Auto Insurance Claims: insurance claim, appraisal clause

Question
My wife was in an accident in the beginning of October.  She was in traffic on a highway when a van rear ended the car behind her at a pretty high speed, which then slammed into my wife's car and then my wife hit the car in front of her.  the front of the car that was behind my wife went under her car.  There was also damage done to the bumper.  The officer on scene labeled the car as not drivable, because it was making and awful sound like there was no muffler.  When we set everything up at the body shop the insurance adjuster came out and took some pictures and wrote everything up.  when we picked up the car the body damage was fixed but the sound was still there.  The insurance agency said that it is not responsible due to wear and tear and the muffler  had rust on it.  We argued and argued and insisted that this was caused by the accident.  We noted that we were not happy.  When i picked the car up I immediately took it to our family mechanic who told us that underneath the car did not look like this when he did work on it in September.  There was no rust, just dirt.  Our mechanic said that the part is going to cost big money and the car should have been totaled.  The initial cost at the body shop was $2000.  We were informed that the job is going to run us around $4500.  The car is a 2005 Volkswagon Jetta.  Our insurance is with Statefarm, and they refuse to cover this claim.  We feel like we have our hands tied however it does not make any sense at all.  When my wife calls and tries to talk to the supervisor they are down right ignorant and rude.  My wife is  5 months pregnant and  was being screamed at, and treated so nasty.  please tell me what my options are and how we can get state farm to cover this claim.

Answer
If State Farm is your carrier, then you can invoke the appraisal clause of your policy.  Essentially, you send them written notice that you disagree with their damage assessment and invoke the appraisal clause by hiring out an independent appraiser.  State Farm will then also have to hire out an independent appraiser and if the two appraiser's can't agree on an amount, then an umpire is selected and you and State Farm split the cost of the umpire.  The umpire will agree with one of the appraisers and that will be the end of it.

You can find us at www.pettydetailsllc.com, and we do provide appraisal services for cases like yours, and are always willing to consult with you for free.

JP