Tapped someone at a red light, no damage, no info exchanged — now I can't stop spiraling

I had almost this exact thing happen to me a couple years back. Low-speed tap in a parking lot, both parties walked away agreeing there was nothing to worry about. I stressed about it for probably two weeks straight. Nothing ever came of it. I think when someone is genuinely unbothered at the scene, that's usually a real signal. The people who are planning to pull something tend to act very differently right away.

Your anxiety is understandable but here's the thing — if they were going to make a claim, they almost certainly would have pushed to exchange info at the scene. That's actually step one for anyone planning to file anything. The fact that they were relaxed and walked away without asking for your name or plate is a pretty good sign they weren't thinking about it as a 'incident' either.

Worked claims for years. Late-reported soft-tissue claims from minor contacts do happen, I won't pretend they don't. But without any record of your plate at the scene, it gets genuinely difficult for someone to track you down after the fact unless they happened to write it down. If they didn't get your info and you didn't get theirs, the practical path forward for them to make a claim against you specifically is pretty narrow. Not impossible, but way less likely than your anxiety is telling you right now.

From a medical standpoint, real soft-tissue injuries from an impact that slow are pretty uncommon in healthy adults. At walking pace, you're talking about forces your body handles just moving around normally. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the scenario where someone walks away feeling totally fine and then develops a legitimate injury from that is pretty rare. The worry is understandable, but your body would probably know by now.

Honestly the fact that they were the ones reassuring you at the scene says a lot. That doesn't sound like someone building a case — that sounds like a decent person who just wanted everyone to go on with their day. Try to give yourself a break on this one.

Here's what I'd actually do: just give your own insurance company a heads-up call. Don't file a claim, just let them know a minor contact happened, no damage, no injuries reported. That way if anything ever surfaces later you're not blindsided and you haven't hidden anything. Most insurers have a way to log a 'notice only' without it affecting your rates. Better to have it on record on your end than to be scrambling to explain a delay.

Not trying to add to your stress but — do you know for sure they didn't get your plate at the scene? Like did they have their phone out at any point, or were they walking around the back of your car? I'm not saying they did, just that it's worth being honest with yourself about what actually happened vs. what you're hoping happened.

Look at it this way — you did the right things. You stopped, you checked on them, you both inspected the vehicles together. You didn't flee. The fact that you're this worried about it actually shows you take responsibility seriously. That counts for something, and it also means you'd handle any follow-up situation the same careful way if it ever came to that.