Auto Insurance Claims: Three Car Accident, total loss on 2 claims

Question
I was in an accident on the 101 freeway in Los Angeles on July 29th. A car in front of me slammed on his brakes after being cut-off by a car changing lanes without signaling. I hit the car in front me and was then subsequently hit from behind by another motorist who wasn't insured. The guy that I hit ended up leaving the scene after seeing that he had minimal damage done to his car. I am insured by USAA and have never had any problems with them, until dealing with this claim. They had my car towed to a tow lot and I got a rental car. The following day I was informed that my car was being taken to a salvage yard and nine times out of ten that means it will be a total loss. My car sat at the tow lot for seven days before being taken to the salvage yard. At that time their field rep determined that the car could be repaired. It took another six days to get the car to a body shop. It has been at the body shop for fifteen days now and is expected to be "repaired" by September 5th. My rental coverage runs out tomorrow and I will be stuck without a car for at least ten days. I called USAA today because I am concerned that 13 days of my rental coverage was wasted while they waited to move my car from the two lot to the salvage yard and then to the body shop. The agent I spoke with today was less that compassionate and told me that my claim took extra time because it is actually two claims. She said that when I rear ended the car in front of me that is considered one accident (claim) and when I was rear ended two seconds later it is a second accident (claim). She also said that if my accident had just been handled as one claim the car would have been totaled, but since it was split in two the car was not totaled. I have never heard of such a situation. How can they claim this is two separate accidents? I will still be driving a car that should have been totaled that was repaired. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Answer
What a mess.  This  claim was handled very poorly by USAA, which is unusual as they are a good company.

You should call and demand to speak to the claim rep's manager immediately and explain what has occurred.  There is no excuse for the delays they caused.  They should agree to cover 100% of your rental as an act of good will to make up for the delays.  They do not legally have to do this, but I certainly would if I were managing that claim rep.

As far as one or two claims -- this is a judgment call and will depend on whether there was much of a time delay between the two collisions.  If the delay was less than 10-15 seconds, it should be handled as one claim.  If the delay was longer, you could make an argument for two claims.  But 99 out of 100 times this would be handled as 1 claim.  Now it might actually work in your favor to handle this as two claims if they are handling the second impact as an Uninsured Motorist claim, because that coverage gives you a lot more benefits than Collision coverage.  But if you are being charged two deductibles for two claims, than  that would not be to your favor.  Ask about this.

As far as the total loss issue - handling this as  2 claims should NOT be a factor.  The ONLY factor should be whether or not the car can be safely repaired to pre-loss condition with regard to function, appearance and safety at a cost that does not exceed the actual cash value before the loss.  If they decided the car was a total loss, they should have settled it as such under the 2nd claim, and then make an accounting transaction to apportion some of the payments to the first claim.  My company does this all the time when more than one claim applies to repairs.

Good luck.  if you do not get satisfaction, I suggest complaining up the line until you do.  Worst case, scenario, you can file a complaint with your state insurance department.