<human>: Reddit, I am seeking advice about a financial situation.
Let's say hypothetically that a university student was driving their parents car one day.  While making a right turn in a busy intersection that student scraped the frame of the right side under the doors.  Visibly there was not much damage done but according to this students family the frame is bent and it will cost about $2000 plus $150/hour for a mechanic.  In the situation where the student did not proceed but stopped upon scraping the car avoiding the alleged bend the student would have definitely been rear-ended.  
Reddit, this student has paid the last 3 years of university out of their own pocket and has worked hard to pay for their last year.

I am sure there are a lot of options but this student is at a loss for how to handle the situation.
Should they just buy the car given the cost to repair is about 1/3 of what the car is worth?
Should the student seek legal advice given it is not their vehicle?
This student has worked out that so long as they are a student the parents will pay for insurance (driving) which works out to the approximate damage of the vehicle, would it be fair to suggest that the parents quit paying for the insurance as a substitution?

Additional information:
There was a witness in the students vehicle that can confirm the situation of the incident.
The student will be pursuing a masters program and an extremely tight budget without worrying about such an expense. As in they don't have the funds needed.
Morally this student knows it is their fault but feels helpless.
~Any help with working out the best solution would be fantastic.

Summarize the given text in a few sentences.
<bot>: Student gets into an expensive; relatively non-visible car scraping of parents car.  Seeking advice to how situation is handled.