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Car damage fire !

U

Um4ir

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Location
London
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Honda Accord i-CDTI
A newish VW golf (11plate) was abandoned at the end of our road and it appears to have been set on fire at about 9pm. Following a call from one of my neighbours, I rushed back home as my car was parked about 3m from the spluttering blaze. I managed to reverse the car without any major damage, although it was a bit frightening as in that time there were 2 mini explosions!

I have had a quick look at the front, (its dark) the number plate is bent slightly (probably due to the heat) and there are a few small bits of glass and plastic on the bonnet. additionally there is a small crack on the windscreen ,(p/s). I am going to wash the car in the morning so that I can ***ess the exterior better

My question is how should I go about approaching the insurance companies and do i need to go to the police station to get a report.

thanks in advance
 
Sorry to hear about the damage mate. ...........If i were you I would phone my insurance company and get advice. they may want you to get the police report and they may give you the right angle to approach this. I am guessing you would need to find get information about the car that has been set on fire, did it have a owner etc which the police would know.

any way I would call the insurance company to talk to them for advice.
 
whereami said:
Sorry to hear about the damage mate. ...........If i were you I would phone my insurance company and get advice. they may want you to get the police report and they may give you the right angle to approach this. I am guessing you would need to find get information about the car that has been set on fire, did it have a owner etc which the police would know.

any way I would call the insurance company to talk to them for advice.
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I have the licence plate of the car and there were plenty of witnesses (most of the street came out) including children in their pyjamas. I dont know what mindless thug does something like this. There were bushes very close to the burnt out car and if they had caught alight who knows what would have happened - let alone other parked cars...

My dad reckons my insurance company may be able to put a claim against the VWs insurers (***uming it is insured!)
 
Take plenty of photos BEFORE you wash it, to show the heat/smoke/fallout damage.
 
Sorry to hear this as said by Rob ring your insurance for advice.
 
Oh no that is bad news, at least your ok :) things could have been much worse. As above, ring your insurance for advice and decide what your gonna do after chatting to them.

I cant stand mindless thug scum, that type of thing really grips my s****e! :angry:
 
As has been said speak to your own insurers for advice on how to handle this. You will only be able to claim against the insurers of the VW if its owner has been negligent.

Alan
 
H Peasource said:
As has been said speak to your own insurers for advice on how to handle this. You will only be able to claim against the insurers of the VW if its owner has been negligent.

Alan
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I spoke to insurance company this morning. They said that it was unlikely they would be able to pursue the VW insurers (unless of course the owner set the car on fire).
I can pay a £100 excess for them to repair the damage. However, I would have to declare this in future quotes and checking on various websites it would bump up my premium by £130 - £200 for the first year and thats not taking into account additional increases in future years

After washing it, the car looks ok although the bonnet has a few more marks, not noticeable from a distance.

I'm thinking of getting the windscreen repaired (free) and maybe sort out the bonnet privately (reckon maybe £140 ish).

the front number plate has bent in the middle and the plastic housing bit it is attached to is slightly loose, what could I do with that ?
 
well considering the damage bud,liucky it was not worse,in the long i think your better of getting it repaired privately rather than getting the premium up on the insurance,check for breakers for the parts that have been damaged or need replacing bud :)
 
Dude this sucks!!! I honestly don't know what the world is coming too. :(

Please bare in mind that if you get the binnet resprayed chances are they are going to have to do the front wings at the same time so they can blend the colour.

As Dale has said though dude, it could have been a lot worse. Just glad you managed to get to your car before that caught alight. Think you should buy your neighbour a beer.
 
although i have previously stated that the car was set alight, i actually have no idea how the fire started, it was just a presumption at the time

My mate told me not to involve my insurance company and write a letter to the VW insurers directly asking them to look into it. I might give that a try as on deeper inspection the front widscreen and side windows + panels (drivers side) also have small chips from flying debris.

i am almost tempted that if there is no joy with the third party insurers to let things be, as its only a car at the end of the day - i am not overly concerned with how it looks.

can small chips in glass be polished out ?

ps i dont think my neighbour drinks so will get him and his family a nice box of chocolates !
 
Umair said:
although i have previously stated that the car was set alight, i actually have no idea how the fire started, it was just a presumption at the time

My mate told me not to involve my insurance company and write a letter to the VW insurers directly asking them to look into it. I might give that a try as on deeper inspection the front widscreen and side windows + panels (drivers side) also have small chips from flying debris.

i am almost tempted that if there is no joy with the third party insurers to let things be, as its only a car at the end of the day - i am not overly concerned with how it looks.

can small chips in glass be polished out ?

ps i dont think my neighbour drinks so will get him and his family a nice box of chocolates !
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If you know who the VW belongs to and can get their insurance details then you absolutely do not need to involve your insurance company at all.
The insurer of the VW is obliged to pay for the cost of returning your car to the condition it was in before the fire.
Deal directly with the insurance company, don't take no for an answer, don't be fobbed off, don't worry about them threatening to write off your car if the damage is bad as they have no right to, threaten to take them to court if necessary.

This is what third party insurance is for.

You actually shouldn't have even mentioned it to your insurance company.
 
Oh dear, much incorrect information is now creeping into this. The VW's owner, and hence his insurers, are only liable if the damage to your car is attributable to his negligence. It would be down to you to prove his negligence, not for him to disprove it.

Third party cover is there to provide the insured person with cover in respect of his legal liability to others for injury or damage as a result of his negligence. We don't know why this car caught fire and so we don't know if there was any negligence. In the absence of any provable negligence neither the VW owner nor his insurer will be liable.

Alan
 
H Peasource said:
Oh dear, much incorrect information is now creeping into this. The VW's owner, and hence his insurers, are only liable if the damage to your car is attributable to his negligence. It would be down to you to prove his negligence, not for him to disprove it.

Third party cover is there to provide the insured person with cover in respect of his legal liability to others for injury or damage as a result of his negligence. We don't know why this car caught fire and so we don't know if there was any negligence. In the absence of any provable negligence neither the VW owner nor his insurer will be liable.

Alan
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well said alan.
 
H Peasource said:
Oh dear, much incorrect information is now creeping into this. The VW's owner, and hence his insurers, are only liable if the damage to your car is attributable to his negligence. It would be down to you to prove his negligence, not for him to disprove it.

Third party cover is there to provide the insured person with cover in respect of his legal liability to others for injury or damage as a result of his negligence. We don't know why this car caught fire and so we don't know if there was any negligence. In the absence of any provable negligence neither the VW owner nor his insurer will be liable.

Alan
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Fair enough, my comment definitely stands with regard to damage caused to your car by someone else hitting it though.

I would still pursue his insurer as hard as possible.
 
whereami said:
well said alan.
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I have written to the VW insurers asking them to look into the incidence - that why I will come to know what was the most likely cause of the fire and hence determine whether there was any negligence. My windscreen and driver side windows have lots of small marks. Is that something that can be polished out or am I looking at replacing the glass ?
thanks
 
As to whether the glass marks will polish out it's difficult to say but is there anything to lose by trying?

I don't think there's any point in all of us entering further into a discussion on potential liability as we don't know the cause of the fire. Time will tell.

Alan
 
I didnt make much progress with my insurer (esure). they said I would be looking at an excess of about 350 pounds (cumulative glass, fire etc) plus he refused to advise how many NCB I would be left with, He said "just wait until the renewal notice comes through". Looking through their paper work it appears I would drop from my current 8yrs to 3 yrs ! (as the maximum they recognise is 5)

I decided to get the glass sorted out (100 excess), so autoglass will replace the windscreen and both side glasses on the drivers side.

My mate reckons the white flecks on the paint may come out with a good buff polish, but I will leave it for now

I didnt realise car insurance is such a scam, and designed in such a way that in most circumstances its never really worth claiming ! I think I am going back to third party next year, lol
 
Mate that is gutting news!!!!! I hope the flecks come out after a good clean for you.

.....i won't get started on car insurance.....WA*****
 
Clearly this varies by situation. Around 12 years ago, by brother's nice S2 Escort RS Turbo was set on fire in a multi-storey car park when thieves failed to steal it (they popped the bonnet, cut the fuel lines and ignited it). The two cars parked either side of his were also destroyed and the owners successfully claimed against my brother's insurance company.

I can't explain how the negligence/third party cover argument works here, but a claim's a claim. My initial thoughts when reading this thread were that you could make a claim, but perhaps it's not so clear any more.
 
Umair said:
I didnt realise car insurance is such a scam, and designed in such a way that in most circumstances its never really worth claiming ! I think I am going back to third party next year, lol
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I got some quotes recently through "Go Compare" and discovered that several companies would give me fully comp cheaper than the lowest 3rd party fire and theft quote - how does that work?
 
Knock for knock agreements don't exist anymore which means comprehensive premiums are no longer subsidising tpft premiums, age of vehicle discounts often don't apply as there is no accidental damage cover, tpft motor accounts see high tp claims as policyholders tend to be a less desirable moral risk.
 
last 2 yrs fully comp worked out cheaper for me :) I have done a test run on gocompare for my renewal next month and third party is coming out 20% cheaper
 
Shiny said:
Knock for knock agreements don't exist anymore which means comprehensive premiums are no longer subsidising tpft premiums, age of vehicle discounts often don't apply as there is no accidental damage cover, tpft motor accounts see high tp claims as policyholders tend to be a less desirable moral risk.
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This is not true, on coming vehicle cases still can get settled knock for knock, 50/50 or each insurer agrees just to sort out their own insured.

In cases where a car is on fire and damages another then knock for knock doesn't come into it as the 2nd car can not be seen as jointly at fault for the incident.
 
Taffytim said:
This is not true, on coming vehicle cases still can get settled knock for knock, 50/50 or each insurer agrees just to sort out their own insured.

In cases where a car is on fire and damages another then knock for knock doesn't come into it as the 2nd car can not be seen as jointly at fault for the incident.
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A common misunderstanding. Split liability has nothing to do with knock for knock agreements, which have pretty much been abolished.

Knock for knock agreements existed whereby insurer A would agree with insurer B that, if their policyholders had 100 accidents between them, applying the laws of average, 50 of them will be insurer A's client's fault and 50 Insurer B's. So they each agree to pay for their own damage and to NOT pursue their losses against each other which results in additional costs.

So in the case that Insurer A has a TPFT client and Insurer B has a Comprehensive client, if client A hits client B in the rear, in normal circumstances client A's insurers would pay all the cost as they are the legally liable party.

Under Knock for knock, Insurer A pays nothing (their client A has TPFT so cant claim for his own damage) and client B's costs are all paid by Insurer B. The loss of NCB is judged on liability and is irrelevant to the payment of a claim under KforK.

This meant that TPO/TPFT premiums were subsidised by Comprehensive policyholders as there were no third party damage payments in the event of a fault claim.

When knock for knock agreements were pretty much abolished, this meant that losses under Comprehensively insured policyholders were now being pursued against the TPO/TPF&T policyholders, so Comprehensive premiums were no longer subsidising TPO/TPFT policyholders.

TPF&T premiums used to be around 60% of a Comp premium, but the gap soon closed as TPFT premiums were making big COR losses now that TP damage claims were being paid out. So they went up, to the point that it can often be more expensive than Comp cover when you take into account the fact that certain discounts that relate to the accidental damage risk don't apply.

Knock for knock does happen on rare occasions still, usually pushed by the Insurer that has no accidental damage costs, in an attempt to keep their loss to a minimum. But it no longer, as far as i am aware, happens under an "agreement" whereby all claims between the Insurers are settled on a KforK basis.
 
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