Fox Has written my car off

teamsullivan

fox has written my car off on Saturday i drove 4 miles from home for my car to breakdown with a big bang and the steering and breaking stopping. on pulling the car over and opening the bonnet a fox jumped out of the car tailless and a cam-belt broken, leaving about 3 inches of his tail with it!!!

i have had it towed to a garage who say that the damage is beyond repair!!!

can i claim on my insurance, im with privilege and cant see anything in the policy documents re act of fox!!!

i have an Audi a6 estate value around 2.5k on fully comprehensive.

maninthestreet

Is this a wind-up??
I know foxes have been in the news recently, but one wonders what a fox was after under the bonnet of car?

iamana1ias

When was the cambelt changed or due to be changed? You can't claim for mechanical defect/lack of maintenance/wear and tear, and it doesn't sound like you hit the fox, so I doubt you can a claim.

teamsullivan

i wish it was...

the fox lives nearby and has used our little mews as a place to poo for over a year...nice!!!

we had saved a baby seagull the day before and feeding it pilchards from a tin. came out of our house on Saturday and there were feathers everywhere!!!

drove the car 4 miles and bang!!!

just need to know what to say to insurance as they will always have a way of getting out of claims.

Judas

I strongly suspect you will have a problem here as you are going to present a car with engine damage (not covered) and claim a mysterious fox is to blame with no proof.

teamsullivan

Judas wrote: »

I strongly suspect you will have a problem here as you are going to present a car with engine damage (not covered) and claim a mysterious fox is to blame with no proof.

i have 3 inches of the little bleeders tail!!!

dogbot

ignore the above. you are covered for accidental damage to the vehicle under a comp policy - if the bodywork was damaged hitting an animal it would be covered and the engine is no differnet. Call the insurer and lodge the claim.

Keep the tail, or rather take photos of it and bin it before it begins to present a health hazard.

Also get some photos of the damage to the car, plus full details of the garage who have inspected the car.

Insurers will prob send an engineer out to look and it might take a while hopefully some or all of the damage will be covered.

There might still be a bit of a reduction in claim for wear and tear though depending on age of parts damaged.

teamsullivan

dogbot wrote: »

ignore the above. you are covered for accidental damage to the vehicle under a comp policy - if the bodywork was damaged hitting an animal it would be covered and the engine is no differnet. Call the insurer and lodge the claim.

Keep the tail, or rather take photos of it and bin it before it begins to present a health hazard.

Also get some photos of the damage to the car, plus full details of the garage who have inspected the car.

Insurers will prob send an engineer out to look and it might take a while hopefully some or all of the damage will be covered.

There might still be a bit of a reduction in claim for wear and tear though depending on age of parts damaged.

thanks dogbot, did the fox hit the car or was it in the car though!!!!

you know what these insurance companys are like.

stator

poor fox

Judas

teamsullivan wrote: »

i have 3 inches of the little bleeders tail!!!

And I am sure the insurance company will find this convenient.
Was there any sort of impact?

If not I really do think you will struggle. It might not be nice but your claim would be very helpfully supported if there was clear "debris" I.e blood and guts all over the engine compartment?

If not ask the neighbour to borrow their cat and fire up the engine

iamana1ias

teamsullivan wrote: »

thanks dogbot, did the fox hit the car or was it in the car though!!!!

you know what these insurance companys are like.

Surely you know whether you hit the fox or not! If it's the same fox you've had at home it's a bit of a coincidence that it managed to damage your car when it was 4 miles from your home!