$3,000 for repairs? I wonder what the damage was before or were they ripping her off? Mythbusters did a show where the guys tried to hang onto a car but could not. They also did not shoot at the vehicle. They should have used a Cadillac Escalade.
Strongly suspect the vehicle had a rack on top. Still wouldn’t want to be up there if the car was being maneuvered aggressively.
Three grand vets you one third of the way to a new engine. Not all that big of a bill today. Ten grand is common for repairing a sixty thousand dollar vehicle.
Sounds like a new transmission to me...