Q: Clicking sound

I recently hit a dog and busted up my front bumper. It caused damage to the radiator, ac condensers or compressor(can’t think of it at the moment) totaling like $2,000 worth of work. Well my car was a great running car. After the mechanic had it for nearly a month. I went to pick it up and started it and it now make a clicking noise from inside the dash area. My car didn’t even make any noises at the wreck. So I went right back in and told the mechanic I was not taking the car until that noise was gone. He told me that that noise is common in Malibu’s and that it had nothing to do with their work. He said once the car gets age that’s what happens! My question is can that noise come from the work they did based off the work it needed? Or is it all a coincidence and I’m just the crazy person? It’s a 2009 Chevy Malibu

My car has 96000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.