No, you're right and the other takes are bad - it's not shady at all. Auto insurance is a predatory anti-consumer industry that seeks to use every piece of disclosed information as an excuse to raise coverage rates and/or decline to pay for repairs. No one should ever feel bad avoiding the auto insurance system or being careful with disclosures to an auto insurer.

Whether this damage can be excluded from the CARFAX report is a separate question; obviously, the OP doesn't look as good on that front.

EDIT: Lots of auto insurance enthusiasts downvoting in this thread. Anyone with any real experience with these companies knows consumers have to be very careful to avoid getting ripped off.