Well, I can tell you from personal experience, the same thing happens here in Georgia.
I had a person hit me in my Stylus. The ONLY thing that was wrong was it dented the right front fender and broke the right turn signal. The insurance company decided it was going to cost $900 to fix it and the car was only worth $1200. So, they salvaged the car, paid me $1200, and gave me the salvage title and the car! Does that make sense?

I replaced the fender and the light from a junk car I bought for parts (same color). The car looks perfect... and I ended up going through the same basic crap you went through... for a danged BENT FENDER!?!?!

1995 Trooper LS auto 3.2 DOHC /w SOHC intake
1989 Trooper 2.6 auto
1989 I-Mark RS DOHC 1.6
1991 Stylus XS DOHC 1.8