Car Insurance nightmare

sarahlouise28

Hi

Was wondering if anyone could help.

9th August my car had an engine fire - we were alerted to the fire by the alarm going off - while I called the Fire Brigade my partner managed to dampen down the fire and stop the car turing into the fire ball. The car was parked on our drive that runs right next to the house. My partners car was parked in front of it.

Fire bridgae attended for an hour and were hosing down the car for a hour as it was smoking and smouldering.

Reported it to the insurance - came and took it away ( 5 weeks ago today) It was taken to a salavage yard where it sat from the 9th August to the 23rd August when they decided that it wasn't for them it was then send to a local accident repair garage where it has been since.

A week ago the garage looked at the car and took photos - not stripped the car they confirmed that and sent them to the insurance company.

I get a call today from the insurance companies engineer to say there is no damage on the car and that its not a valid claim ! He has gone off the photos - all they have stripped off the car is the battery and the air box? ( the air box was taken off by the fire brigade when they were looking for the source of the smoke).

The garage that took the photos confirmed that the pwer steering was heavy, the battery wasnt charging , there is a problem with the alternator and all the lights are on the dash. How can they them turn round and say there is no damage.

I know nothing about cars and even i could see that there were some melted rubber components down the back where the fire was. The garage also told me there was soot on the exhaust?

I just dont know where I stand now - im not happy as they car hasn't been properly inspected. I could end up with a car worth nothing if I accept it back. Any advice would be appreciated as i'm just lost as what i can do now?

I know electrical faults are not covered - the component that went wrong wont be repaired but the subsequent damage is.

The car was 100% before the incident - no lights, issues was totally out of the blue. Also it happended at 3.30 in the morning - the car had been sat for 6 hours.

Thanks in advance

InsideInsurance

You need to raise an official complaint with your insurers highlighting the issues and advise that you will take the matter to the FOS if they are unwilling to deal with the damage.

The problem will be that you will almost certainly need to get your own independent engineers report on the car if you go down the FOS route but this would be recoverable if the FOS upheld your complaint

rs65

If the fire brigade attended for an hour whilst it was smoking and smoldering, something must have burnt other than just a bit of melted rubber.

Can you get a main dealer for that manufacturer to have a look at it? Might need a diagnostics machine plugged in.

forgotmyname

No damage to the bodywork, So are they putting it down to a mechanical or electrical fault which is not covered?

Part of your standard servicing and repair.

They are saying nothing is damaged. So what do you say is damaged?

Get all the facts and see what people think and see if you have a valid claim.