car catches fire in the engine, would it be covered under the insurance?

jameszak

There is not much info i can find on this...However yesterday we had a car engine fire and the car will be a write off...We have 3rd party fire and theft. We pull off the road on to a drive way to a garden centre as we were on a main "A" road.. The garden will make a claim against us... for damage to the driveway
Will we be covered...i am worried as some people say you insurance can be voided if it is seen to be a fault in the car... We have a current MOT. But have no faith in insurance companies..

Anihilator

It depends on whether it was a genuine accidental fire or if it was down to your neglience in maintaining the car.

An MOT doesnt really mean much. Was the car fully serviced and in good mechanical order.

jameszak

Anihilator wrote: »

It depends on whether it was a genuine accidental fire or if it was down to your neglience in maintaining the car.

An MOT doesnt really mean much. Was the car fully serviced and in good mechanical order.

It was driving really nicely...
The just had new exhorst and brakes.... The fire service told us it was a eletrical fault..

Astaroth

Really not sure why you dont think a fire would be covered by a third party, FIRE and theft policy?

There is normally a clause that you must keep it well maintained/ serviced but certainly not that it is fault free. That said, faults themselves are not covered by motor insurance but the resultant damage is. So, if there was a faulty wire that caused the fire then the settlement would be made net of the cost of the faulty wire (as the fault itself isn't insured). That said, the majority of cases the true cause cannot be determined and so does get put down as faulty wiring etc and it really isn't worth the insurers time to reduce settlements by 50p for a 3cm piece of wire.

jameszak

Astaroth wrote: »

Really not sure why you dont think a fire would be covered by a third party, FIRE and theft policy?

There is normally a clause that you must keep it well maintained/ serviced but certainly not that it is fault free. That said, faults themselves are not covered by motor insurance but the resultant damage is. So, if there was a faulty wire that caused the fire then the settlement would be made net of the cost of the faulty wire (as the fault itself isn't insured). That said, the majority of cases the true cause cannot be determined and so does get put down as faulty wiring etc and it really isn't worth the insurers time to reduce settlements by 50p for a 3cm piece of wire.

Well my mind is a little at ease....but had one sleepless night over this already

Anihilator

jameszak wrote: »

It was driving really nicely...
The just had new exhorst and brakes.... The fire service told us it was a eletrical fault..

The likiehood then is unless the insurers can show you had driven it knowingly with an electrical fault or failed to comply with required maintainance of the electrical components you would be fine.

If however you had overlooked to service a major electrical item and this was part of the cause then they would probably fight it or vastly reduce a pay out.

Quentin

If you get a claim from a third party over this just pass it on unanswered to your insurer to deal with (which they will - if you are liable then it will be covered by your policy). There will be no excess to pay.

Also you can claim for your own car under the fire section, (the getout the insurers have to not paying is if your car wasn't roadworthy), though you would have to pay your excess on this claim.

jameszak

Anihilator wrote: »

The likiehood then is unless the insurers can show you had driven it knowingly with an electrical fault or failed to comply with required maintainance of the electrical components you would be fine.

If however you had overlooked to service a major electrical item and this was part of the cause then they would probably fight it or vastly reduce a pay out.

the car is 10 years old and is not my problem to be honest i worried about the 3rd party re servicing work

johnk

I had a similar experience before. The fire was caused by oil leak through the worn-out gasket. Insurance paid for the fire damage, such as burned bonnet, cable etc but not the replacement of the gasket. No question was asked.