How Much Money Can a Passenger Get in a Car Accident Lawsuit?

April 29, 2025

No one gets into a car expecting to be hurt in an accident. If you’ve just been involved in a crash, you likely already know how costly and painful recovery can be. You also might know that the right car accident attorney may be able to secure compensation to cover your medical expenses, lost wages, and other losses. But how much compensation for passenger car accidents can a lawyer realistically recover?

Without knowing the specifics of your case, it’s impossible to know how much compensation you might be able to receive. However, it might be helpful to have a general understanding of the factors that shape the value of a case.

Compensation for passengers hurt in car accidents can range from a few thousand dollars to more than $1 million. Many factors — including the severity of your injuries, how much work you had to miss, and any negligence on your part — determine how much compensation you can receive.

Factors Affecting a Passenger Injury Lawsuit Settlement

Injury Settlements Are More Complex Than Many Realize

Many people focus on drivers when discussing compensation for car accident injuries. However, car accidents injure passengers, too — and passengers deserve the same consideration as injured drivers. If you’ve been injured as a passenger, these are some of the main factors determining how much financial compensation you may be able to recover:

Your Medical Bills

This is one of the most important factors when it comes to determining your compensation for a car accident. People who file car accident lawsuits aren’t doing so just to see how much money they can get — they’re trying to make sure they can cover their medical care and pay for basic expenses while healing.

If your injury has already healed, your lawyer will likely try to recover at least enough to reimburse you for what you spent on medical bills. However, the situation becomes more complex if you have an injury that will require ongoing medical care or support. If you will likely need future medical care, your lawyer may consult medical experts to estimate the amount of compensation you should receive.

Your Lost Income

In most cases, a severe injury will stop you from working — at least temporarily. In an insurance settlement or lawsuit, you should be compensated for the money you would have earned if you hadn’t been injured.

But what happens if your injury is permanent? If your injury results in a disability that permanently damages your earning capacity, you may be compensated for that as well.

Here’s an example. Imagine you were making $100,000 per year working in a warehouse prior to your car accident. Your injuries make you permanently lose your ability to walk, so you start working as an office assistant making $50,000 per year. In this case, you might be awarded $50,000 per remaining year of your working life to make up for your damaged earning capacity.

Have you been injured as a passenger in a car accident? Call Wapner Newman at (215) 569-0900 for a free consultation.

The Impact of the Injury on Your Daily Life

Often, much of the compensation you receive as an injured passenger is for economic losses. However, injured people are also usually compensated for pain and suffering. This is a catch-all term for unquantifiable losses like these:

Physical pain
Emotional suffering
Loss of quality of life
Psychological impact of disfiguring scars
Loss of enjoyment of hobbies.

Broadly speaking, the greater the impact your injury has on your daily life, the greater your compensation for pain and suffering is likely to be. For instance, suppose that you and your friend are each badly hurt in a car crash. Your friend suffers broken bones that need surgery but heal completely. You suffer a spinal cord injury that causes lifelong pain, weakness, and partial paralysis.

Both injuries were initially painful and expensive to treat. However, because your injuries will have a significant impact on you for the rest of your life, you would likely receive greater compensation for pain and suffering.

Any Negligence on Your Part

Pennsylvania has what’s known as a modified comparative negligence law. This law can impact the amount of compensation you receive if you are partially at fault for an accident. It has two key provisions:

You may recover compensation as long as you weren’t more than 50% at fault for your injuries.
Any compensation you receive will be reduced by your percentage of fault.

This statute often comes into play when a driver seeks compensation in a crash. Passengers are almost never significantly at fault for an accident — unless they deliberately did something (like grabbing the steering wheel) to cause a crash.

However, there are some instances where the law might impact your case. For example, suppose that you’re a passenger in your friend’s car, and you aren’t wearing a seat belt. A speeding driver hits the back of your friend’s car, causing it to flip. You suffer a broken arm and a moderate brain injury.

While you didn’t cause the accident, a court determines you were 10% at fault for your injuries because you didn’t have a seat belt on. You are awarded $100,000, but because the amount is reduced by your percentage of fault, you ultimately receive $90,000.

Have You Been Hurt in a Car Accident?

Your Choice of Attorney Makes All the Difference

If you’ve just suffered serious injuries in a car accident, you might be unsure of what to do next. The prospect of healing from your injuries on your own might be daunting, but you might be entitled to financial compensation from the at-fault driver.

There’s no way to completely guarantee you’ll be awarded compensation, but a determined, experienced personal injury attorney can greatly improve your chances. The Wapner Newman team has helped countless injured people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey access the compensation they deserve.

If you’ve been injured as a passenger in a car accident, don’t wait — call us at (215) 569-0900 to book your free consultation now.