The repair is just the beginning. This free tool estimates the real cost of a car accident: tick the damaged parts, set your car’s make and age and your policy, and see two figures — the repair bill and what actually lands on you (excess, years of higher premiums, hire car, time). A “can you prove you weren’t at fault?” toggle shows what clear dash-cam evidence recovers. No sign-up, nothing stored — it runs entirely in your browser.
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Maker
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Why we built it / what it solves / what the costs are based on
Most drivers badly underestimate what a crash costs. They picture the repair bill — but insurance usually covers that beyond the excess. The real hit is the part nobody adds up: the years of higher premiums after an at-fault claim, plus the excess, a hire car, lost time, and, worst of all, the cost of being wrongly blamed when it’s your word against theirs. The tools already out there either spit out a single repair figure or are lead-capture forms that want your details before they’ll answer. We wanted an honest one that shows the whole picture — and makes plain what clear evidence is actually worth in a disputed accident, without pretending a camera prevents crashes or reduces your own liability.
The numbers are built from your own inputs, scaled by transparent, sourced benchmarks:
• Repair bill = a typical base cost for each damaged part, multiplied by a make factor (Japanese ≈ 0.9, American ≈ 1.0, European ≈ 1.35 — premium parts cost more) and a year factor (newer cars carry ADAS sensors and complex panels, so they cost more to fix). If it nears the car’s value, it flags a likely write-off.
• Higher premium = your premium × a typical ~45% at-fault increase × the 3–5 years it lasts.
• Excess/franchise, hire car (~$45/day), injury and admin come from your inputs plus typical figures — with a toggle for whether your policy refunds the excess when you’re not at fault.
Benchmarks are drawn from the Insurance Information Institute, NHTSA, NerdWallet, Bankrate and Forbes Advisor (typical US figures, adjustable to your own car, insurer and currency in £/$/€). Every output is simple arithmetic on your inputs — an estimate to sanity-check against a real quote, not financial advice.
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Ticked a few parts on my old hatchback and the "true cost" number was way higher than I expected once it added the premium hikes over a few years. The dash-cam toggle is a nice touch, makes you think about evidence before you actually need it.
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Would love to see a comparison mode where you can toggle between two accidents to see how make, age, and policy type actually change the out-of-pocket figure. Helped a friend recently and we were guessing rather than seeing the real difference side by side.
Ticked a few parts on my old hatchback and the "true cost" number was way higher than I expected once it added the premium hikes over a few years. The dash-cam toggle is a nice touch, makes you think about evidence before you actually need it.
Would love to see a comparison mode where you can toggle between two accidents to see how make, age, and policy type actually change the out-of-pocket figure. Helped a friend recently and we were guessing rather than seeing the real difference side by side.