Offer of cash - what would you do?

No way should you accept this offer. Tell him everything is going through insurers full stop. You never know what he's thinking, could well be a scam, he could also tell the insurance company that you've agreed a private settlement and are no longer using them and then what happens if your expenses are more than £1000.
Many years ago Dh and I had just pulled in to the car park of the place we were staying after a long journey. Still sat in the car when 2 women got into a car opposite and reversed straight into us. Both women got out very apologetic etc. We exchanged details and then a few days later when back home the drivers husband phoned us and said it was our fault we had driven into his wife and friend and the friend was a witness. We told the insurance co all about this and eventually it was sorted and cost us nothing but it does just show how stories and circumstances can change or be manipulated. Beware!

If it was just a broken headlight or a minor scratch etc. I'd just offer to pay for the damage .
In this case though I'd be cautious.
Insurance is already involved so it's safer to leave it.
If he's feeling guilty he could always send flowers or whatever as an apology.

Up to you...you seem to think he's just a kind man and maybe he is. Something similar happened to our neighbour...a widow living on State pension n small private pension. Her car was written off and she was really struggling to get another car as insurance payout was a pittance for her old car. The lady who crashed into her felt so bad about the situation my neighbour was in that she gave her £1500 towards a replacement car. No strings...insurance handled the car part and the lady admitted full liability. The lady just gave my neighbour that money as she felt so bad and she could afford it. So such people do exist . Worth a thought on your part . I would take it

You haven’t specified what the driver did beyond “not paying attention” but if it was a serious enough collision to cause your car to be written off, it could constitute dangerous driving.

(Unless it wasn’t such a big bump but your car was old and the cost of repair outweighed its market value.)

Was he speeding? Did he run a red light? Pull out of a junction without looking.? That could have been a cyclist or pedestrian he hit and not metal.

If police do not attend an accident they can still act on footage sent to them, in fact, some police forces encourage it e.g. West Midlands Police Operation Snap:

www.westmidlands.police.uk/police-forces/west-midlands-police/areas/campaigns/campaigns/operation-snap/

If you see anyone committing driving offences on our roads and it's captured on your dashcam, CCTV or a mobile phone by a passenger, we want you to send it in to us.

It does say:

If you are reporting an incident that involves a collision, please do not use this service. Instead, please call West Midlands Police on 101, select option 1 and provide details within 24 hours of the collision taking place.

If footage has been submitted, it could take weeks before it’s reviewed and for the CPS make a decision over whether to prosecute. If they do, you will be called as a witness. That’s why you shouldn’t take any money from him. Worse case scenario it could be construed as him offering and you accepting payment for favourable testimony to mitigate any penalty. That would be perverting the course of justice.

Your insurance arrangements and how you chose to replace the written off car are not his business and he shouldn’t be involved in it. It may be a kindly gesture to assuage his conscience but you shouldn’t accept any money from him.

Definitely not! Go through your insurance company

M0nica

I agree turn it down immediately. I would also check how much it would cost to replace your car. You can get car prices on ebay or autotrader and if the insurance company offered less than that, then argue with them.

I did this after an accident when my car was written off. I argued that an identical replacement car would cost me £1,000 more than they were offering - and I got it. They expect you to argue and have to raise the price.

Absolutely this. Both paragraphs.

Lallylou

Hi there,
I'm so sorry to hear of this awful accident. I once got knocked over by a car through no fault of my own. I needed surgery. My head was all over the place. Do absolutely everything via insurance company plus solicitors.
Warmest wishes and rest up

Agree 100% ..

Lawyer / Solicitor definitely ..

Wisdom ..

Please do NOT .. Go through your own insurance ..

Play it safe. No headaches ..

All our best wishes and pleased that you and passengers if there were any, are not hurt ..

Block his number, no need to be in touch with him at all, he's trying to avoid his premiums going up, for whatever reason

Might be worth noting that, depending on category of write-off, you might buy back your car from the insurance company and have it repaired using write-off money.

I agree with JackyB there are nice people out there and it may be playing on his conscience. I would politely decline and leave it at that.

But I would refuse the money in your case, only go through your insurance.

Many years ago my fully insured daughter, on my fully insured car, bumped into someone. I preferred to and did pay cash for the repairs as I didn’t want it to appear on my 20 years plus insurance. The other car was old and I doubt whether they did the work involved but they signed a paper and have never thought about it until now 20 years +.

Hi there,
I'm so sorry to hear of this awful accident. I once got knocked over by a car through no fault of my own. I needed surgery. My head was all over the place. Do absolutely everything via insurance company plus solicitors.
Warmest wishes and rest up

If it was me, I would not accept cash from the person who crashed into me. Tell your insurance company about his offer.
Your insurance company will pay you the write-off value of your vehicle. Hopefully you’ll receive the full amount (they’ll take into account its pre-crash condition and service history

Whereas I accept you have to ensure that it all properly goes through the Insurance companies, perhaps this driver is really feeling very guilty and unhappy and feels that a gift to you can ease that for them.
If this offered grand is totally without 'prejudice' and in no way related to car replacement/repairs, and is just a gift to you, then why not accept it.

Thank you all for replying. Certainly has focussed my mind on the consequences of accepting.
The accident is being dealt with through our insurers, and I’ve already been offered a good price for my “total loss “ (car written off).

Being offered this ‘gift of cash’ from a stranger, has made me feel quite uneasy. The phrase ‘no such thing as a free lunch’ springs to mind.
He’s actually just text me again today, asking if I’ll accept. Guilt & worry I think

I’ve just politely declined his offer and said the insurers will sort it all out.

Just another Q It was completely his fault…. Do insurers push for a dangerous driving conviction( maybe after viewing the dash cam film?) . Police were not at the scene of the accident. A queue of traffic did see the accident - could a random person have reported dangerous driving?

I think he is genuinely being nice but is unaware that it could be seen as a dodgy move. Turn him down, but gently.

Go through your insurance, they should sort this for you.

Some years ago, someone drove into the side of DH's company car when I was driving it. It was a young woman driving and uite a smart car. It turned out that she too was driving her partner's car. I was a named and fully insured driver for my DH's car

That evening I got a phone call from her partner asking me to say on my claim form that he was driving, not his girlfriend because she was not insured to drive the car and how their car needed extensive repairs and they could not afford it.

I said a very emphatic 'NO'. I had every sympathy for their predicament, but I was not going to commit a crime myself to get them out of trouble.

As bluebelle has said

If you have notified Insurance Company, they have it on record, no more to be said, I have let someone that went into the back of me sort it out as I thought he was genuine, luckily he was, however I had never told my Insurance Company.

Thank hm ( he may well be genuine) but DO NOT accept his offer tell him it’s totally out of your hands and it’s already being dealt with by the insurers.
Good luck

Sounds too fishy - say "thanks but no thanks".

I’ve done it once (I mean not involving the insurance) a 70ish year old neighbour ran into my car breaking my light. I offered him the chance to sort it without involving our insurance companies. He was really grateful as he had cancer at the time & didn’t need the stress.
A year later he knocked on my door, said he was giving up driving due to ill health & would I like first offer of buying his car, a rather nice VW as I had been so kind.
Anyway I did buy it cheaper than market value. So win win all round 😊