Belay that

Good news everyone! Well, good news for me anyway. Got the quote on how much it's going to cost to repair my car and it's nowhere near as much as expected. Well within what I'd budgeted anyway.

Am definitely going to trade it in before next year's MOT but at least I have time to save up and shop around for a good deal now.

Colour me relieved!

Car's going to be in the shop until probably the middle of next week but that's not a problem. I can work from home on Monday and I'm in London on Tuesday for a meeting so I won't need it then.

YAY! Happy Hils!

Thank you all for your helpful and reassuring comments btw. It really helped a lot and stopped me from having a total breakdown over the whole thing.