Why was this vehicle totaled?

If a car’s market value is $11k, but it has minor damage after an accident that would cost around $2.5k to fix… why would it be totaled?

I was in a minor car accident a little over a year ago while driving an uninsured vehicle – not by choice, I didn’t know it was uninsured, but luckily I live in a U.S. state where it isn’t illegal – and the other person’s insurance company wants me to pay $8k for their car, likely because I’m a young woman who didn’t have insurance and they can get away with it. I just don’t understand why it was totaled in the first place? I’ve read that vehicles will be totaled if it costs more to fix them than their market value, but that doesn’t make sense in this situation unless I’m reading something completely wrong. They sent me the documents after I asked for them, and I can’t make sense of it but they refuse to budge on the amount I “owe”.