Can you claim fo mechannical faults on car insurance?

katj84

My 58 reg Mini cooper diesel set on fire whilst I was driving down the dual carriage way without any warning. Luckily I managed to pull over and escape. Within minutes it was engulfed in flames. My insurance company tell me this is a mechanical fault and although my car was covered by comprehensive insurance I cannot claim for this. Can this be right? Please help.

opinions4u

Could well be a manufacturing defect.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/oldham-athletic-stars-flee-for-lives-877214

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087523/Mini-Cooper-recall--Fire-warning-235k-cars-recalled-electrical-fault-fears.html

http://www.automobilemag.com/am/2008/mini/cooper/recalls.html

I'll let others confirm the insurance position. I'd have thought fire cover does the job.

rs65

Fire is usually covered, other than the part that caused it.

Which insurer and what caused the fire?

vaio

you're not claiming for a mechanical fault, your car caught fire so you are making a fire claim.

I'd be inclined to tell your insurer this and if they still decline the claim (assuming you are covered for fire) then tell them you are unhappy with the decision and ask them for a final decision letter so you can refer the claim to the FOS together with interest & any consiquential costs caused by their delay.

Once they have accepted your claim have a read of http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.u...valuation.html

it covers pretty much all you need to know re fair valuations

Retail price is what you should get from your insurer

InsideInsurance

vaio wrote: »

Retail price is what you should get from your insurer[/FONT]

As rs65 says, you arent covered for the part that caused the fire but you are for the subsequent damage.

If the part that caused the fire is something cheap then yes knocking a few quid off of book price is hardly worth the argument. If however there was a catastrophic issue with the engine itself then the settlement for the car minus an engine is going to be massively below book price

vaio

Academically you are right, in the real world I suspect if the punter isn't put off by the initial "we don't cover that" then the insurer will just pay.

Investigating a burnt out car to try and identify the cause of the fire isn't going to be cheap, might be worth doing on a big claim but this is a 58 Mini so maybe £7k. I can't see an insurer doing anything other than looking at the pictures of the wreckage and sending a cheque to the owner.

chanz4

vaio wrote: »

Academically you are right, in the real world I suspect if the punter isn't put off by the initial "we don't cover that" then the insurer will just pay.

Investigating a burnt out car to try and identify the cause of the fire isn't going to be cheap, might be worth doing on a big claim but this is a 58 Mini so maybe £7k. I can't see an insurer doing anything other than looking at the pictures of the wreckage and sending a cheque to the owner.

Not now the op admitted what happened

vaio

chanz4 wrote: »

Not now the op admitted what happened

I can't see the OP has admitted anything, what do you mean?

katj84 wrote: »

My 58 reg Mini cooper diesel set on fire whilst I was driving down the dual carriage way without any warning. Luckily I managed to pull over and escape. Within minutes it was engulfed in flames. My insurance company tell me this is a mechanical fault and although my car was covered by comprehensive insurance I cannot claim for this. Can this be right? Please help.

InsideInsurance

vaio wrote: »

Academically you are right, in the real world I suspect if the punter isn't put off by the initial "we don't cover that" then the insurer will just pay.

Investigating a burnt out car to try and identify the cause of the fire isn't going to be cheap

As I dealt with TP claims I didnt see that many fire claims but the few I did almost all had a stated cause of fire and that was without a costly fire investigation.