How much is your Texas car accident case worth?

There’s no single number that fits every Texas car accident case. Search for an average and you’ll find figures that don’t match your situation, since an average blends a fender-bender with a hospital stay. The real ceiling isn’t a spreadsheet total of your bills and lost days. It’s a stack of insurance layers, and your claim can only draw from what’s actually inside them.

The first layer: the other driver’s policy

Every claim starts here. Texas requires drivers to carry at least $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident in bodily injury coverage, plus $25,000 for property damage, sometimes called 30/60/25. That’s the floor, not the average. Some drivers carry far more, and a handful carry only the minimum. A driver who carries only that minimum can be completely at fault and still not have enough policy to pay for a serious injury. That gap is exactly what the next layer exists to catch.

The second layer: your own UM or UIM

When the other driver’s policy is too thin, or doesn’t exist, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can step in. It sits on your own policy, not theirs, and it exists specifically for this gap. Not everyone carries this coverage, so it’s worth checking your own policy’s declarations page to see what you actually have. Filing this claim means asking your own company to pay out, which can feel backward even though it’s exactly what the coverage is for. The uninsured motorist page charts how that claim actually works.

The third layer: your PIP or MedPay

Personal injury protection or medical payments coverage pays out fast, regardless of who caused the wreck. It’s usually smaller than the other two layers, but it’s often the first money that actually arrives, since it doesn’t wait on a fault decision. Not every driver carries this coverage either, so check your own policy before counting on it. When it is there, it can pay a portion of bills and lost wages right away, before liability even gets sorted out. PIP and UM often work together on the same claim, since each one handles something different.

What fills the medical line

Every bill tied to treating this injury: the ER visit, imaging, physical therapy, follow-up care still ahead of you. Future care counts too, if a doctor expects more treatment down the road. It isn’t limited to what you’ve already spent. The medical bills guide works through who actually gets paid first while a claim is still open.

What fills the wage line

Hours or days missed at work, valued at what you actually earn. A longer-term hit to your earning power counts too, if the injury is serious enough to cause one. Self-employed and gig work make this harder to prove, since there’s no simple pay stub to point to, but bank records and invoices can fill that gap.

What fills the human-loss line

Pain, disruption to daily life, and the toll recovery takes don’t show up on a receipt, but Texas claims still account for them. This line has no receipt to point to, which is exactly why it gets argued over more than any other. The pain and suffering guide details how that side of a claim actually gets built.

Your own share of fault trims the stack

If you carried any part of the blame, that percentage comes off the top of whatever the stack can pay. That reduction applies across the whole claim, from every layer of it, so it’s worth understanding before you agree to anything. The partly-at-fault guide charts the exact math behind that rule.

None of this includes what a lawyer’s own fee would look like, which is a separate question. The lawyer cost guide works through how that fee gets set and where it actually comes from. Knowing that number changes how the whole stack looks once a fee comes off the top.

The honest number starts with the ceiling, not the wish list. Find out what the stack can actually pay, then work on reaching it.