I do feel empathy for this one. You were just getting to the good part of your life and then got hit by one of this world's unexpected, unpreventable but inevitable catastrophes. Been there done that. It's a major setback but one you can come back from if you handle it just right. Luckily, you have here some support from caring people, including knowledgeable persons who know how to navigate the insurance scams, which is the worst part of a traffic accident where cars were totalled but no one was physically maimed or killed.
You said "Everything feels unreal right now and I'm figuring out my plan from here." That's a good first step, getting what happened into focus and consult with those who can and will help. You can't handle it alone, cops and insurance companies are too clever and corrupt. It's their system.
I was just in a head-on collision. I was only going about 5 Mph starting to go into an intersection and a guy in a truck blew straight into me. It was found to be my fault, and I have a court date. Insurance isn't willing to cover anything and both cars are totalled.
From what you said so far, your situation is unclear. For a head-on collision to happen, both cars have to be traveling directly at each other in the same lane, so whoever was in the wrong lane would be at fault. The way you described it, you were hit entering an intersection at low speed, so unless you were both going straight through in the same lane, you were probably hit at an angle while one or two vehicles were turning. If the front of both vehicles were impacted, the airbags deployed. Exploded airbags is the standard definition for totalled vehicle because it costs more to reinstall new ones than what the insurance would have to pay to take the car. Once they have the car they can strip it and sell the undamaged parts and scrap for profit. Car parts sold separately are some times worth a lot more than the whole car.
Insurance companies are never willing to cover anything. They bully and threaten all the victims to obscure which side is at fault. Even when they admit coverage, they don't pay anywhere near what they owe. Police and courts assign blame based on personal prejudice, racial profiling, and other socio-economic factors, which don't always have anything to do with what actually happened, only what the better liars and cheaters say and how well the evidence is manufactured, withheld and otherwise manipulated. Basically, it all comes down to which party is easier to convict, not on who done it. If you haven't been to court yet, blame hasn't been officially assigned.As long as the guy didn't deliberately target you, it is classified as an accident, so if you have insurance, you are owed the blue book value of your vehicle and whatever else it says on your policy.
Even though the police finally admitted it was 100% the fault of the drunk texting maniac who sped through the stopsign to T-bone us off the road, totalled 2 vehicles and crippled us for life, he only ended up with a brand new car from his insurance company and a small fine for "failure to yield" that his parents paid. Contrary to popular belief, the law is for protection of the rich and guilty but there are loopholes.
