Minor Accident

So, I was involved in a minor accident yesterday afternoon. I was rear ended at a slow speed. I was stopped behind a few cars and we were all waiting for a bus to cross train tracks. the driver behind me hit me, was probably slowing down from 30 mph. the good news is her bumper went under my back bumper and made a few scrapes there but no bumps or major damage. Her car did not appear to be damaged either. We exchanged info and left and did not call the police. I've never been in an accident so I wasn't sure if I should call them or not with there being no obvious damage. This morning when I woke up my back and neck hurt. Not bad, but enough to notice it. I don't think I need medical treatment and it will probably go away in a couple days. I am guessing it's just some soreness from the impact. I was wearing my seat belt as always. Not sure what to do here, should I report this to the police? Can I , even though it was yesteday?

No, it's not too late. File a police report using the information you have, and providing the information you were given. Also contact your insurer regarding the accident benefits. Your insurance company will make all the necessary contacts if treatment is required.

Absolutely file a report. Sometimes injuries are not immedietely apparant, might not hurt to be checked out just in case.

Hope you are ok. Yes, like the others have said...file a report.

A couple of years ago I was rear ended. No injuries and the other person's insurance paid for the repairs. The worse part was dealing with all the stuff after the accident with the insurance companies.

At this point, I actually probably wouldn't report it. A little soreness is to be expected and will probably go away in a few days. It might not be the right answer, but I can't imagine going through the hassle for a slight bump that didn't even make an appearance on your cars. Unless I'm getting the wrong idea and it was worse than I'm thinking. If you're in lots of pain and need to be checked out, that's a different story. I hope you're feeling a bit better today.

Being married to a cop I can tell you the advice is always, always, always call and get a record, no matter how small the accident is. If you are at fault it protects you from exaggeration later, if someone else is at fault it protects you from having to pay out of pocket.

Just an FYI - I believe bumpers are really only made to take the brunt of one crash - meaning that even if there isn't any real visible damage, there could be damage on the inside. I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago and it turned out I needed a new bumper. And it wasn't cheap! You might want to get it checked out. Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Mom to a Princess and a Prince

Just an FYI - I believe bumpers are really only made to take the brunt of one crash - meaning that even if there isn't any real visible damage, there could be damage on the inside. I had the same thing happen to me a few years ago and it turned out I needed a new bumper. And it wasn't cheap! You might want to get it checked out. Good luck!

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^^^This is correct. Under the plastic/rubber bumper cover is a energy absorbing styrofoam that crushes when impacted and behind that is a steel bumper which has basically energy absorbing shocks more or less that sometimes do not return back out to thier original position and therefore do not have the energy absorbtion capacity they previously had.

They may have barely bumped you and actually caused no damage but then on the other hand there may be hidden damage that could result in a failure of the impact energy dissapation properties if you are ever hit in that bumper again. That basically means a higher proportion of the energy will be directly translated into the vehicle and then to your body which could result in more serious injuries than you would have had otherwise. Most likely kneck and/or back injuries.

I would have it inspected for damage other than cosmetic.

On the other hand, getting a police report is a double edged sword these days. If you get a police report, the wreck is going to go on the vehicle's history report and will show up on carfax. Your car has then immediately lost around 5-10% in value when you sell it or trade it in. The other parties insurance company should compensate you for this loss but will almost always give you the run around about it and you may have to get your attorney to send them a letter threatening to sue. It is called "diminished value." I have been there and done that a couple of times.