Apparently, 1999 Saturns Have Forgiving Bumpers

My little Saturn has been hit twice in as many days, in both cases while waiting at a red light. This morning a large vehicle—I didn't get a good look at it before it sped away—ran into the car immediately behind me forcing that car into me. The force of the impact suggested a few hundred dollars of damage, but my little old car had neither scratch nor dent nor any other blemish on its rear bumper. (As it were, my car brought an end to this chain reaction by not rear-ending the car in front of me. This probably has something to do with my manly calf muscles pressing down so firmly on the brake pedal.)

Yesterday, I was sitting at a long stoplight and the large vehicle in front of me grew tired of waiting and decided to trick the sensors by backing up. (I say that the vehicle grew tired of waiting; in reality the vehicle's driver grew tired of waiting.) The driver didn't notice the little car sitting behind her and hit my front bumper with her trailer hitch. Her assessment of the situation: No damage was done, and we could both move on. My assessment: There is a very small but noticeable dent in my front bumper, and the driver of the offending car was in no position to decide whether the damage was significant. Still, I can recall three occasions when I scratched or dented neighboring cars in parking lots. In call three cases, the owners of the cars that I hit decided that the damage was too minor to report; neither the police nor my insurance company are aware of these incidents. So I decided to pay it forward and not worry about the dent. Besides, my car is too old to warrant wasting a morning going back and forth with police and insurance agents.