they told me i have the choice of taking it to their shop or my shop of choice. if i take it to a shop of my choice then they will send me a check for the amount of repairs minus the 500 dollar deductible. so if they say it will take 3,000 bucks to fix, parts and labor then they will send me a check for 2,500 bucks. and then i can go to the bank, cash the check, and do the repairs myself. which i want to do, so i can have some money left over.