Repainting is not always the best option. A factory paint finish cannot (or is rarely ever) duplicated by a body shop. When a vehicle is painted, it is also coated and most cases completely soaked in anti corrosion chemicals in a 2 or 3 stage process. The vehicle is then primed and painted in a controlled environment and heat levels that ensure the best adhesion possible.
In order for a body shop to replicate a factory finish, the car would have to be completely disassembled and stripped right to the bare metal, recoated with the multi stage anti corrosion chemicals, then primed and painted and the paint would be baked on a temperature which would melt all of the plastic and rubber in the vehicle. Insurance companies wouldn't pay for all of this labour. Plus, if only certain panels are painted, you would probably notice a difference in both colour and texture of the paint. Plus it will not be as damage resistant as the factory finish. If the paint process is not applied properly, you will have corrosion problems in the future. Getting a vehicle painted will take 3 weeks, paintess dent repair can take 2-4 days.
I'm not bashing body shops by any means, but a good paint job is hard to find. Your insurance company will have a number of body shops that they deal with which will offer guarantees on workmanship, so you will always have piece of mind there. The damage on the west side of the city was quite severe and the damage might not be repairable via paintless dent repair, repainting may be your only option.
I hope this makes sense, PM or call if you have any questions, but this should all be pretty straight forward, but keep in mind, the body shops are going to be booking pretty far ahead now if you delay on your claim.