Car caught fire. Worth legal action towards anyone?

Jonathan_Powell

I had a used 5 series, 6 year old car I bought from Car Giant. It randomly caught fire, exhaust or fuel tank as it was underneath. Burnt to a crisp.

Is there any claim I could potentially make against BMW? 

Keep_pedalling

No, that is what insurance is for. 

TadleyBaggie

I think you need to know the exact cause before litigation. I doubt after 6 years BMW would be liable however.

Grumpy_chap

Jonathan_Powell said:

I had a used 5 series, 6 year old car I bought from Car Giant. It randomly caught fire, exhaust or fuel tank as it was underneath. Burnt to a crisp.

Is there any claim I could potentially make against BMW? 

I very much doubt there is anything to claim against BMW.

As others said, this is an insurance claim.

The only thing would be if you knew the root cause of the fire and if the car was a recent purchase.  Even then, the best way to pursue anything would be through your insurer, who can pursue any claim against Car Giant without you needing extra stress.

Ectophile

You would only have a claim against BMW if they were negilgent in some way, and someone was injured by the fire.

You're more likely to have a claim against Car Giant, as they are the retailer.  But that depends on how long you've had the car, and why it caught fire.

Or just claim on your insurance.  You're going to have to tell them about the fire anyway.

AdrianC

The one thing that we can be sure of is that it didn't "just randomly" catch fire. Something caused the fire.

Whether the insurers will bother to investigate is another question.

But without knowing what caused it - whether it was road debris that damaged a fuel line, or whether it was a mistake at a recent service, or whatever - there is not a hope of claiming anything off anybody bar your insurer.

Grey_Critic

The procedure with Ford years ago was to direct the complainant to their own insurance  who, if they considered Ford were responsible make a claim themselves.

Ebe_Scrooge

Grey_Critic said:

The procedure with Ford years ago was to direct the complainant to their own insurance  who, if they considered Ford were responsible make a claim themselves.

Which is pretty much the nub of it.  You claim off your own insurance, end of as far as you're concerned.  If your insurers subsequently want to pursue a claim against the manufacturer to recover their losses, that's their business - but that's absolutely nothing to do with you.

AdrianC

Ebe_Scrooge said:

Grey_Critic said:

The procedure with Ford years ago was to direct the complainant to their own insurance  who, if they considered Ford were responsible make a claim themselves.

Which is pretty much the nub of it.  You claim off your own insurance, end of as far as you're concerned.  If your insurers subsequently want to pursue a claim against the manufacturer to recover their losses, that's their business - but that's absolutely nothing to do with you.

Except, of course, if they do manage to receive full recompense for the claim, it becomes no-fault on your insurance history.

SteveJW

You should be able to obtain a fire officers report, usually written by the senior officer attending the fire
It will detail their opinion of what caused the fire
Contact the fire brigade that attended

Sandtree

SteveJW said:

You should be able to obtain a fire officers report, usually written by the senior officer attending the fire
It will detail their opinion of what caused the fire
Contact the fire brigade that attended

It will be a relatively basic opinion though... watching late night TV the other day stumbled on a real life 999 service type program with the fire brigade at a domestic fire. Officers inspecting after putting the fire out said electrical fault as the area with the most charring was by the side of the bed and had the melted remnants of a couple of extension leads. After speaking to the person who escaped the room they said they'd gone to sleep with some candles on that bedside table so the report was changed.

If there is suspicion of arson or such then a forensic inspection is done which may give a more reliable indication of the cause but these aren't done as standard.

As has been said, claim off your car insurance. Your insurers will decide if there are grounds for them to counterclaim off anyone based on the scenario and the value of the claim.