Advice For My Not At Fault Car Accident Which Totaled My 2024 Chevy.

Location: South Carolina U.S.

Hey yall I’m from South Carolina. I unfortunately got into a pretty serious car accident this afternoon. I would just like to know if I should contact lawyers I know through a friend who works at a firm. She said they can help but I don’t want to over complicate. Progressive is my insurance and after being on the phone with them I feel like I have more questions.

I was driving in the left lane of the interstate and it was stop and go traffic. I see the Tahoe in front of me coming to a stop so I start to break plenty of room from them and come to a stop as stop and go traffic does. The guy behind me in an FJ Cruiser decides that since he can’t zoom around me he’s going to tail me. I keep my distance from the Tahoe and just keep driving and on the third complete stop the FJ rear ends me so hard I skidded into the tahoes hitch. My front airbags were deployed, front bumper and hood slightly crunched, rear bumper and trunk real messed up, transmission and exhaust are hanging from my under carriage. The car is a 2024 Chevy trailblazer I’ve had for a literal year.

The guy who hit me accepted full fault and a witness wrote a stammer corroborating the guy who hit me that he basically was being an ahole and trying to swerve around me.

Thank goodness my injuries are not bad just the typical. I did go to the ER for an xray of my wrist which is pretty bruised and raspberried up from the airbag. No breaks though!

No here’s my questions.

The lady at progressive said I didn’t need to file with them if I didn’t want to. Is that true?

How does this kind of accident go in terms of settling so I can buy a new vehicle. I’m 21 and can’t rent a car… I also don’t have the savings to put a down payment on rn and blow all my emergency fund. Since I’m not at fault am I still going to not receive anything from this even though my car is new? Sorry for the long winded post.