<prompt> Human: Hi all,Last night my mom was driving a 2004 Saturn Ion with about 160k miles on it. She was rear-ended so hard that the at fault vehicles passenger ended up in the hospital. My moms car was completely totaled and has to be dumped. So she needs a new car.Problem is that my parents have little to no savings and are heavy in debt completely different matter. Most peoples advice to them is to use the insurance payout as a down payment on a new car. However I think financing a car is ridiculous since they can barely pay bills now, let alone a car payment on top of that.1. How do I determine the fair market value of the 2004 Ion? Looking online it seems to be around 3100 but I feel thats a bit too high.2. Any recourse through insurance to get a used car for roughly the same value or does she just take the payout and buy her own?3. Is my opinion that financing is not an option correct? I just dont think my parents are too financially savy to understand their predicament and what financing means down the line. They are that bad with moneyEssentially how do we figure out getting reimbursed by the other drivers insurance and in what amounts, and are there any other options other than Payout and Buy another used car?  <response>: she takes the insurance payout and buys her own. she should be able to buy another similar car for cash. but you need to check that the insurance company doesnt try to offer her 1000. you can negotiate the payout if they lowball her.her own insurance should be doing most of the negotiation with the other party, you just need to see that they give your 3100. if thats what KBB, I would need to see good reason why that shouldnt be the payout. 