Earlier this year I've taken my car to a body shop (BS). A few months later, the brake warning light went on. I took the car to the official service center, and was told that a brake line connection had been damaged "during the body work", and has been leaking brake fluid ever since. I asked the service center to repair the brakes. Now the BS refuses to pay for that repair ($1.5K). They say that I should have taken the car to them first, and they would have fixed it for free under warranty. However, I had no way of knowing the brake problem had to do anything with their work, and when I did learn that, the car was not safe to drive, so I had it repaired. I have an invoice from the service center describing the problem and pictures of the damage made by the mechanic.

What are my rights here, and what is the best way to get my repair costs reimbursed? Does it make any difference that the body shop has caused a serious safety-related damage to the car?

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UPDATE: I called the insurance company and explained the situation to them. At first they said the same thing as the body shop: that by going to a different place for repairs I have voided my warranty from the body shop. I asked whether the expectation was for me to go to the body shop with any and all car malfunctions for the warranty to be valid. Didn't get a clear answer to that :)

Then I emailed the insurance person the pictures of the damage, and the invoice (very grateful to the dealership folks for taking some very good pics). The insurance called the body shop, and very quickly I got a call back from the insurance co that the shop will be repaying me the cost of the repair!