1997 Ford Taurus Half Shaft question.

1997 Ford Taurus Front Wheel Drive Automatic 147000 miles

Here's my situation. I drive a 1997 Taurus. I found out that the half shaft is broken. I took it to a mechanic who gives free estimates. (He also WOULD NOT be the mechanic who would do the repairs.) He surveyed the extent of the half shaft issue and determined that I would be better off just buying a car, instead of fixing the Taurus, due to the extent of the rust that is present. When we looked at the underside of the car, together, it was evident that the entire underbelly from front to rear was rusted out. And the front right area (where the defective half shaft was) had a gaping hole caused by the corrosion from the rust. The left front side was still intact, and functioning, but there was a lot of rust present there, as well. He basically declared the car a safety hazard and didn't even give me a dollar figure for repairing it. He believes that no mechanic would bother even taking it on.

So my question is, should I really scrap the car in favor of buying a new one, or is it repairable? Is it possible for the rusted underbelly to be replaced and conceivably repair the car to the point of it still being usable, and doing so for a lot less than buying another car?

The worst part of all is that I thought the sounds I was hearing were related to bad tires. The tire shop did indeed concur that I needed 4 new tires, and replaced the old ones with new ones, but it was the next day that the half shaft noise issue really took hold, likely because of the weight pulling down while the car was suspended while the tire shop replaced the tires. Now I have very expensive new tires on a car I can't drive!

To repair or not to repair. That is the question.