Californian here, IANAL - However, I have been in quite a few car accidents as both driver and passenger. I'm apparently, very unlucky.
I am going to talk in generalizations, this is my experience with Californian accident attorneys:
An attorney, usually will take 33%. In terms of being concerned about the costs of medical bills, usually, your attorney will then work to reduce the bills after the fact to ensure that he gets his fair share of 33% without having to charge you anything additional. This is not including that of your property (car).
Insurance minimums, as someone else noted, is $15k per person for bodily injury and $30k for property damage. Not everyone will have the minimum, but for sake of this example, the person who was driving the other vehicle that struck yours, has the absolute minimum.
Your attorney will work to get you the maximum amount of compensation, the $15k for your bodily injury. For medical, if you do not have the money up front, some attorneys will be able to find you doctors that will take the case and bill you once the case is close to being finalized. The attorney will gather up all your medical bills, including the ride to the hospital and the hospital visit, and present them to the other party's insurance.
In many cases that are very clear cut, the other insurance company will accept the liability and pay out. In other instances, they will fight and push back so that they can lessen the payout to you (medical bills, pain and suffering - again, not including property damage). They do this in various ways, which includes occasionally trying to have you and your passenger do a deposition. Generally speaking, these types of cases never really go to court, but I always caution that there is always a chance.
At the end of the deposition, they may or may not give you a dollar amount figure that they're willing to pay out. If you accept that amount, 33% of that goes to your attorney and the remainder goes to medical bills and what ever is left over, goes to you.
In my car accident case, my ex boyfriend and I went to our depositions. The attorney of the other party stated they would give me $8k for my medical bills. Well, that was a bit unfortunate, as my medical bills were $12k. Had I accepted that, I would owe money to the medical bills (if they were not reduced) and I would need to pay my attorney 33% of the payout. My attorney helped push that amount to $15k, 33% went to him, and he got my medical bills reduced down, and I got a few thousand for a now really messed up back. Had I not gotten an attorney, they would have only paid out $4k to me, which was what they offered me initially for my car accident and they "refused to believe" that I needed that much care.
As far as your car goes, the insurance adjuster of the other company will come by and assess how much damage there is to your car. As you've mentioned it's totaled, they will take a look at market value for your area and the car year, make, model, and provide you with compensation for your car. If you do not agree with their assessment, talk to your insurance along with attorney about how to get a second opinion/quote and work with the other company on it.
As far as questions to ask the attorney, I would ask about medical bills, if they can help find you doctors willing to work with you that are close to you, mention your ride to the hospital and any issues that you're currently having as a result of the accident.
Is your friend also going to get an attorney as well?