Online tools are built to approximate. They usually take details like injury type, treatment length, and reported losses, then generate a range based on patterns from other cases.
In practice, that means a calculator can be useful for:
- understanding which categories (medical care, wage loss, long-term impacts) tend to matter most
- sanity-checking whether an insurer’s early number looks low
- identifying what documentation you may still need
But it cannot:
- determine liability based on the evidence in your crash
- predict how an insurer in your situation will interpret fault
- replace the medical review needed to connect symptoms to the accident
In Washington, where comparative fault can reduce recovery if you’re found partially responsible, the “who caused it” question often has a bigger effect on the final settlement than most people expect.


