The honest answer to the most-Googled personal injury question. Two factors drive every number: liability and damages. Everything else is noise.
It's the question everybody Googles within forty-eight hours of a wreck. The honest answer is that no lawyer can give you a real number from a phone call, and anyone who does is selling you something. But there's a real framework for understanding the range.
Two things drive every personal injury settlement: liability (who's at fault) and damages (what it cost you). Everything else is a multiplier on those two numbers.
Liability. Clear, contested, or shared
If the other driver rear-ended you at a red light with three witnesses and a police report assigning fault, liability is clear. The carrier has to pay damages out to their policy limit. If liability is contested. They're claiming you cut them off, or there's no police report, or the witnesses disagree. The carrier has leverage to discount.
Missouri uses pure comparative fault: even if you're 80% at fault, you can still recover 20% of your damages. Illinois uses modified comparative fault with a 50% bar. If you're more than 50% at fault, you recover nothing. That single difference changes case value materially when fault is shared.
Damages. What the case actually adds up to
Damages come in categories. Each one is its own line item:
- Medical bills. Past treatment, plus reasonable future treatment. The most common single line item.
- Lost wages. Time off work and reduced earning capacity if the injury is lasting.
- Pain and suffering. Non-economic damages, calculated through various methods (multiplier of medical bills, per-diem, etc.).
- Property damage. Usually handled separately by the auto carriers, but counted here.
- Future medical care. If there's permanent injury, the case must value future treatment, not just past.
The ceiling: [policy limits](/glossary/policy-limits)
Every auto policy has a limit. The maximum the carrier will pay on a single claim. Missouri's mandatory minimum is $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident. Illinois is the same. Many people carry the minimum.
If your damages exceed the policy limit, the rest has to come from somewhere else: an umbrella policy (rare for individuals), the at-fault driver's personal assets (usually not collectable), or your own underinsured motorist (UIM) coverage. A case with $200,000 in damages and a $25,000 policy probably settles at $25,000 regardless of what the case is 'worth' on paper, unless there's UIM stacked behind it.
What sinks a strong case
A clean liability and damages picture can still get discounted by:
- Gaps in medical treatment. Even a few weeks looks bad.
- Pre-existing conditions in the same body part (the carrier will argue you were already broken).
- Recorded statements you gave the other carrier without counsel.
- Social media posts that look inconsistent with the injury claim.
- A signed release or medical authorization you didn't fully read.
What an honest range looks like
For a typical car-accident soft-tissue case in MO or IL with documented treatment, no priors, clear liability, and a $25,000 policy: settlements often resolve between $8,000 and $25,000 depending on treatment volume and recovery time. Cases with surgery, fractures, or permanent injury push past those ranges quickly. But they also push past minimum policy limits and the analysis shifts to UIM coverage and personal assets.
The best predictor of case value is treatment plus liability. Skip either one and the case shrinks fast.
If you want a real estimate on your specific case, a free consultation is the only honest path. Bring whatever you have. Police report, medical bills so far, photos, any insurance correspondence. And we'll walk through it factor by factor.
Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict future outcomes. Each case turns on its own facts and applicable law. Settlement ranges referenced above are general industry observations and not predictions about any specific case.