Rear Ended on Motorway - Private, or Insurance?

No need for you to speculate what the other driver was doing, he rear ended you, look after yourself and your car , he's f**ed

Notify your own insurance asap. Wheither you intend to claim or not.

its in the small print .

Also as mentioned above even a low speed prang can result in expensive damage to plastic bumpers.

Your car is less than 3 years old and there is a high likelihood of hidden damage.

The other driver has shown themselves to be irresponsible by driving into you due to using their phone

There is a good likelihood that that driver is going to jerk you around, delay, try to haggle, tell you his mate can get the parts cheaper. Also, and I don't care who this offends, if it was certain demographics who are notorious for messing around in these situations I wouldn't even entertain them paying privately..

Initiate the claim off their insurance. Hopefully you took photos of both your car and their car.

Don’t speculate. Be factual.

Don’t engage any further with them via phone or text.

Awh Jesus man claim off insurance

Don’t be playing mr nice and agreeing to settle privately with the other party. The whole point of insurance is for stuff like this

Soon you’ll be getting the ‘oh my garage could do that for a lot less’ stuff

On the op situation, I'd definitely go the claim route if the car is less than 3 years old.

If you have parking sensors, they might have been damaged.

A friend had similar on a VW Tiguan and the cost was over €3k+ vat.

I'd also avoid speculation on what the driver was doing. That's of no consequence.

The other driver has shown themselves to be irresponsible by driving into you due to using their phone

There is no proof of this, OP was speculating that the driver was on his phone. He had no proof either. Irregardless the other driver is at fault.

OP, just go through the insurance and get it sorted properly.

I had a RTC once and thought I wasn't injured, 17 years later I am actually still feeling the effects, I'd give it a few weeks to see about any injuries. My car was never the same despite 'being fixed' by the other party.

It's not your fault though, report to insurance and let them deal with it

Report to Gardai aswell. This is very important if the other party denies everything in a few weeks or refuses to pay for repairs. Absolutely go through insurance. Again, this will be important later on if the other driver starts acting up.

On a new-ish car, I would go through the insurance. What the other driver wants is none of your concern. If you have any issues later, you won't have any comeback. Maybe they will pay attention to the road after this.

You don't need to inform the Guards.

Read it whatever way you like, but for most people it will read that there is no need to contact YOUR insurance unless you think a claim could be made.

AIG are very clear on it too.

It’s safer to notify your own insurance company of any incident. Generally, motor policies include a duty to report all incidents, regardless of whether you are claiming. So, failure to notify could breach policy Ts & Cs. potentially voiding your cover.
If you later discover further damage or injuries …more headache with insurance due to the lack of initial notification.
If an other party disputes fault your own insurer can step in.

If the at-fault party is uninsured …further problems.

If you’re injured, always best to notify your insurer even if claiming from the third party.

Unfortunately reporting it now will do little. Gardai can't give any opinion on fault etc if they didn't attend the scene.

You’d be absolutely mad to settle this privately. You have back & neck pain ffs. Go through your insurance and make sure to keep an eye on your injuries and chase the insurance company for compensation if the pain persists.