If you have a salvage title now, that means you had proper insurance coverage and made a claim on it. They probably paid you out around $3,000 at a minimum after deductible (your insurance sucks if you didn't get that much), unless you have some crazy high deductible. That damage could be properly fixed for under $500, so you should have come out way ahead on this one. If you plan on keeping the car for awhile, the $2,500 in your pocket is a heck of alot better than having a clean title on a 98 Contour. You have pictures of the damage too, so if you need to sell it, you won't take too much of a hit to the right buyer. Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, but I wouldn't gripe over the salvage title on a 10plus year old car!
Glad to see you fixed it up though. It would be a shame for such light damage to send a car to the wrecker.
