Auto Insurance Claims: Rear end passenger side accident, licensed mechanic, rear fender

Question
QUESTION: I am looking for a impartial opinion here.  My 2000 excursion suffered an side collision. A S ran a red light and hit me in the rear fender well area bring the truck to a quick halt..  The S has its hood fender and bumper crushed back to its wheel.  I had to crank the truck to get it started and it was missing.  I moved the truck to the side of the road and waited for the police. It was snowing and the 4x4 was engaged.  After all the police work was done i took my truck to my garage about 5 miles away. I noticed a hum in the drive train the the engine miss was really bad.. When the adjustor arrived he looked at the body damage just front of the wheel. i told him that the rearend was humming and needed that noted as with the engine miss. Right off the bat he said i don't see a mark on the wheel and that not accident related but we can have he frame looked at. I pointed our the fresh marks on the spring packs and he said that was from the impact to the body?? I was told i can have the engine and drive lined looked at at my cost and if it was accident related they would cover.  I took the truck to a local Ford Dealer that i have all me service done at and had them look at it. The truck had a bad head gasket between cyl 8 and 9 and the planetary gear was ROUGH" as the tech put it . He stated to the service manager if it wasn't noisy before the accident and it is noisy now.  then yea its consistent with a drive line shock. same with the motor.  Ins adjustor is now stating HE cannot see the connection.   Who is responsible for making the determination  the adjustor or the licensed mechanic.  I just don't believe in coincidences..

ANSWER: It sounds like you are into one of the typical shooting matches between the adjuster and your dealer. One thing you didn't mention was whether the adjuster you're dealing with is representing your insurance company or the company that insures the party that hit your vehicle. If it is the liability carrier of the person at fault in the collision, you may want to file a claim with your own company to see if the outcome is better.

As for the bad head gasket and its relation to the impact, I have never seen that happen. The drive train noise, on the other hand, is likely to be accident related.

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QUESTION: Sorry  its both my adjustor and the other guys adjustor. sorry

Answer
You've got two options here: That is, with your own insurance company you have the third party appraisal option in the policy, which will allows you to hire an independent appraiser, the insurance company hires their appraiser and the two select an umpire to make a binding decision.

The other course you may take is to file suit in small claims court against the at-fault party. While that may take some time, it can be effective if you present your case well have have evidence to back up your side of the story.