Yesterday my S was rear-ended on the expressway. I was doing about 58 mph behind a merging semi, the car behind me slammed into me with enough force to jolt my head. It was hard enough, but surprisingly enough there was no visible damage to either car. I filed a police report anyway, although the other driver had left by the time police showed up.

Anyway, the question is: should I have a mechanic check for less visible damage? Now that everything's behind me I would estimate the impact was less than 10 mph. Not sure if that could cause anything internally to have failed.

 

yes take it to your mechanic. I had the same thing happen to me and there was damage that was not visable.

 

+1

 

 

On my previous car (a crappy punto) I was also rear ended with no visible damage, that was until I removed all of the boot lining and found the boot floor was dented etc.

Get it all checked

 

Get their insurance to buy you a new bumper and pocket the money

 

I guarantee there is damage. The shell of the bumper is plastic and obviously can pop back into place. Beneath that is styrofoam and metal that was most definitely damaged. Your car's ability to sustain another rear end accident is now greatly diminished.

 

You definitely want to get it checked out. The bumper cover may not need replacing, but there is support underneath it and that should be your concern.

Getting the money and pocketing it might sound tempting since you can't SEE any damage, but I would get it repaired correctly lest another inattentive motorist hits you from behind.

 

First I would crawl under the rear and look up into the bumper.. you can see the underlying support structure.