Auto Insurance Claims: Landscape company damaged Vehicle at rental property, stale mate, chevy colorado

Question
I drive a 2006 chevy colorado and about 2 weeks ago I awoke to the sound of chain saws outside my window.  I got out of bed peeked through the window and saw that the landscapers had a pile of branches stacked that they had removed.  A couple hours later left and when I approached my vehicle I noticed that the pollen was disturbed on the hood and roof of my vehicle. Upon further review  I noticed deep scratches on the entire driver side of my vehicle that was under the area the landscapers removed the branches.  I immediately reported this to the leasing office at my apartment complex who advised me to go get an estimate which I did 2 days later which was $2,800 in damage and $550 in car rental fees.  I gave this to the apartment complex who forwarded it to the president of the landscaping company.  I followed up everyday for a week with the apartment rental people and a week later they had contact info for the landscaping company.  No call was made to me by the landscaping company, I had to make the first contact.  Upon our discussion I was basically told by the president that the tree trimming crew was onsite that day but that they did not cut down any due to vehicles in the way and he had been working with his guys for 8-10 years and no reason to believe that they would lie about something like this. In other words my word against his.  He then went in to explain that he was the risk manger for the company blah blah blah and that he did not think his guys had done this.  I then asked if he went to the scene of the incident to investigate while onsite that same day and he said he had not.  My response being well if you are the risk manager for the company don't you think you should have.  He being the expert in his trade would have in a second been able to tell that 7 branches had been cut down that were bleeding sap directly above my parking spot.  We ended the call in a stale mate and I asked that he file a claim with his insurance company and provide with the information.  Another week went by with multiple follow up calls before I got a call from the insurance agent who took a recorded statement of basically what I stated above and said they would investigate and that the landscaper was disputing the claim.  I sent pictures of the trees and and the damage to my vehicle and she said she would be sending out an adjuster.  My vehicle has factory paint and I got the quote from the dealer ship to maintain the value of my vehicle.  My questions are do I need to file a claim with my insurance company or wait to see what the other insurance company decides to do.  Should I have filed a police report if so is it to late? If the adjuster comes back with a low ball # what action can I take.  I am worried that the landscapers insurance company is just going to say that no fault can be proven when I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Answer
If you file the claim with your insurance company, you will be responsible for your deductible. If you are willing to see what the liability carrier for the tree company does, then wait. However, you must understand that they have no legal duty to you, but their insured does (that would be the tree service company). Send them a certified letter demanding that they pay the cost of repairs and send a copy to their insurance company. Tell them that you will take legal action against their policyholder in the absence of a fair settlement for your loss. Give them 10 days to respond. If you don't hear from them, you can file a claim with your insurance company or file suit in small claims court. You won't need a lawyer there.