking an attorney about rather than assuming you are disqualified.
I was a passenger, not the driver. Does that matter?
Passengers are among the most commonly eligible claimants, because they are rarely responsible for the crash. A claim may be available against the driver of the vehicle you were in, the driver of another vehicle, or both.
How long do I have to act?
Every state sets a deadline, called a statute of limitations, after which a claim generally can no longer be filed. These deadlines vary widely, and some situations shorten them considerably — claims involving a government vehicle, for example, often require notice within a matter of months. Because the deadline depends on your state and your circumstances, it is worth checking sooner rather than later.
What if the other driver had no insurance?
You may still have options. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage on your own policy exists for exactly this situation, and depending on the facts there may be other responsible parties. An attorney can identify which sources of recovery apply to your case.
Will someone contact me after I check?
If it looks like you may have a claim, we may share your information with one or more attorneys or legal marketing partners in our network so they can contact you about it. You are never obligated to hire anyone, and you can ask not to be contacted at any time.
Are you a law firm?
No. HowMuchIsMyClaim.com is not a law firm, and nothing on this site is legal advice. We are a free service that helps people understand whether they may have a claim and connects them with third-party attorneys. Using this site does not create an attorney–client relationship — that only happens through a separate agreement you sign directly with a law firm.
Related case types
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Rideshare Accidents
Coming soonRideshare accident claims involve crashes where an Uber, Lyft, or similar vehicle was involved — whether you were a passenger, another driver, a cyclist, or a pedestrian. These claims can be more complicated than an ordinary car accident because the insurance coverage that applies often depends on what the rideshare driver was doing at the moment of the crash.
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Workplace Injuries
Coming soonWorkplace injury claims cover harm suffered in the course of employment. Many are handled through the workers' compensation system, but not all — where a third party contributed to the injury, or where equipment was defective, a separate claim may exist alongside a compensation claim.
Find out what your claim could be worth
It takes about two minutes, it is completely free, and you are under no obligation.
We are not a law firm and do not give legal advice. Submitting information does not create an attorney–client relationship. Attorney advertising.