GEICO third party claim denial on hit and run.

To start off, I want to describe the incident. I was stopped at a “T” intersection at a stop sign waiting to make a right turn. As I was stopped at my stop sign, a vehicle was turning left onto the street I was waiting at. As the driver made the turn, she was inching FAR too close to my vehicle. As a result, she collided into my vehicle and swiped the entire drivers side causing damage from the front bumper all the way to the rear bumper and all parts in between. I figured she would stop and exchange information but she kept driving as if nothing had happened. She finally stopped at a nearby elementary school to pick up her daughter. I approached her vehicle and stated that she hit my vehicle and should exchange insurance documents. She ignored me for a while until she stated that her car was also damaged and just shrugged. At this point I could tell she was clearly intoxicated. So again, I asked for an exchange of policies but she continued to ignore me. As a result, I called my local sheriff’s department(Lakewood sheriff in CA) and a deputy arrived and created a report. He said he would go look for her to try and get some more details. I go home and he is there at my apartment complex looking for her so it turns out this is my neighbor.

The next day as I am leaving my for class, she is also leaving the complex and she waves me down to talk. She said that the police were looking for her and even went to her ex husbands house looking for her as the vehicle is registered to him. She apologized for hitting my car and leaving and gave a whole sob story about being in a rush to LIV up her kids even though I stood outside her car for about 5 minutes at the school to no response. I don’t get this apology documented and I regret that so much. She still doesn’t give me her insurance policy but stated that she would go to the sheriffs department to give a statement and provide her insurance policy number.

Two weeks later I acquired the police report and file a third party claim with her insurance (GEICO). The report includes my statement and her statements. The report says she stated that she was making a left turn onto the street I was on and collided into my vehicle. The report also includes the officers opinion that she “failed to maintain a direct path of travel, violation 22107 CVC”

A few days after, GEICO calls me and I give them the exact same statement I provided in the police report and in the first paragraph. They call me about 2 hours later saying they are denying liability because of conflicting statements. I ask if they reviewed the police report as I had provided the with the report number in the claim and said they had not. They told me to upload the report documents for them to make a change in liability decision. I upload the documents immediately. Over three weeks pass by and I had not heard from GEICO so I call their claims center.

The adjuster that answers says the report has not been reviewed yet and no new notes have been added to the claim. But she says she will review it now with her supervisor. I also ask what were the conflicting facts of the case. She says that their insured states she was making a left turn onto the street I was on at 10-15MPH but I collided into her vehicle. I explain that her statement provided to law enforcement is different than the statement she later provided to GEICO. She said she will review the report now with her supervisor.

I feel that they will not make a decision change because of a lack of witnesses and they will side with their insured even though she is lying about the facts of the event. I am worried about this because there is substantial damage to my car and would like to have it repaired. I now understand that I should always have comprehensive and collision on my policy for these reasons and will always have it from now on.

Does anyone have any experience like mine and have any advice on how to move forward? I am waiting to hear back from them on whether they will change their decision after reviewing the report.

Thank you!