Auto Insurance Claims: The person who caused the accident CAUGHT lying to ins co, insurance adjuster, police notes

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I was involved in an auto accident last week.
I was driving straight on a local road (1 lane in each direction) with the right of way.  

The vehicle that struck me was pulling out from a parked position on the right.  Luckily, the impact was slow.  There was damage to my car on the front right panel and bumper (passenger side), and her car had damage on the front left panel and door (driver side).  She did not have her insurance information, and just told me who her carrier was.

I called her insurance carrier, and they had a claim.  The girl's father (who owns the car) had called to open the case.  I gave my statement.  I called back a couple of days later to check on the status of the claim, and the adjuster told me the girl stated that I did not have my headlights on (the accident was at night time).  I told the adjuster that I was driving for 1/2 an hour and definitely had my headlights on.  On top of that, my car has day time running lights!  

I picked up the police report and the police notes that the other driver did not see me, pulled out, and thus struck my car.  (nothing about headlights, cause of accident was failure to yield)

The insurance adjuster said she would call the other driver to let her know about this.

My question is, in your opinion, is there any way that her insurance could not find her 100% at fault?

I called my insurance and filed a report (did not claim to avoid paying the deductible), and my insurance found her 100% at fault.  I called them again to let them know about the conversation I had with the other carrier.

Thanks for your help

ANSWER: Hi Mia,

The other insurance company can do just about anything they want. However since your story matches the police report you should have no problem getting them to accept liability. If they come back to you with an offer to split liability (placing some of the blame on you) you should adamantly reject. If they will not budge then you will have to put the claim through your insurance and let them fight it out.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Richard,

Thanks for your response last month.

As a follow up, the other driver came up with a bogus witness who also lied to her insurance company.  This witness is not listed on the police report. They gave me 80/20 liability decision.  I rejected this and filed through my insurance company.

In your opinion, what are my chances of getting 100%?  The police report is in agreement with my version.  Unfortunately, I do not have a witness (other than my passenger) because there was nobody in the vicinity.

Thanks for your help,
Mia

Answer
Hi Mia,

This is how many insurance companies try to save a little money. Your insurance company will try to get 100%. You should let them know that the witness is bogus. In the end though, your insurance company will likely accept the 80/20 because pursuing the other 20% is just not worth their time.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh