Utter confusion re Dial Direct

I took out car insurance with Dial Direct in September. I have nearly 10 years' no claims' bonus. I had a minor collision ten days ago which was very obviously the other party's fault. My insurers got another party, IMS (Incident Management Solutions) to arrange assessors to come out to assess damage, give an estimate etc. Didn't get back to me when they said they would, then when they did, 'minor damage' has nevertheless resulted in a rather surprising 'total loss'. Car IS 11 years old but passed MOT with flying colours just last month.Not at all happy with this as they accept car driveable but assessors have also added in 'car care kit' and 'general clean'. I said I will retain the car provided they confirm it's safe to drive, not just 'driveable' as I'm going up to Scotland next week, need it for work etc etc. They will not give me this in writing, but while on the one hand they've told me over the phone that car is safe, they have included bar behind bumper in the list of things needing replacing. Also, after saying it's safe, they then added the caveat 'provided no one tampers with the bumper'. Neither IMS nor Dial Direct have been consistent in what they've told me about the information they have/don't have. IMS emailed me this morning to say the other party (understandably) want to have their own assessor look at this, but did not give a date when. Asked Dial Direct to chase this up with IMS. DD say IMS have told them the other party haven't said this, only that they reject the claim and that they haven't had any more info from them as they've not been able to contact them. This is nonsense, I think, as I myself have other party's number and Dial Direct previously rang him on my behalf.

What do I do? Should I assume car is safe to drive? Can I push them to get this in writing? Am I at liberty to contact the other party to ask about assessor? And what happens, hypothetically, if I drive the car on holiday and have another collision?