I posted a little over a month ago about having my son's car towed. When the tow driver was leaving he hit my daughter's car poking a hole in the trunk and damaging the rear quarter panel. They have acknowledged the accident, and said they would "take care of me". The car does not have full coverage and is a 1999 Toyota Corolla with approx 120k miles. No other damage or problems. The estimate came back at just under $3k. I have the impression that they want to pay instead of filing an insurance claim.

I have not been able to get anything in writing from them just somewhat vague statements about the car's value is less than that, once it was $2200 then the next time it was $1800. I have seen values on kbb of just over $3000.
The current average price of those cars for sell is over $5000.

1. Should I be able to get more than the low-ball KBB value (totaled meaning I likely have to buy the car back from them)?
2. Suggestions for getting them to communicate and work with me on this (hire a lawyer, take to small claims myself, etc)?

Anything short of having the car repaired is likely a severe step down in quality, or big cash output on my part.