Car accident due to dog on road -feel bad but need to ask re liability

[piffle]

Last night we had car accident, a German Shepherd and it's mate had escaped from home and ran out onto dual carriageway main A road. We hit the dog and it was killed, our cars front end and undercarriage has been trashed. luckily there was no car behind us or next to us at the time and we were both ok.
We called the police and RSPCA and RAC etc.
The dog owner turned up as he put 2+2 together looking out back noticing his dogs were gone and seeing blue flashing lights and a crashed car. He was very apologetic towards us and fully accepted the blame.
The police man said we may need to sue the man civilly (or instruct our insurance to do it)as he has no public liability insurance on his dogs.
Now our excess is only £100. We have protected no claims, now I know this guy should have watched his dogs better but this family had two kids who were gutted.
I mentioned to DH that perhaps if we just asked the owner if he was able to pay or contribute to the excess and then we would not need to raise the issue of suing...
Is this out of our hands?
I feel like total shit about this, DH is being all alpha male and practical. It is our call whether we instruct the insurance legal team or not so I suggested the excess example to try and ont involve legal.
What do I do for best?

These dogs forced open the gate of their run from what I can gather. They were def not allowed to roam in that sense, but it wasn;t collared or indentifiable which is one of the offences apparently?

It is up to us whether we claim our excess back or not its only £100, I think it would be a waste to do so - we have incurred car hire costs too I suppose. DH is contemplating just ringing the guy and asking if wants to pay it up front or not.

My brain hurts thinking about it all really...

I supose if the dog owner had caused the accident with his car you won't be posting this thread but would have instructed the insurers as the guilty part has to pay the damages. I think that what is stoping you atm is the "bereavement" feeling the family may be experiencing. But to be honest, you, somebody from your family or even from other car may have been killed. I believe that you need to act as if the dog was a car rather than a dog IYKWIM.

I don't think this man would allow their pets to roam free near to a high speed road, so I really think they have escaped but even so, as somebody else has said, he is responsible for his pets. We have a yorkie that has a tendency to escape and some time ago almost caused an accident, the postman knocked at the door and left the front garden's door open, so when we opened the door the dog went stright to the street and from there to a road, and though we were inside of a little village somebody was passing by well above the speed limit. Thankfully nothing serious happened, but we won't blame the driver, the postman, or anybody else, we must have checked he was restrained which we didn't . Since then we pay about 140 pounds in insurance per year to be sure we can cover an accident as the 350 we spent in dog training shortly afterwards proved useless in this matter. Curiously enough we no longer forget to check where the dog is before we open the door.

Your DH's idea seems to be a fair one, after all you are given him the option to choose what it's more suitable for him.

Do check the situation with your insurers. If you don't recover your excess, your no-claims might be affected. And that could be well in excess of £100.

I may be wrong but I understood that legally if your dog causes an accident then you are responsible, which is why you are supposed to have pet insurance? (unlike a cat which is considered in law to be a wild animal). Yes it is sad for the family that they have lost their dog, but it isn't your fault that it caused an accident, & as everyone else has said, your insurers are interested in recouping their costs. (speaking as a dog owner paying through the nose for pet insurance...)

Horrible situation to be in.

we have protected no claims as it stands so that should not be an issue
The car damage has now been upped to 8k, it is a 2 yo car worth about 12k so it's getting close to the wire
You're right I am being too emotional about the dog and the poor kids who were gutted.
If it has been my dog I would be devastated to have caused someone such hassle and possibly injuring them or worse.