[Templar]

If I had the money, I'd pay for it myself. Once did something similar with my truck. Cost me about $1,500 to fix it. I paid for it myself and didn't tell the insurance anything.

My advice would be, before you say anything to your insurance, get a quote from a reputable shop locally and go from there. The shop will ask if you're doing it through insurance (since it sounds like you might be paying a bit more). Just tell them you're paying out of pocket to avoid rate increases. But if it's way too much for you to manage on your own, then you may have no choice but to go through your insurance company. I wouldn't mention anything to the insurance company until you decide what to do though. Otherwise, they'll know you were in an accident.

First claim or not, you're rates WILL go up if you tell them. It doesn't matter to them, they are paying out so you're going to pay for it too. You can get an estimate yourself if you take a look at whatever discounts you have. For USAA, I know they break down exactly what discounts you get, i.e. safe driving discounts, passive restraints, daytime running lights... Take away the discounts you get for whatever safe driving, accident free, blah blah, and that's about how much you should expect your premium to go up. Not sure if Liberty Mutual gives you a breakdown like that in any statements or online, though.