The large judgments you've heard of (which are very rarely in the millions in this country) are never for material damage to a vehicle. General damages for "pain and suffering", etc, is based on caselaw, and the Supreme Court of Canada put a cap on these at around 300 grand years ago in a "trilogy" of cases. The rest of damages are usually for income loss (past, present, future), special damages (out of pocket), medical/care costs incurred, and future care costs. YATS, you make a good observation, though. Many judgments in such cases include the phrase, "In any such case, we are essentially forced to look into a crystal ball to assess future losses, which is inherently speculative, but in any event that is what we must do...."