Most calculators ask for basic inputs—injury type, treatment duration, medical costs, and lost income—and then generate a range. That can help you sanity-check the direction of an offer.
What calculators typically can’t account for:
- Whether the insurer will argue shared fault (common when there’s a disputed lane/turn sequence or unclear stopping distance)
- How Washington claims handle comparative fault in practice—meaning your final recovery can be reduced even if the other driver is largely to blame
- Whether your medical records show a consistent link between the crash and the symptoms that followed
- Local evidence realities (for example, whether there’s dashcam/video from nearby traffic, or whether the scene was cleared before photos were taken)
So think of a calculator as a “category estimator,” not a promise.


