Methodology

How to read our calculator results

All three calculators use simple, visible formulas. They take your numbers, apply the rule described below and show the result with the steps. They do not know your policy wording, your insurer’s valuation or how a particular adjuster will see your claim. Use them to see the size of the numbers and to prepare questions for your insurer or agent.

Claim or pay yourself

The claim or pay calculator compares what a claim would pay you with what it might add to your premium.

Inputs: the repair cost, your collision deductible, your yearly premium, the at-fault surcharge as a percentage (starts at 40%, and you can change it), and the number of years the surcharge lasts (starts at 3).

Formula:

• Claim payout = repair cost − deductible, and never less than $0.
• Expected extra premium = yearly premium × surcharge % × years.
• Net result = claim payout − expected extra premium.

A positive net result means filing the claim leaves you ahead by that amount; a negative one means paying yourself costs less. The calculator also shows the break-even repair cost: the deductible plus the expected extra premium. Below that repair cost, paying yourself costs less under these assumptions.

Example: repairs of $3,000, a $500 deductible, a $1,800 yearly premium, a 40% surcharge for 3 years. Payout = $3,000 − $500 = $2,500. Extra premium = $1,800 × 40% × 3 = $2,160. Net = $2,500 − $2,160 = $340 in favor of the claim. Break-even repair cost = $500 + $2,160 = $2,660.

Assumptions and limits: the 40% and 3 years are starting values, not a measured average; insurers set their own surcharges and some states limit them, so replace them with what your insurer or agent tells you. The calculator assumes the surcharge applies to the whole premium and the premium stays the same each year. It does not model accident forgiveness, the loss of a claim-free discount, a claim paid by the other driver’s insurer, or a not-at-fault claim that may not be surcharged at all.

Total loss check

The total loss calculator estimates whether your car is likely to be treated as a total loss, and roughly what a settlement could be.

Inputs: your state, the repair estimate, the car’s actual cash value (ACV), and optionally its salvage value, a sales tax percentage and your deductible.

How it decides:

• In a state whose law sets a percentage, the calculator compares the repair estimate with that percentage of the ACV. The percentage comes from the state’s page in our state claim rules. States word the test differently (for example “equals or exceeds” or “exceeds”), and some apply it only to newer cars; the state page notes this.
• In a state with no percentage in its law, the calculator uses the total loss formula: it compares the repair estimate plus the salvage value with the ACV. If repairs plus salvage come to more than the ACV, the car is likely a total loss.

Estimated settlement = ACV + (ACV × sales tax %, if you entered one) − deductible.

Example: in a state that totals a car when repairs reach 75% of its value, a car worth $10,000 with an $8,000 estimate is at 80%, so it is likely a total loss. With a 6% tax entered and a $500 deductible, the estimate is $10,000 + $600 − $500 = $10,100.

Assumptions and limits: the ACV is the number you type in; insurers set their own valuation from comparable cars and condition. A state’s percentage is usually the point at which a car must be branded salvage, not a limit on the insurer, so an insurer may total a car sooner. Whether sales tax, title and registration fees are paid on a total loss depends on state rules and your policy. Loan or lease balances are not included.

Rental coverage gap

The rental coverage calculator shows how much of a rental your policy’s rental reimbursement may pay while your car is in the shop.

Inputs: the number of repair days, the daily cost of the rental, your policy’s daily limit and its maximum per claim.

Formula:

• Covered daily amount = the lower of the rental’s daily cost and the policy’s daily limit.
• Insurer pays = the lower of (repair days × covered daily amount) and the policy maximum.
• You pay = (repair days × daily rental cost) − insurer pays.
• Days covered = how many of the repair days the policy pays for before the maximum runs out.

Example: 14 repair days, a $45 rental, a $30 daily limit and a $900 maximum. Insurer pays 14 × $30 = $420, which is under $900. The rental costs 14 × $45 = $630, so you pay $630 − $420 = $210. With 40 repair days, 40 × $30 = $1,200 is capped at $900; the policy pays for 30 days, and you pay $1,800 − $900 = $900.

Assumptions and limits: the calculator assumes rental reimbursement is on your policy and that the whole repair period counts. Policies differ in when the clock starts and stops. If the other driver’s insurer accepts liability, it may owe a rental under different rules, which the calculator does not model.

How the state pages are researched

Each state claim rules page is researched from the state’s statutes, its administrative regulations and its insurance department’s own pages. We read the text on the legislature’s or the state’s website, or in an annual code edition when the official site cannot be reached, and every page lists the sources it used and the date they were checked.

• Claim deadlines (acknowledging, deciding and paying a claim) come from the state’s unfair claims settlement practices regulation or its prompt-payment statute. These rules apply mostly to first-party claims, the ones you make under your own policy.
• Total loss thresholds come from the state’s title and salvage laws.
• Crash reporting duties come from the vehicle code, and time limits to sue from the civil procedure or limitations statutes.
• Comparison points come from the NAIC Unfair Claims Settlement Practices Act and the NAIC Unfair Property/Casualty Claims Settlement Practices Model Regulation, which many states have adopted in different forms.

When we cannot find a number in an official text, the page states the rule in words without one. We recheck each state page at least once a year and whenever we learn that a law it describes has changed; dated changes appear on the updates page.

Found something that no longer matches the law? Tell us through the contact page.