Bumper bashing

rb99: glad its sorted. However, there is some really bizarre and poor advice in this thread which could steer people wrong in similar situations. The most useful advice is these two:

scuwp: You only have to report crashes to Police where there has been a injury or where there has been damage to property and you cannot find the owner.

Breach or not of licence conditions is irrelevant to the circumstances. The following car is obligated to stop within the length of lane visible on a marked road (so stop short of the vehicle in front) or within 1/2 the visible distance on an unlaned road. It doesn't matter why the car in front stopped.

Don't hand over a cent, it's not your daughters fault at all. 100% on the following car.

richms: The damage may look minor to you now, but the bumper might be totally mangled under the cover, it may have torn the mounts etc as well. Just because the plastic bumper cover looks intact and popped back to its shape doesnt make all well. For the other car to have signifigant damage then yours probably does too.

Get a call to your insurance, get it into a panelbeater to get looked at, then you know where you stand with it being damaged.

I've been in something of a similar situation. Rear-ended by someone not paying attention. Short version of the story - the mother of the fella who hit me wanted to settle for cash, which I wasn't keen on (been there, done that). There was a bit of a scuff and a crease on the bumper but what the panelbeater said was that you just can't tell what the full extent of damage is to a bumper without seeing what's underneath and looking at the supports (like richms said). In an impact, plastic bumpers just spring back out and can disguise what's happened underneath. I wasn't about to pay for a panelbeater to remove the bumper to make a full assessment so that this lady could decide whether she felt like paying up.

This is important - here's what you do: call the insurance company and tell them someone drove into your car and they'll arrange for someone to assess the damage. The insurance company will contact the person who is at fault and get the money from them.

That is what insurance companies do. You do not need to be at fault in order to involve the insurance company. You do not need to be making a claim to involve the insurance company.

In my 17-odd years of driving I've never been in an incident where I was at fault. But I have had numpties drive into me. I call the insurance people, they get my car fixed at no cost to myself and my premiums have never been increased as a result. It does not count against you to tell the insurance company that some dozy sod smacked your car. Always tell your insurance company unless you think you have something to hide.

And now, for your own amusement, a video of me being rear-ended. Unfortunately the camera is pointed the wrong way, but you get the idea. LANGUAGE WARNING.

rb99

Journeyman