That is one crazy price for a model. And the pressure to do it right would be enormous no room for mistakes. Also wonder how much massaging the parts need to make it look right.
The important thing is to learn from your mistake. Ask yourself why you missed the sign so you can avoid that mistake. As a new driver there is a lot going on that requires your full attention.
My understanding is that when the owner mutilated the kookie car he had the sense to keep all of the original parts. Hopefully that is true and the car can be restored.
I think one of the issues is the board is designed to accomidate computers, tablets, and phones making the software much more complex. Which leads to more things to go wrong. Also makes things harder to test.