The spreadsheet got you here. It won't get you to the next number.
Predict estimates plaintiff-side settlement value for motor vehicle and premises liability cases, jurisdiction-tuned and shown with a confidence band.
Instinct + a list of your last 30 matters + a partner you can call is the default tool every solo PI attorney uses. It's free, it's fast, and it's the right tool, right up until the case isn't shaped like the last 30.
The spreadsheet is fast when the case matches. It's slow when it doesn't, and you don't always know which kind you have.
Predict returns a number in about 30 seconds. The spreadsheet times are typical self-reported ranges from solo PI attorneys: fast when the case matches recent matters, slower when it doesn't.
Predicted values are 90–92% accurate against the realized settlement on held-out test cases (MdAPE, strictly temporal split). See the validation method →
Where the spreadsheet still wins.
If you've practiced MVA in one county for 15 years and your last 80 cases all settled in a narrow band, you don't need a model — you are the model. The honest version of this comparison is that the spreadsheet works when the case is shaped like the last 30 and the same attorney is valuing all of them.
It stops working in three places: a case in a jurisdiction you don't usually handle, a fact pattern outside your recent matters, and the moment you try to scale the practice — because the instinct doesn't transfer to the associate or the new hire. Predict is the version of the spreadsheet that survives those three transitions.
Read the full methodology →Try Predict on the case sitting in your spreadsheet right now.
Run one current case through Predict and compare the number to your gut. The trial is 14 days, no credit card at signup, long enough to put it next to a real intake week.
On the example above, the gut number was ~$120K. Predict's was $148,000 (± $22,000, 90% CI), backed by 312 comparable Harris County settlements. One corrected number that close to the band, on a single case a year, more than covers $499/mo.
You'll answer a few intake questions about one case (jurisdiction, case type, injuries) and get a value with its confidence band in about 30 seconds. 14-day trial, no card at signup.