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Truck Accident Settlement Calculator — estimate your 18-wheeler claim
Estimate a commercial-truck or 18-wheeler claim, which runs far higher than a car-accident claim because injuries are more severe and there are bigger policies and multiple liable parties.
Enter your medical bills, future medical costs, lost wages and property damage, choose the multiplier or per-diem method for pain and suffering, then set your state and your share of fault. The tool returns an estimated settlement range adjusted for your state's comparative-negligence rule.
What this estimates. Commercial trucks carry policies that dwarf personal auto coverage, and liability can extend beyond the driver to the trucking company, the cargo loader or a maintenance contractor. Add federal safety regulations and the result is higher exposure — and higher settlements — than a typical car crash.
Whether it was a semi truck, an 18-wheeler or a delivery box truck, the same logic applies — bigger policies and more defendants.
See also: Truck impacts leave lasting nerve injury far more often than car impacts do; the nerve damage settlement calculator values that on permanence rather than on treatment cost.
Real data
Average truck accident settlement amount
There is no official national "average" truck-accident settlement, but the reason these claims run higher than car claims is documented by federal regulators. Commercial carriers must carry far larger insurance policies, and the real-world cost of a large-truck crash is severe. These federal anchors explain the ceiling — your own number depends on injuries, fault and available policy limits.
Sources: FMCSA insurance filing requirements ($750,000 minimum for general freight) and FMCSA Crash Cost Methodology (2025 update, 2023 data). These are crash-cost and coverage figures, not settlement medians — use the calculator above for a range based on your own case.
The method
How truck accident settlements are calculated
Economic damages plus pain and suffering via a multiplier that runs high for severe injuries, then adjusted for fault. Multiple defendants and larger policies often mean more coverage.
Medical & future care
Severe truck injuries often need surgery and long-term care.
Lost earning capacity
Catastrophic injuries frequently end or limit careers.
Pain & suffering
High multiplier for permanent or severe injuries.
Multiple liable parties
Driver, carrier, loader or maintenance provider — more coverage.
Comparative fault
Your share reduces the award under your state's rule.
Adjust for your state
State fault rules in commercial truck claims
Truck claims still turn on fault, and your state's rule sets the ceiling. The difference from a car claim is the bigger policies and multiple defendants — but comparative negligence applies the same way.
Recover even if mostly at fault; your award is cut by your %. e.g. California, Washington, New York.
No recovery if you are 50% or more at fault. e.g. Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee.
No recovery if you are 51% or more at fault. e.g. Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania.
Any fault at all can bar recovery. Only AL, MD, NC, VA & DC.
Where the ten largest states sit: California, New York and Washington apply pure comparative fault, so a share of blame cuts the total but never bars it. Texas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida — Florida since its 2023 reform — bar recovery at 51% or more. Georgia bars it at 50%. North Carolina and Virginia are contributory-negligence states where any share of fault at all can end the claim. Set your state in the calculator and it applies the right one for you.
Questions
Truck accident settlement FAQ
Bigger insurance policies, more severe injuries, and multiple liable parties (driver, carrier, loader) all raise the ceiling.
The driver, the trucking company, the cargo loader, or a maintenance provider — often more than one.
Often longer than car claims because of multiple parties and federal evidence (logs, telematics), but severe cases can justify the wait.
The driver's hours-of-service logs, the truck's maintenance records, and black-box/telematics data.
Your payout drops by your fault percentage in most states; in AL, MD, NC, VA and DC any fault can bar recovery.
A truck claim usually has more than one payer
Run the numbers once, then work out who the defendants actually are: the driver, the motor carrier, a broker, a shipper or a maintenance contractor can each carry separate coverage. Available policy limits, not the injury, are what cap a large claim. No contact details are asked for at any point.
Open the calculator