Yeah, I always thought you were better off if they totaled it? Maybe the laws are different for different states though. I know I hit a deer and totaled a Merkur I had about a month after I got it. I got $1500 more than I paid for it from American Family and paid $400 to keep the car. Swapped the hood/fender/grille for extras I had and was good to go. In my case the title never even changed hands, so it remained clean.

98 Grand Cherokee 5.9 (Using 10% of the nations gas daily)
95 F-250 (The other 90% of the gas)
95 Honda Del Sol V-tec (Corner Carver)