Review: Alfa Romeo 156 (1998 – 2005)

Our car was recently scraped in a car park - just cosmetic damage. The other party admitted fault. Our insurance, via a claims management company, said it'll cost £1700 to fix, and want to write it off as a cat C, giving us a cheque for £1470 less £88 to buy it back. I think that's a fair valuation (Alfa 156 SW, 1.9mjet, 2004, 160k). We intend to fix the car and keep, so not worried about resale valuation, but I am concerned about the implications of a cat C for future insurance premiums. My local (decent) bodyshop quoted £400+vat to fix. I told my insurance this - they wouldn't accept, told me to take the cheque, repair it and pocket the difference! I can only assume they are making a significant margin at the third party's expense. My only option to avoid cat C (according to the motor legal protection team) is to approach the third party's insurer myself and ask them to cover the cost of repairs, plus a hire car for 3 days. What would you do? I could profit from this, but it grates me that someone's getting ripped off. And should I worry about cat C for insurance purposes?