I don't know if this is universal, but an insurance won't pay out until a repair has been done and invoiced by a verified garage.
I mean I've had some damage early this year, a guy backed up into our car on a parking lot (his back window was misted and he didn't look properly or respond to the horn), after checking in with the insurance we took it to the garage and everything was handled after that.
Not 100% true, FWIW. I've had scenarios, even recently, where our insurance offered two options:
1) Take it to an approved shop for a full repair
2) They send a check for the estimated repair value to me, and I do whatever I want, which could including pocketing the money and living with the damage.
Granted, "living with the damage" would probably not be feasible in a meteor impact scenario, but for lesser damage it can work.
I mean I've had some damage early this year, a guy backed up into our car on a parking lot (his back window was misted and he didn't look properly or respond to the horn), after checking in with the insurance we took it to the garage and everything was handled after that.