Hey guys, I was hit by a motorist on the freeway while we were both driving slow.

He hit me in the front right fender, which is messed up now, and also scraped large portions of my front bumper.

No matter what the fault is, AAA (my insurance provider) is telling me to take it to a shop and get it fixed.

My question is:

My cousin told me that I can just get a quote, get an adjuster to come out to see it, and then get a check for the quote money, and decide how to use the money. Is this true?

The reason being, If they are going to replace my front bumper, I want to replace it with an 07 instead of an 06 (my car is 06).

Can you tell me if this is done regularly, and how to phrase it to my insurance company?

-Will

that's true, you can request a check from insurance for the damage.

some people use that and get different body parts as well.

I am an agent, yes, it is true.
Just tell them you are indecide which shop you will take it to, and get a check, use it to get a 07 bumper...

FYI, ACSC (Auto Club of Southern California-SoCal) and CSAA (California State Automobile Association - NorCal) are two seperate entities that have different insurance companies. ACSC has their own internal insurance brand/company called Interinsurance Exchange of the Automobile Club whereas CSAA's policies are written mostly by Western United.