Fender bender advice

My mom bumped my neighbours car whilst parking last week. It happened on their side of the driveway. Their fender is slightly bent and drivers door has some scraps.

We are going through insurance for the repair, to get our cars bumper and fender repaired. However my neighbour claims they don't have insurance...

I told them to get a quote from a shop and we can pay out of pocket but they're claiming the damage can be 3k+ which I don't buy as our cars repair alone which involves a whole bumper replacement, fender replacement and door repaint is quoted at $1500.

Ideally if they had insurance, I would prefer for them to go through that route as this is exactly what insurance is for... we have fully accept the fault and our insurance is aware. Sending them $3000 out of pocket is tough.

Any advice on this matter? I also want to add... they just drove their car to the body shop today. So I'm not sure if they're telling the truth regarding having no insurance.