And the Vauxhall driver will be making a claim for whiplash.

some years ago i was from behind by another car, The other car had alot of damage yet to look at mine there was a little scratch on my bumper. The other parties husband was a second hand car saleman and said to let him have my car and he would get the scratch polished out. All he kept on about is the amount of damage my 405 had done to the front of his wifes merc his attitude stunk so much i said i would go through my insurance and he should go through his which he replied its knock for knock telling me to tell my insurance thats the way i wanted to claim. As i said his attitude stunk so i went for a normal claim and let the insurances sort it out when the assesor came out to see my car he held a pen on one back corner of my car marked it then did the same the other and it showed that back end of my car was twisted so i would say let the insurance sort it out. Otherwise you may be having a knock at your door from someone wanting alot more money cars are funny things and alot can be damaged which cant be seen. If i had let him polish the scratch out i was told the next mot it would have failed and i would have lost my car.

Many many moons ago I was rear-ended in a Ford Zodiac Mkiv by a Triumph Herald. The Herald was badly damaged (no one injured) with the one piece bonnet/wings ending up halfway up the windscreen, coolant deposited on the road and front tyres puctured. As it happens there was a police officer nearby that saw the incident and after a thorough examination of my Zodiac we wondered if the accident may have caused a crack to one of the badges on the rear. i.e no visible damage.

Some years later when working on the rear of the car I discovered crumple damage in the rear chassis legs. Not too bad but if the fuel tank had ever failed it would have been very hard to replace!

In summary - damage is not always obvious!