Auto Insurance Claims: REAR END COLLISION, travelers insurance, electrical company

Question
Hello - I have a question.  I was stopped at a light and was hit by a electrical company van.  We both pulled over to exchange information.  Initially the person who hit me asked me not to call police because he was in a wreck last week and he would lose his job.  He also told me that his father was a manager or vp with the company and he would take care of my car.  However, I still called the police.  Initially an officer responded but it was out of his jurisdiction and he said we should call police from our county. This officer did spend about 30 minutes with us asking questions about the accident.  I left the  scene for about 5 minutes and when I returned the person who hit me was saying that he was hit by another vehicle and that caused him to hit me.     The wrong jurisdiction officer advised us since there were no injuries and vehicles were driveable to just file a report later on.  
The next day, I received a call from the father of the person who hit me.  He wanted me to take my car to a body shop of his friends and asked me not to report to police.  However, I informed him that I had already submitted a police report.
In closing, I just received a letter from Travelers insurance (The driver who hit me) stating that after there investigation they would not take responsibility for my claims.  Is this because of the mysterious 3rd car that allegedly hit the car that hit me?  And Is the van that hit me responsible if we can't prove he was hit by another party ?  Is it my responsibility to prove anything?  

If it is true, that the last person in a chain reaction collision is responsible, then it would seem like if you ever hit someone from behind, just say someone hit you and then they drove off so no liablity would be put on you.

Please advise  Thank you in advance for your time.

Answer
Hi Bette,

Yes. They are denying liability due to the phantom vehicle. You should report this to your insurance company if you have collision coverage. Explain to them exactly what happened and request that they send a damage estimator to the electrical company to do a detailed inspection and photograph the rear of the truck that hit you to see if there are any signs of damage from the phantom vehicle. If there is no damage to the rear of the truck, have your insurance comapny take care of your damage and then they will go after the other cinsurance company for reimbursement.

If you do not have collision coverage, then you will have to pursue this yourself. Yo may need to hire a private investigator to inspect the truck and het photos. Then you would have to file suit against the driver and the electrical company.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh