Expert: Claims Guy - 11/30/2011

Question
i was recently a victim of road rage, and the other party got away but i was able to get a license plate#. when i spoke with CHP, they said that since the plate is issued in AZ(im in CA) as an "off road vehicle" and did not match the description of the vehicle, 98% of the time the other party is never found. a tow truck driver happened to find me and informed me that he is contracted w/ my insurance and he can tow my car to a body shop that he partially owns and informed me that deductible issue is no problem because they will give me a discount. they were very friendly and told me they were friends with some of the adjusters in the area and they would "take care of me" my deductible is $1000 and they said i would only have to pay $500. after the adjuster went to examine the car, i received a call from adjuster informing me that i would have to pay 2 different deductibles because the investigation resulted in 2 different incidents(there is damage to my front right and rear left, body/suspension damage) do i have to pay 2 deductibles? does the insurance or body shop make more money this way? does this help me in any way to avoid my car from being "totaled"(estimated car value $5000, if each claim is $3000, does this help to avoid my car from being "totaled") do i have to worry about "supplemental damage" repair estimates? i feel i may be a victim of fraud, either by the body shop or insurance adjuster or maybe both, but on the other hand they could be trying to help me...please help, so confused?

Answer
You did not describe the original incident.  Could the original incident have caused damage to different parts of the vehicle?

Or did the tow truck damage the vehicle?  If so, then there were 2 accidents.  And 2 deductibles would apply.  In this case, your insurer should subrogate against the tow truck to recover the damage he caused, as well as your deductible from that incident.

Supplements are always possible and a normal part of insurance claims.  Adjusters write estimates for damage they can see, an smetimes damage is not visible until  torn down.  If the total repair is close to the value, they should total the vehicle, but you would have 2 deductibles.