Fire in engine total loss claim

Gabi12345

Hi there, I am worried about a situation I am in. I am visiting Spain and have fully comp like for like car insurance.

Long story short, a car I bought two months ago, and had an engine fire when we first got here and is written off. The car has the swirl flaps blanked off, which is a minor engine modification. I don't think this caused the fire, but are the insurance company likely to wriggle out of paying if they see the swirl flaps are blanked out?

My worry is that they then pursue me for costs because it happened in Spain, and they are saying they want to repatriate the car, which is going to cost loads. For reference it's a 2008 Saab 9-5, so really only looking at getting a grand maximum out of them, so I was quite surprised they wanted to repatriate the car.

I'm thinking about cutting my losses and withdrawing the claim?

Thanks 

RogerPensionGuy

I would guessed 1K value would not warrant it being moved above and just locally scrapped. 

Due damage, it would need maintenance to certify it safe for transport and again makes no sense. 

If OP withdrawns claim, it will still be a claim in essence and attract much hassle and cost unfortunately, in my opinion, less than 1K claim is often not worth it.

Sounds like it's worth many many hundreds in spares value. 

And sounds like car modified and insurance not advised. 

Proceed with caution whatever is the choice going forwards. 

TELLIT01

You need to clarify with the insurers whether they cover the cost of returning the car to the UK.  If not, it's certainly not going to be worth you paying to return it.  Who has told you they need to repatriate the car?  If it's somebody at a call centre they may not realise the low value of the vehicle.

One potential problem, as the OP has mentioned, is that the vehicle had been modified.  I have no idea what swirl flaps are, but what has been done certainly sounds like a modification which should have been declared when insuring.  That could definitely give the insurer an excuse not to pay out.

cw8825

Just having a quick look on what they are, it is a clear modification.

Did the OP do this or did the OP buy the car as such?
I highly doubt the car will be repatriated,

400ixl

Swirl flap failure is a common issue on that engine and is actually a relatively easy fix to replace the rods which activate them. Unfortunately it is also common to just bodge the job along with blanking the EGR valve.

What is the likely cause of the fire and how extensive was it? If the engine bay is burnt out then they are probably unlikely to do too much digging on a car of that age and value. If it is clearly a fault elsewhere (e.g. the hot exhaust set fire to the scrubland under the car which then engulfed the car) then it makes no difference as to whether the swirl flaps were blanked off or not.

If the fire was smaller and localised around the EGR valve and intake manifold then it could be investigated, but still a low probability I would have thought. 

Lesson to maintain the car properly and not just do cheap bodge fixes, but something unlikely to be an issue unless they can prove the it was the cause of the fire.

Gabi12345

TELLIT01 said:

You need to clarify with the insurers whether they cover the cost of returning the car to the UK.  If not, it's certainly not going to be worth you paying to return it.  Who has told you they need to repatriate the car?  If it's somebody at a call centre they may not realise the low value of the vehicle.

One potential problem, as the OP has mentioned, is that the vehicle had been modified.  I have no idea what swirl flaps are, but what has been done certainly sounds like a modification which should have been declared when insuring.  That could definitely give the insurer an excuse not to pay out.

It's the person who deals with claims in Europe who messaged me to say that they need to repatriate, and needed certain documents from me.

Gabi12345

400ixl said:

Swirl flap failure is a common issue on that engine and is actually a relatively easy fix to replace the rods which activate them. Unfortunately it is also common to just bodge the job along with blanking the EGR valve.

What is the likely cause of the fire and how extensive was it? If the engine bay is burnt out then they are probably unlikely to do too much digging on a car of that age and value. If it is clearly a fault elsewhere (e.g. the hot exhaust set fire to the scrubland under the car which then engulfed the car) then it makes no difference as to whether the swirl flaps were blanked off or not.

If the fire was smaller and localised around the EGR valve and intake manifold then it could be investigated, but still a low probability I would have thought. 

Lesson to maintain the car properly and not just do cheap bodge fixes, but something unlikely to be an issue unless they can prove the it was the cause of the fire.

I don't know where those parts are, but the fire was centred around the front part of the engine. 

Before the fire I smelled a diesel smell from the engine.

And yes lesson learned!