Auto Insurance Claims: Fighting over liability in car accident, green arrow, insurance adjuster

Question
I was in a car accident in which I was traveling west.  I approached a large intersection with traffic lights at all directions.  My light was green so I proceeded through the intersection.  A woman traveling east made a left hand turn in front of me and I hit her on her front passenger side.  We filed a police report and went on our way.  I contacted her insurance company to make the claim. They then contacted her and she stated that she had a green arrow to turn and that I ran a red light, therefore I was at fault.  I was told that they would need a copy of the police report and that it would be the "tie-breaker".  So, I got the police report and the policeman stated that she was at fault and failed to yield right-of-way to me, causing the accident.  Even though it says that, the adjuster continued to use the arguement that she said she had a green arrow and that they were not going to pay my claim.  The weird thing to me is that the lady is so convinced that she had a green arrow, but has not even contacted my insurance company to make a claim against me one week after it happened and has also sought medical care 5 days after the accident.  My insurance company is now involved so that I don't have to fight my own battle, but I am worried that this will be settled as a 50/50 fault claim and that I will be out of my deductible.  So, my question is, does this sound like a reasonable argument for her insurance to make even though the police statement was in my favor?  There were no witnesses that stayed, by the way.  Thanks for you time!

Answer
Hi Karla,

The police report is a tool but is not given 100% weight by a claims adjuster. Unless the police officer was standing there and watched the accident happen, the police report is simply a recording of what was stated at the scene by the parties involved. The police officer than tries to make a decision based on those statements. An insurance adjuster is not required to follow what the police report says. They will usually give more weight to the statement of their insured. After all they are paying them.

This is a classic he said, she said. The adjusters from both companies will try to argue the point of view of their insured drivers. In the end, since there are no independent witnessess, there will likely be a negotiated dicision regarding liability.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh