Payment for Damage to an Unknown Car

In the past I damaged a vehicle, and now I have returned in repentance. I do not know who the owner of the vehicle is. Must I pay the value of the damage to charity, even if it is likely that the vehicle’s owner is a Jew who does not observe Torah and mitzvot and will not benefit from the charity? What should I do in order to rectify the damage?

Hello and blessings 

It may be given to a charity from which it is reasonable to assume that he will benefit during his lifetime, such as Ezer Mizion or Yad Sarah, from which a large portion of the residents of the country benefit [both those who observe Torah and mitzvot and those who do not observe Torah and mitzvot]. 

Our teacher Rabbi Amram Fried shlita recommends depositing the money for the benefit of the injured party in a gemach, and in this way the money has been returned to the injured party and legally transferred to him. And when Eliyahu comes and says whose it is, they will return it to him. 

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