Auto Insurance Claims: hit and run incident, auto insurance company, toyota celica

Question
on aug 31st i was hit and the whole front of my car was hit by a driver who fled the scene. the police caught the man who fled and arrested him due to prior warrants and gave him more fines however the owner of the car and the driver are two different people the owner is a women whom this driver lives with conveniently after the owner bailed the driver out of jail she called in and tried to report her car stolen. now her insurance company is trying to say they may not pay for damages because he "stole" the car. my question is 1 can they get away with this and are there any actions i can make to protect myself for being taken. my second question is they came out to look at my car and are saying the want to total it however the damage to my car is not too bad i wanted  to know how do they get the value of the car i have a 2000 Toyota celica with about 115,000 miles on it.i also had some injury on the night of the accident and i wanted to confirm in the state of NJ i have to go through my auto insurance company for medical right not through my own medical insurance or the other carriers auto insurance company right? i would appreciate any answers at all thank you for your time
Priscilla

Answer
Hi Priscilla,

Yes, you would file your medical through your own auto insurance.

If the car was actually stolen, then the insurance does not have to pay. However, the fact that he was living with the vehicle owner means that he had access to the car. The only way they should be able to deny the claim is if she actually presses charges for stealing the car.

Due to the complicated nature of this claim, you should make all claims through your insurance company and let them sort it out.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh