Cash For Clunkers or Repair?

Yesterday I brought 5 broken 10 speed bikes into the bike shop. The first thing I did when I walked in was ask the not exactly pleasant bearded man how much the least expensive bike in the shop was. He told me, "about $400." That definitely ruled out new. Then I told him about the 5 bikes in the back of my van and could he look at them and give me an estimate how much they would cost to repair. He followed me. He had a pad and pen and was writing a lot of stuff down about these bikes. The bikes are totally beat. No brakes, chains broken, gears stripped, seats that move all around in circles., etc.  Probably not even safe. And 2 of the bikes were just from Santa, so they are not even 10 months old!  But the boys ride those bikes almost everyday, in grass, in water, on gravel ...  so I do not know if the reason the bikes are so battered is because they are careless with them or because the bikes were not built for so much activity. Anyway, the man said it would cost about $500 to fix the bikes, even with the family volume discount he never heard of but agreed to. The bikes cost about $100 a piece new. The thought of putting those relatively new bikes in a landfill did not seem right. The man shook his head and knew what I was saying, then finally said, "Ok look, if I do fix them you better pick them up." Guess they don't sell those kind of bikes in bike stores!!  They should be ready next Tuesday.