Auto Insurance Claims: Insurance Claims, coolant line, drive shaft

Question
I have a 2003 Lincoln LS that has low mileage (55k) and was pampered by me since I bought it and is in great condition.  A drive shaft rolled off a truck in front of me and I had to swerve from running over it; by the time I recovered I was not able to stop in time to keep from hitting a stopped car in the lane I swerved into to keep from destroying my car with the drive shaft.  My bumper pushed in as it's supposed to when I crashed and evidently cut a hole in a hose or something and a reddish and odorless fluid completely drained from my car (my first initial impression was that it was transmission fluid).  A new bumper was replaced along with the fixings that goes along with it.  However, when I picked up the car the transmission was "kicking" upon shifting at low speeds and sometimes at high speeds not shifting at all (which it wasn't before the accident) however the car still had its pickup and power.  I reported this immediately to the body shop (car dealership) over and over the next couple of days.  However when I called this in to my insurance adjuster, she subtlely threatened me with totaling the car although the additional cost and what has already been paid for the repairs would not be near the 51% or 80% value of the car.  Can they total the car after the major part of the damage has already been repaired and paid for?  When I called other shops about it, I was told that probably the bumper had cut the oil coolant line/hose and the car was low on transmission fluid... and to take it back to the people who originally repaired the car.  The original body shop manager had even suggested to me that it might be the same before they repaired the car but it looks as if once they found a hole in the oil filter no one looked any further for leaks or a cut hose in anything else.  My concern however is the insurance company maybe wanting to total a car after the body work has already been completed which makes no sense to me.  At best it needs a busted hose replaced and transmission fluid.  Am I over-reacting?  The insurance company hadn't even obtained a copy of the police report which had plenty of witnesses on it of the drive shaft being in the road.  They had already "threatened" not to pay the last supplemental presented by the body shop and the rental car because she claimed that a "David" left a message on her voice mail that the oil filter problem (with a huge whole busted in it and the repair already OKed by their own appraiser who looked at it) was not from the crash.  Is this how insurance adjusters are trained - to try to downplay the repairs needed on a vehicle or is this some type of power play?  I can understand if I had many claims down through the years but I haven't.  In fact my insurance premium was down to it's lowest point ever due to my history.  What's this all about?

Answer
Hi Karleen,

You must understand that your insurance company does not care about you, only the money that you pay them. Insurance adjusters are trained to treat everyone that makes a claim as a criminal that is trying to steal the company's money. They will use all kinds of intimidation tactics to reduce or deny claims.

You should take your vehicle to a Lincoln dealer service department. Explain to them exactly everything that the car is doing as well as the fact that you saw the red fluid. Have them diagnose the problem and write up a cost estimate of the repairs. Then send that estimate to your insurance company requesting payment as well as telling them that your car is at the dealer service department if they would like to go see the car and talk to the technician.

Tell the insurance adjuster if they try to scare you with totaling your car again that you will file a complaint with the state department of insurance. They do not total cars unless the total cost of repairs is at or above 75% of the value of the car. Howevrr that is not a law. They can repair the car all the way upto 100% of the value.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh