BMW 7 series fire

EffieBubbles

In August this year - Our 13 month old BMW 7 series car ( not a recall model ) caught fire as we were driving home from our son’s wedding . Luckily a motorcyclist in front of us flagged us down to alert us to the fire under the engine area of the car. We got our 14 year old daughter and 3 year old granddaughter out in time. Two minutes later and we wouldn’t have got out unharmed. The motorcyclist saved our lives.

Police and the fire service attended the scene but sadly the car was completely burnt out.
We lost everything in the car - including phones, iPads, cameras, full kilt suits, car seat, clothes etc... approx £5000 worth of personal belongings. Car insurance does not cover this loss.
At the time we couldn’t care, we were all alive and that was what mattered.

Our insurance company have made an offer for the value of the car however surely BMW have to accept responsibility? We could have died.

The car has been inspected by BMW in Germany who said that as the car is so badly burnt out they cannot determine the cause of the fire so they accept no blame.

This must be wrong. Driving home from holiday and your car bursts into flames and it’s not their fault?

We have employed a company to look into fire cause further for us but we now feel that not only is it time to ask for advice from them but from other areas too.

Very importantly we are also no longer willing to keep hush about this. Other BMW 7 series car owners should be aware of what happened to us.

Our car had always been driven carefully, had no accidents and had been serviced by approved BMW dealership only one month before the fire.

Any advice on how to proceed now would be gratefully received.
Finally, if you know of a BMW owner please do tell them this story. Thank you.

hollie.weimeraner

That's truly awful. Your personal items may be covered on your household insurance to some extent anyway I know I have that soort of cover.
As far as the car is concerned try and raise it on BMW forums or contact the motoring press, watchdog and any facebook groups. Try contacting Louise O'Riordan on the Ford Ecoboost facebook page as she may be able to give you some pointers as she has been instrumental in getting a group action together against Ford.

facade

Have a look at this very similar thread



https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5883007/self-combusting-bmw


He got an offer for the contents, because BMW accepted liability, as it was a recall model.


You need to prove it was a design/manufacturing/servicing flaw, and as BMW experts can't find the cause (I doubt if they would lie) it might cost more than the £5000 in "expert" fees to find it, and then it might actually not be because of a design/manufacturing/servicing flaw.


Worth checking on BMW forums as above, it seems BMWs burst into flames on the motorway a lot more often than you would expect.

foxy-stoat

Theres someone else who's 5er caught fire, but their problem was no GAP insurance so they have a shortfall now.

They dont make'em like they used it!

Iceweasel

Ask on:

https://www.bmwland.org.uk/index.php

EffieBubbles

Not sure I follow you - but just want to say - for me it’s not just about the money ( although of course we do need a payout ) but more about BMW putting their hands up, claiming responsibility and recalling this type of car before someone is killed.

facade

EffieBubbles wrote: »

Not sure I follow you - but just want to say - for me it’s not just about the money ( although of course we do need a payout ) but more about BMW putting their hands up, claiming responsibility and recalling this type of car before someone is killed.

I thought you wanted your contents covered.


If there really is a design/manufacturing flaw that causes this, and BMW know about it, then they would recall and rectify them, as otherwise the claims for com-pen-say-shun would bankrupt them.
(Which is one reason I doubt BMW are lying about not being able to identify the cause of your fire- having to pay you £5000 now would be nothing to them if it instigated a recall)



VW are facing claims for millions in com-pen-say-shun from people who only drove cars that produced more emissions than they probably didn't know what they actually were in the first place, imagine what it would be like if there were dozens of people killed by a flaw.

AnotherJoe

90% of what you wrote isn't relevant. Yes you might all have been killed. That by itself is not a factor in whose fault it was. Neither are your lost possessions relevant to that (though they are relevant to your auto and household insurance levels of cover)
The main thing that is relevant is "We have employed a company to look into fire cause further for us". Until you get a reply from that third party then the only thing you can hope for is goodwill from BMW which judging by yours and other threads seems to be in very short supply.
There is no harm reaching out to see if there are other 7 series owners with similar problems but given that petrol/diesel engines work due to a series of explosions run by highly flammable liquid/vapor its inevitable there will be a certain level of fires and its not at all certain its always "someones" fault.

agrinnall

What exactly would BMW issue a recall for? They haven't been able to determine why your car burst into flames, so a recall would have every dealer in the world scratching their heads about what to do while puzzled owners wait in a queue for you to tell them what needs to be done.

EffieBubbles

wow! Never obviously happened to you then as pretty scary and totally messes with your emotions- thus my asking for advice on here.

What you say makes sense and much of it I had never thought of - so I thank you for that. It obviously gives us more to think about.

Incidentally BMW initially said they had examined the car and couldn’t find the cause of the fire. When we asked to see the report they admitted they hadn’t actually done an examination as car was too badly damaged!
It was then that they said it would be sent to Germany for investigation.

Anyway, thank you once again -
But the aggressive tone was a bit too much.

EffieBubbles

Thank you to everyone who had replied. I honestly had not even thought about something like a bag catching fire.
You have all helped me to think about calming down and give more thought to all that happened without jumping to conclusions like I did.
Lesson learned. Looks like I needed that!
My sincere thanks.