Rear-end Collisions

Fault is usually the easy part

A driver has to leave enough room to stop. When someone hits you from behind, the explanation is almost always following too closely, going too fast for conditions, or not looking. Those are the driver's responsibility, not yours.

So the liability argument, which dominates most other cases, is often over quickly here. That is good news, and it moves the entire fight somewhere else.

The real fight: whether a minor-looking crash hurt you

The insurer's strategy in these files is almost scripted:

• They photograph your bumper and argue the damage was too small to injure anyone
• They point to any gap between the crash and your first medical visit
• They pull your prior medical history and attribute your pain to something older
• They hire an expert to testify that the forces involved could not cause your injury

The argument sounds scientific and it is deeply misleading. Modern bumpers are designed to absorb impact without deforming, which means a car can look nearly untouched while the people inside absorbed the energy instead. A neck does not know what a bumper cost to repair.

Why the injuries are real even when the car looks fine

In a rear impact the body is pushed forward while the head lags and then snaps. That motion loads the neck and upper back in a way nothing in ordinary life does. The result is soft tissue injury, disc injury, headaches, and sometimes symptoms that do not appear for a day or two.

Because it is invisible on an ordinary X-ray, this injury gets dismissed more than any other. That is a reason to document it carefully, not a reason to doubt it.

What protects your claim

• Get examined promptly, and describe every symptom rather than only the worst one
• Go to every appointment. A gap in treatment is the argument that costs the most
• Photograph the damage to both cars, including the underside of the bumper cover if you can
• Keep the repair estimate and any photos the body shop took
• Tell your doctor about prior injuries honestly — hiding one hands the defense a gift
• Decline the recorded statement until you have spoken with a lawyer

Chain-reaction crashes

If more than two cars were involved, fault can be shared across several drivers and each carries separate insurance. Sorting out who struck whom, and in what order, decides how much coverage is available to you. That analysis is worth doing properly rather than accepting the first version written in the report.

Talk to Boyd before the adjuster does

The first conversation is free, obligates you to nothing, and Boyd takes it himself.