Chickenmonkey, do you live in the United States? For people living in the U.S. it should be no surprise that it is somewhat of a free market, therefore a material good is worth what the market is willing to pay for it. The numbers mentioned above are guides only and can be way off market. I sold my wife's older civic with salvage title for 90% "clear title" market value and buyer was happy because it was clean and civic's are hot sellers. The civic was on craigslist for only a week. In comparison, I am trying to sell a 2004 cavalier (not such a hot car in the market) for almost half it's value and almost no calls for a few weeks.
Saying "salvage title cars are worth practically nothing" is a generalization that contradicts the market, or in other words - real life. I have sold bad title cars for close to clean title value and buyers were very happy. I have also owned and driven bad title cars for many years with no problems. You can hide some things from seller but not from a good mechanic, if the mechanic says the car is fine, you like the car and the much lower price, why not buy it??????? don't let others dictate what you should buy.
I keep track of salvage title cars prices at auctions and they are not cheap, these are prices before they are repaired.
I see a trend of people who can get good body shop deals from relatives or friends that they trust. They buy the car and have them fix it for personal use. If they trust the repairs and put their own kids in these cars, they usually know the cars have been fixed right. Then in a couple years they sell them to buyers who should still have a good mechanic inspect the car (clean or bad title).
By the way, a newer car with $4000 in damage stays a clean title after repairs. A car that is 8 years old with the same damage recieves a salvage title. Both clean and bad title cars always need to be inspected the same. It is the same game regardless of title status. Buyers, don't listen to the media, use your own head, and maybe you can save a lot of time and money. Educating yourself on subjects saves you from making naive generalizations and improves decision making.