Hijacking this because I might be in a similar spot. The support of one the rear axles broke and it turns out both rear axles are rotted out. Place I took it to wouldn't even give me a quote until Monday but said it'd be over a thousand. Has about 100k miles on it. Anyone want to suggest at what point I say no? The car is completely undrivable without being fixed.
Your info is far too vague and incomplete.
What vehicle model and year? What is the (current/post-covid) book value of it?
Is it rear wheel drive? What exactly broke that supports the rear axles? What exactly is rotted out? Did you take it to dealership shop that sells same make of vehicle or elsewhere?
It could be over a thousand for darn near anything these days, one thing I"d consider besides overall value of the vehicle if in working order, is what it would cost to replace it, AND, how much rust has damaged other areas.
To some extend if you want it affordable to drive an older vehicle, you have to take on some of the repairs DIY to make financial sense.
WIthout knowing anything else about the vehicle, a typical vehicle with only 100K mi on it is worth spending a couple thousand to keep on the road, UNLESS it is unibody and rust has severely compromised the structural integrity of the rest of it.
I am being overly generic in my reply because the details matter. However if it is a Corolla, there should be plenty of those in junkyards and anything you need can be cut off of one and welded onto yours, if there's enough good metal left at an opportunistic spot to do so, though with axles (??) it needs to be fairly true to spec so the wheel alignment can be adjusted right. Would it cost $1K? Sure, it could, or more.
Look at what it would cost you to get something equivalent to how it will be after it is repaired, or whether you'd rather invest in something newer/different/less-rust/whatever.
You might get a second opinion too... even if it can't be driven, might only cost $100 or so to tow it to another shop, depending on distance.