[NYCfixie]

Don't give up.

Don't claim on your insurance and hurt your policy/protection. Your insurance company can't go after their insurance company to recover because the shop no longer has a policy and as such the their insurance company is simply not liable.

The shop is liable whether or not they knew their insurance was cancelled. This is also a reason to not use them in the future as you now know they do not even bother to keep insurance current.

Get 2-3 estimates for everything and know the shop will probably pay the lowest which is what any court will force them to do if you take it that far. DO NOT allow the shop's "friend" to fix your car because they will take short cuts that you may not know about until much later. A true third party should fix the damage.

Give them a deadline of 60 days after you hand over the estimates and if they miss that date get a lawyer and/or go to small claims court but DO NOT negotiate further.

They want to pay the minimum and you want them to pay the maximum so really try and find a good solution for both of you as lawyers will take a chunk out of anything you recover so you may end up with less.

Good luck!