Auto Insurance Claims: 4 car accident, we were the vehicle in front and hit no one. Who is responsible for our damages?, pointing fingers, damage health

Question
I was involved in a 4 car accident. I was the vehicle in the front, we came to a full and complete stop in time and did not hit any vehicle. The other cars however did not. In vehicle #1 (our car) we remember hearing one crash then feeling one impact moments after. Because of this all 4 insurance companies concluded that vehicle #2 that hit me was not at fault because she too was at a complete stop and if she would have hit me first I would have felt more than one impact. Now I am given the run around as to who is responsible for my damage/health/injury expenses from car #3 and #4. Each is pointing fingers at each other saying that they are responsible for my damages. Car #2 is refusing to give an accurate statement and sometimes say they felt one impact then at other times they say they felt two. It is essentially car #2’s statement that is the ultimate factor but they refuse to call any of the other insurance agencies back to give statements. We are in California if that makes a difference.
The other thing that makes this case even more difficult is we were definitely hit very hard from behind however our vehicle doesn’t even look like it was involved in the accident. There are no damages to the body other than a few scratches where vehicle #2 hit us. I think they may have hit us directly on the bumper support of the vehicle so instead of damaging the body, they actually hit the frame dead on making it appear OK but giving a hard impact. The vehicle is no longer in operating condition, it does not start and keeps dying when it finally does begin to operate. Our bodies were also very sore after the accident and my neck ended up shifting from the accident (I am currently getting adjusted).
Who is at fault?
What will happen if neither of the insurance agencies take responsibility?
Who should I bring to court and what evidence would I have to sue either party?
It has been a little over a week and we have been without a working vehicle, we also have extensive medical bills from seeing the chiropractor, will this all be compensated after someone takes liability, how about “pain and suffering” and how is that evaluated?
Is there anyway to speed up this process, our pockets are hurting right now from all the expenses.
Does the fact that there is no major body damage shown on the body of the vehicle work against us?
A friend told me that insurance agencies correlate the body damage of the vehicle to the body damage of the people in the car, is this true?
We are in a very stick situation, please help!!!


Answer
Hi Jonathan,

Unfortunately, there are no easy answers or quick fixes here. Whenever there are multiple vehicles and drivers it can take some time for everything to shake out. You should report the accident to your insurance company to take care of any damage to your car. As far as your injuries, you may have MED PAY coverage on your policy that may help. This is a process that could take weeks or even months to be sorted out.  The insurance companies are in no hurry and will not make a liability decision until they get statements from all drivers as well as a copy of the police report.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh