Please help with insurance claims

[calexlee@us.ibm.com]

Howdy all,

This morning on the way to work, I was rear-ended at the first street
corner out of my house.  Damage is to the left (driver side) rear
corner.  A little dent above the bumper, bumper scratched and dented,
and broken lower cowling - don't know if that's the right term, it's
the part below the bumper.  But no broken lights.  The guy behind me
admitted to it right away, gave me his insurance info, etc.

He is insured through Farmers; mine is AAA (or CSAA here in California).

So I first checked with CSAA, and they told me I could either file the
claim through them (since I do carry collision coverage), or deal with
the other guy's insurance on my own.  But they recommend that I do it
through my own insurance.  Their reason: I don't have to "close" the
file if the repair work is not done right, while the other guy's
insurance will be pushing for a "release" as quickly as possible.
And since it's clearly the other guy's fault, this claim will not
count against me.

My only objective is to get the car fixed up as nicely as possible,
no medical concerns here.  I would like to hear your opinions as to
which way I should go.  TIA.

- Alex Lee
  IBM Microelectronics Div., San Jose, Calif.
      e-mail: calexlee@us.ibm.com
  voice-mail: 408-256-6088
 ('91 200q pearl while, 88k miles.  Damage to rear left corner