That's how it typically works in America as well. I'm thinking the victim here didn't have collision insurance, so their insurance company wouldn't be involved in this claim.
Even if they did, it wouldn't matter unless they have what under most policies is considered "comprehensive coverage" (aka comp). Unless you buy a better policy, most jurisdictions only require you to have a collision/liability policy... where if you hit someone, the insurance company pays for the damages.
If someone hits your car while it is parked, your insurance company would only be involved if the driver doesn't have insurance. And even then, ONLY if you have a policy which covers it. If it's a hit-and-run, and you don't have comp, you will be out of luck. (This happened to us once...)
Collision insurance and liability insurance are different. Collision insurance covers your car if you're in a moving accident, while liability insurance covers other people's property. Comprehensive covers your car if you're in a non-moving accident. In the US, I'm not aware of any states that require collision or comprehensive, though nearly all require liability. Lenders tend to require both collision and comprehensive though.
