I just returned from the mechanic. After of week of searching, he found damage to the cam lobe. That resulted in multiple repairs, costing give or take a little, close to $900; about half of that was labor. The repair lasted a week. Returned to the mechanic, he disassembled up to the lobe, which was again damaged, albeit this time slightly.

Now he says that the cam lobe damaged a cam shaft and that also needs repair/replacement: $2500

While he is in there he suggested we due the timing belt as well: $500 more.

The costs above include all belts, seals, valves, etc...

Beside the price what worries me is
I told him about the Cam Lobe on day one; it took him 6days to find it himself.
Once he found it, he said the part *wasn't available anywhere* and asked if he could *modify* a part to fix the car. I said wait, let me look, he said never-mind, found one, yet 5 days later the car is back and needs another 3k of work
How would he know the Cam shaft is damaged if he hasn't yet pulled the head (he hasn't), he is guessing by peering into the hole where the cam lobe is/was
The car is only worth $7200 trade-in, should I spend another 3K, or repair the lobe again, and trade it in?

This is a 2006 Passat 2.0 with 95K

We have to decide what to do before tomorrow morning, advice, or referrals would be GREATLY appreciated.