Help, destroyed Engine

[rob111158]

Hi, A member of my family recently purchased a used 2001 Porsche Boxster-S. It has ~21000 miles not really sure exactly. When he brought it to be inspected they put it up on this machine that shook it around to test whatever they test. While driving home he heard a loud noise and the car stopped. It would not start backup. After having it towed to the nearest Porsche dealer/repair (Jack Daniels in NJ) they looked at it and said three of the pistons were destroyed from something coming loose in the block and rattling around. The pistons arent even firing anymore and have zero compression. Cost to fix it is 9200, they have to ship the whole engine back to Germany. This isnt going to happen as he doesnt have that much to spend after just purchasing the car.

My question is are there any other alternatives to having Porsche do this? I know nothing about these cars so I dont know if engine swaps are possible/how they work on them. If they can be done for a reasonable price where is a good place to get a new engine and what kind? Is it worth it or just trade the car in for a loss?

Thanks