My .02 - Don't get overly involved w/ Allstate. If you're confrontational w/ your adjuster, more than likely you're just going to draw a line in the sand and make them less willing to work with you. Most insurance adjusters are 'car' guys too, and IMO, they're going to be more likely to be sure that you're well taken care of if they view you as a friend rather than a foe. If it's a few bucks off, no biggie. Your estimate from the shop may have fees on it, or even be at a higher labor rate than what what they do insurance work for. Maybe NY is different and lives up to it's reputation, but in most areas, and I've worked in several, the bodyshops and insurance adjusters maintain mutual respect for one another and both work together to get the damaged car fixed properly, and customers happy.
Who knows, maybe I'm just one of the better ones who does the job the way it's supposed to be done, but hopefully you'll run into someone like me and not someone with a bad attitude or is incompetent.
Speaking of which, if you do get someone from Allstate who's incompetent, then when your car gets to your bodyshop they'll call your adjuster back out to the shop and go over what needs changed to get your car fixed properly. There are new guys in the business, and there is a learning curve. Some guys just don't know what to expect.
Make getting your car fixed properly so that you get an invisible repair your top priority, and not the dollar amount at the bottom of the estimate.

If I seem overly calm about this, it's because it's your car and not mine. I'd be sick too. However, if my car was my daily driver that I knew I'd be getting rid of in 3, 5, even 10 years I wouldn't care. My car's a garage queen that I plan to hand down to my 15 month old son whenever he's old enough to drive and I'm so old that I can't. Nonetheless, I feel your pain and wish you luck.

 

mine is a garage queen as well. i hope to keep it forever but well see how the future holds out. i just got back from the allstate office and it was a woman doing the claim. she was extremely nice and didnt mess around at all. her estimate was actually more than what the body shop said it could be. and she said that if the body shop takes off the bumper and sees more damage that involves more money, they just call allstate and allstate will pay. she said i am not going to pay one cent. when she was going over the car she commented that shes has never seen a cleaner car in her life! she was apologizing for putting fingerprints on it when she took a look at the fender ahahah. also, i get a free rental car which is awesome since my beater is almost EMBARRASSING to drive it looks so bad. i just dropped off the allstate estimate paperwork and they are ordering the bumper as we speak. all in all so far this is a very painless experience, minus the damage to the car.

thanks for all the help and luck. so far so good!

 

Sweet bro, glad things are working out for you. Good luck in a speedy repair and keep us updated.