Faust T.

on a rainy and slippery morning, I stopped at a marked crosswalk to yield to a couple crossing with their dog,
the Jetta behind me couldn't stop in time and rear ended my Macan at around 15 mph,
the trailer hitch took all the impact, my LED license plate light pops out, but there isn't any visible damage, no air bag deployed on his car neither,
question is, should I have the car inspect? the other driver is super nice and very apologetic, consider the speed I don't think there's gonna be any structural damage,
AAA always treats me well on all my insurance claim but I don't feel like spending all the effort for a $7 rubber cover,
but at the same time, the Macan is my daily and I'm planning to drive it until the wheels fall off.
any input?

Biohazard

I think you should see if you can get under it and look around and make sure that nothing got bent. Maybe signed of paint freshly chipped from an area under there on hitch could signal it bent/moved some kind of way. If no signs you are possibly good if you do see signs you may at least want the bumper off to inspect better,

wwahl

Not only have the car inspected, but get yourself into your doctor pronto to see if you have personal damage. My guess with the present economy this may cost you $25,000 for the car and $25,000for the bruises.

Bxstr

Yes, I would get it inspected.

NC TRACKRAT

Usually, if the damage is below a certain amount, it's not reportable but if the police weren't called to write it up and neither of you contacted your insurance companies, you're on your own.

Penstamin

+1 on getting it inspected. You never know what damage lies underneath the bumper cover. And in any rear-end collision, the car doing the hitting is always the one at fault. Ask me how I know.

john981

It looks like nothing crazy, just the rubber cover took some hit. How does it look when you remove the rubber cover? If there is no visible damage, I think you should be fine. Also, how does the other car look and how hard was the impact? Remember, those parts are supposed to carry several thousand pounds, even with some moderate impact, I don't expect any major issues.

jobunaga

+2 on getting it inspected. A VW Jetta traveling at 15mpg is a significant amount of force (more than 10,000 newtons). The external stuff might look fine but the wiring and electronics underneath might not be.