phljeeper

I had the same issue when my Jeep was 4 days old. A woman driving a Mitsubishi SUV rear ended me and hit my spare tire. No damage to the Jeep at all, but it crinkled her hood. She was on the cell phone when she rear ended me and was still talking on the phone when she got out to see how much damage she did. Japanese vs. American SUV - JEEP wins.

viking

people on phones while driving should all be locked up. Had a co-worker die from a head on because these fools who think driving is a easy thing to do. Just drive through Toronto in rush hour and your head needs to be on a swivel. Sorry for the rant but aaaaaaaaaaaa holes

Blackbeard

Folks! Your bumpers may not be getting hit at all, thus showing no damage. However, if there are black streaks on the Rear-Enders Hood from your Spare Tire, there's a chance you may have unseen damage. Your Tailgate Door, Spare Tire Mount, or Spare Tire Wheel may have some damage to it.

Your Tire Mount may be slightly bent, the Spare Tire or Mount may have pushed in your Tailgate Door Panel (Pull the spare off and look at it...), and your Wheel (Not Tire) might have been slightly bent from the impact. Don't write it off as "NO DAMAGE" just yet. Let a Body Shop and your Insurance check it out first.

Best of Luck!

Cheers!

BB

UnlmtdJKRubi

I got hit sitting at a red light in Dec by a Suburban that couldn't stop in the snow. Slid into the spare tire and pushed me into the intersection. Luckily with an aftermarket tire carrier he just pushed me forward but punched a hole in his grill, peeled his hood back a few inches and bent the heck out of his aluminum brush guard.

Also had a small toyota roll out a parking space and hit the JK in the spare tire smashing the toyota's rear tail light and putting a small dent above the tail light housing.

Lucky for me the tire and carrier took the impact and have no damage from either incident.

08UnlimitedSahara810

I had my Jeep hit in a parking lot. The spare took the brunt of it and bent the tailgate pretty good. My bumper had a small crease in it too.

I filed a claim and had a body shop estimate done. The body shop was charging almost $600 for the bumper. I aksed my ins carrier if I could supply my own bumper and get reimbursed up to that amount. They agreed so i just installed a Smittybilt XRC bumper and carrier for $100. I want to thank whoever hit me!

Also, I used to have a KJ. I got bumperd four different time at lights with that thing and never had damage to my Jeep. The others all did. That thing was a magnet!

m(a)ce

x2 on checking the tire/carrier/rear gate

got a little love tap from someone back in the day in my TJ.

didn't notice the slight bend in the tire carrier for a day or two

RN M OVR

If you have the plastic bumper, please tell me you got that person's info (number, address and plate number)!? Report damages. Get your insurance company to file the damages. Replace plastic rear bumper with steel bumper.

Take advantage of your insurance company and Jeep needs. If that person has no insurance, the court will make them give you weekly/monthly payments until their debt is paid off to you.

RA070424

If someone hits the rear of my Jeep, they'll be very uncomfortable... The tow hook, the tire carrier, and the 35" will put a hurting on whatever tuna can they're driving.

JK-UTE

Precisely why my wife loves the "safety" of the Jeep. She was hit from behind as well by some kid on his cell phone. Drop hitch tore the crap out of his vehicle and was undriveable. I made sure we got our Jeep into the shop on his dime. Fortunatley for us, no damage.