[NicknamedBob]

"... he hit a guardrail on the freeway, shredded a fender, took out a headlight cluster and broke an alloy rim. Didn’t manage to trigger the airbags."

Sounds fixable. If it "was" running okay before, it's probably worth fixing up again, if you shop smart.

Find a replacement fender in the junkyard, order a headlight cluster, unless you can find that too. A new one, if available, will set you back a couple hundred.

The rims, I don't know. Maybe find a couple of regular rims and drive so that you can "show your good side".

Should all run about a thousand, which is less than trading cars. Might give the young'un a sense of attachment to it.

[null and void]

Yeah, that’s about what I guestimate.

The car only has a book value of ~$1200. Still worth it IMHO.