What kind of settlement offer might I expect to receive after being hit by a car?

I was in a roughly similar situation. Lawyer up now. Do not even exchange pleasantries with the insurance guy, just say "you'll need to talk to my lawyer." They will offer you a structured settlement, meaning it has a nominal value of (say) $100,000, but they only pay (say) $20,000 up front, and pay out the remainder $4,000/yr over the next 20 years. This could actually leave you owing money to the hospital, since $20K obviously won't cover your stay. Your goal should be to get a lump-sum payment that will cover your upfront medical costs, any future medical costs you might incur as a consequence of this accident, and lost wages. A lawyer will also look at how much cases like yours generally get settled for in your area, how much they're awarded if they go to court, likelihood of winning in court, etc. Settling is better unless you're extremely vindictive: it just takes less out of your life. You're also likely to get the money sooner (though not soon).  The medical insurance situation has changed since I had my accident (and it may yet change again), but my accident would have been considered a pre-existing condition if I changed insurance, and therefore excluded from coverage. Something to bear in mind. (edited): You should also bear in mind that your lawyers will be taking their cut (probably ~33%), so you need to be made whole after that. Also bear in mind that if you have insurance—and I hope you do—your insurer will subrogate your claim, which basically means that they get paid back what they spent on your hospitalization before you get any cash. A good lawyer may be able to get them to reduce the amount of their subrogation.

The most important thing you can do in this case is get a proper medical evaluation.  You can only get one settlement.  If you take money today but your condition worsens in six months, you're out of luck.  Your case is complicated enough that a lawyer is probably your best bet.  He or she will get the appropriate experts to determine the cost of your future medical costs and the value of your loss of abilities. An insurance company is not going to look out for your best interests.  They may offer you a settlement based on a formula, but it will be a formula designed to protect their bottom line, not your best interests.

I'm in the same situation you were in when you asked the question (hence anonymity).  Although I got out of my post-bad-turn accident with: a concussion, some stitches, and a chipped tooth, and just under six hours in a hospital emergency department, most of it idly waiting with little pain; and a bike with a broken frame and other damage.  I was back on a different bike a week later, and would have been days earlier if I'd had a second helmet.  In short, my situation was similar in circumstances, but my problems are negligible compared to yours. Because my problems seemed small-ish, I thought it might be interesting to handle the process myself.  http://sfbike.org directed me to http://www.nolo.com/products/how-to-win-your-personal-injury-claim-PICL.html for the book How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim.  It discusses the claims process in great detail, and it goes into the formulas and methods used to determine settlement amounts.  A very quick, un-detailed, and incomplete summary: you get the lesser of the repair costs for your property or the property's depreciated value, you get compensation for any lost income (including if you had to work past normal hours or took vacation days as a result), and you get the cost of your medical expenses times a multiplier (1.5-3 for relatively minor injuries, 3-5 for major injuries, and infrequently above 5 for injuries with long-term consequences like chronic pain).  That's the settlement amount.  But if you pay a lawyer to handle the process, he'll take a ~30% cut for small cases, or sometimes a flatter rate for bigger injuries.  So the book's really directed at smaller claims, where doing it yourself (even imperfectly) nets you more than if a lawyer did it better but took his cut.  (They post the first chapter for free.  It's enough to say whether using the book to do it yourself is likely to beat paying a lawyer.) My bills were moderately small, my injuries were relatively minor (and by all impressions will have no long-term effect beyond a little scarring), and my inconveniences (bike repair costs, medical bills and medical supplies, and burdens from having lost transportation) are easily and precisely valued.  They're also small enough that I may do better alone than by paying someone to do it, and I expect I'd enjoy the intellectual challenge.  Plus I have enough money to run the risk of making mistakes.  I'm handling the settlement process myself. Your bills surely surpass mine.  Your injuries are not minor, and your doctor says you may have various pains forever as a result.  Those long-term maybe-pains can't be accurately valued.  You don't want to handle this yourself, and you don't want to just take the insurance company's offer as being reasonable.  (They're the adversary -- it probably isn't, at first.) So while I can tell you the basics of how a settlement's computed, the computation should be irrelevant to you.  Your settlement is going to be "big", and any guessable range will be large.  You'll benefit a lot from a lawyer's expertise here.  One bonus thought: don't talk to the other guy's insurance company.  Let your lawyer guide you through it.  Even if you weren't using a lawyer, talking off the cuff is never the right answer anyway: always write it down, with preparation and care, saying it exactly as you want -- and not as you wouldn't want if you gave it more thought. (Why the long answer, if it's all but certainly useless to the original questioner, and so long after the fact?  Surely we're not the only two cyclists who've been in accidents.  And surely other cyclists will have these questions while having injuries more like mine and less like the questioner's.) (Edit: As Dan Smith's answer and comments should make clear, settlement size depends greatly on jurisdiction.  This is from a US perspective -- moreover, for a state without no-fault laws.  Elsewhere, a state health care system might make medical expenses irrelevant.  And in the US, you'll definitely be compensated for missed working hours, regardless whether you spent vacation time or didn't spend vacation time and made it up outside normal working hours, and for inconveniences like having to pay for public transportation.  The book I mentioned covers the entire US; outside it, you want something else.)

There is more of a map than a formula.  Every state has uniform jury instruction for recovery of damages in personal injury cases.  These jury instructions indicate what is recoverable under the state's laws.  However, they do not necessarily dictate the value.  The value depends on many variables.  The major areas for recovery are medical expense (past and future), lost wages, permanent injuries or disfigurement, and in rare cases punitive damages.  We have written on recoverable damages in personal injury cases under New Mexico law at our website, at (http://www.collinsattorneys.com/) and also on our injury blog (http://www.newmexicoinjuryattorneyblog.com/).  Keep in mind that every state may be different so it is important to consult with an attorney in your own state. And I do agree with the last answer that you should do this right away.  The insurance adjuster is not your friend!This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice....

Yes, there is likely a formula that could be used to determine what a likely settlement might be, but (1) it's going to be highly dependent on specific facts about you and very influenced by the location and the specific injuries involved, and (2) it's unlikely that any lawyer is going to provide you with a money estimate online here in this type of forum. If you want to know what you might expect as a reasonable settlement, contact a lawyer in your jurisdiction and engage them in a preliminary review of the facts and the law in your case and they'll provide you with some idea of what to expect.This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice....

I was involved in a car accident while riding my bike during my senior year in college.  I was fortunate that the driver was clearly at fault and I only sustained 2 fractured ribs.  The driver was very apologetic and even went as far as contacting my date (who is now my wife; that's another story) to cancel evening at the opera that we were supposed to attend. As the driver was very, very sympathetic, I was initially of the opinion that I should simply settle with him for the medical bills (an ambulance ride to the hospital and hospital visit).  However, he did the correct thing and turned the matter over to his insurance company -- after all that's what insurance is all about.  Unfortunately for me, that's when I realized that I was "out-gunned" and discovered that the insurance company really didn't have much regard for my welfare (unlike the guy himself).  From that point, I realized that importance of having my own lawyer to advocate for me.  So through my parents, we were represented by a family friend who was an attorney specializing in accident claims (aka an ambulance chaser).  Yeah, one of those attorneys that works on lien and doesn't collect until he gets you a settlement. Once represented, the whole interaction became some sort of game -- the attorney would have me visit his network of "doctors" to receive chiropractic treatment to help illustrate the severity of my accident.  Meanwhile, the insurance company would continue to dispute the severity of my injuries and offer nearly no compensation (not even the initial hospital bill!). Anyway, this went on for a couple of months until a settlement was arrived at.  I ended up receiving a cash settlement, plus my medical bills (all of them), plus the attorney fees covered.  While I wasn't particularly happy during the time as far as visiting the attorney's "doctors" for treatments I thought were uneccessary, in hindsight I realize that this was all part of the strategy to build a case to highlight the injuries and damages I sustained.  Otherwise, the insurance companies lawyers would have simply eaten me alive and given me next to nothing.  The moral of the story is that unless you are a legal professional, if you're going to negotiate with another legal professional, you'd be have some legal representation. By the way, this is an opinion based on my own personal experience; your situation may be different, so please act accordingly.

Look, we advise many clients to handle their own cases without a lawyer.  (This is how you do it: http://www.millerandzois.com/property-damage-car.html ) But, the idea that there is a settlement formula as suggested above is just silly.  There is no possibility of calculating the value of your case based on the information given above, even if the amount of the medical bills are included.  I hate to throw out the old "you get what you pay for" cliche when it comes to suggesting finding a lawyer that cuts their rates.  But, really, most - again most - lawyers that have reduced fees are an inferior option to handling the case yourself. If you spend four days injured in a hospital, the overwhelming likelihood is that you are better off hiring a lawyer to handle you claim.  There are insurance issue, medical lien issues, valuation of the case issue... the list goes on and on.

Your injuries suggest that you may be looking at possibly obtaining a large settlement, but only a consultation with a car accident attorney will answer your question.  There are many variables that an experienced injury attorney will be able to help you fill in and get a better picture for your legal options.  For more information, check out http://www.georgiainjurylawyer.com.  Good luck!

A personal injury settlement is driven by a number of factors. Depending on where the accident happened, your specific injuries, what insurance coverage is available, and a number of other fact-specific issues, a proper valuation is impossible to predict at this time. Some of the answers here have looked pretty helpful, while others seem to me a little anecdotal and misleading. It appears that you have sustained serious injuries. That being the case you really should contact a personal injury lawyer to assist you in getting the evaluation and medical care that you need, as well as make sure you do not jeopardize any of your rights. The attorney will have experience finding what insurance coverage is available for you, and how to maximize your recovery by not only getting the largest settlement for you but also negotiating your medical bills and liens to put as much of that settlement amount as possible into your pocket. As far as what kind of settlement offer you can expect before hiring a lawyer, assuming you get the correct information regarding what insurance coverage is available in the first place,  you can expect to receive a low, inadequate opening offer. The insurance industry changed its business model a few years ago and no longer value claims in order to fairly settle them. The insurance companies now try to low ball and stone wall all claims, since they are making money by paying less and by delaying the payments they have to make. Delay, defend, and deny is the new norm unfortunately. In this situation the best advice is to seek legal counsel without delay.