Well, I think she's gone!
 

After doing some mods to the car, exhaust, intake and headers and spending quite of bit of my hard earned money I think my car will be laid to rest soon. Today I was driving my beauty around for most of the day without ANY problems, all of a sudden. My engine cought on fire, the whole interior of the engine compartment is burnt up and when I got out of the car I heard a loud explosion coming from the engine compartment. Since I am a firefighter I try to but the flames out however I didnt have the necessary equipment of tools to do the job effectively. Needless to say I call my fire dept out to assist and they drowned my car.

My interior is intack besides the read panels that is completely melted and gone, flame and smoke came out of the intake and under the engine area. I notice that I heard a weird noise when I was driving and all of a sudden she was on FIRE :eek: I never had an issue with a car burning on me but its kinda strange that I just recently picked up the car from my Porsche indy shop on the 18th. Lastly, when the car was catching on fire it looked like the headers and 02 sensors were flaming. So I dont know. The car is intack besides the other areas that I mention.

Damn it, and I was just starting to enjoy the car :( so with that said I dont think that the insurance will repair the car since stuff like this is usually declaired a totaled lost :( Any other ideas?

Take the insurance money and buy another one! Very sorry about the fire.

Sorry to hear, but be glad that you're ok, and were not hurt from the fire. You can always replace the car after you get the insurance settlement.

Also, I'd wonder what your Indy shop did to your car. These cars don't just catch fire for no reason. Maybe they left something loose in the engine or fuel lines? Something doesn't sound right.

I wonder if mid-engined cars are more prone to engine fires. I always seem to see Ferrari 360 and 430's all burnt up but haven't really heard of many Boxster incidents. Sorry to hear about that though... I can't imagine how you felt watching your baby burn.

yikes....that sucks man....good thing you're okay....get a white one now :D

i'm hurt!
 

Yeah something doesnt sound right and I am actually hurt deep inside since I put some love into her and did a couple of things to make her perform better, can I afford another 1? Probably so, however, I dont know if the insurance will probably repair the car. the car is intack besides the enginre area and the rear walls of the interior lining, the side vents are all burnt up as well and the car smells like crap.

I reported the incident to the insurance yesterday night, after, thinking and thinking about what the hell went wrong. Maybe something that the mechanics did went wrong but I cant prove that and I cant tell the insurance that the car had some modifications done they my deny my claim and have me pursue my indy shop, hmmmmmmm I wonder if they have good insurance? lol! I would LOVE to get me an all white one newer S model but I doubt that I will be able to afford her since this car was my return gift present after returning from the war in the middle east and i had saved all my money to purchase her. Sucks, that I went through so much and suffered and lost so many and now this **************** happens :( just not fair! I think God has a purpose for everything, however, I dont know whats the purpose or reason for this to happen.

Thanks to everyone!

I am sorry for your loss. I hope that you do a post mortem on your car, because I was about to do the same modifications with headers and such to my car.
My thoughts are that the steel or alloy that the "made in china" headers are made from may get red hot, burn the surrounding plastic parts and cause a fire. Also some of the heat shielding may have been removed or damaged from the install.
Whatever the case, I think I will stick with stock headers for now and wait to see how this turn out.
I really think that this is too much of a coincidence that after working on the hottest part of the car it catches fire.
I would keep my mouth closed about any modifications to the car. Surely somewhere in your insurance policy it will state that this will void your coverage.

Good Luck and keep us posted.

James

damn dude.
just got your PM and checked ou this thread.

just when i got you all ready and buckled up to come to the autocross this sunday **************** ******************** happens. damn man, very sorry

Wow, sorry to hear about your loss.

Life is tough sometimes - maybe the way to look at it though is not that God took your car, but that he got you out in time without you getting burned up along with it.

Your Boxster is like the Phoneix from the ashes to be reborn in a newer better Boxster!

Thank goodness you didn't get hurt. Where were you when it happened, like what street/tollway?

Glad to hear no one was hurt. I'm sure it will all work out for you in the end,just keep your head up.

Sorry to hear about this! It sounds from your short time posting here you were really enjoying the Boxster. Hang in there!

Does insurance cover vehicle fires normally? I just wonder where does insurance end and mechanical breakdown begin? I mean if the engine just dies, that's not an insurance thing and aside from warranty yer screwed. But spontaneously catching fire while you are driving it...hmm.

Anyone know exactly what the ruling is on this sort of thing? What if the engine breaks down and that itself starts a fire?

-David N.

Sorry to hear about your car, chgolatin2! What kind of work was being done to your car last week? I've always wondered if a spark plugu tube failure would cause a fire, since the oil could run right down onto the exhaust headers.

I think an engine failure (IMS breaking, etc.) is the owner's problem. If the car catches on fire, though, it should be covered under the comprehensive portion of the insurance. If it's not, then what the hell am I paying $990 every 6 months for?!!

<--- Hates insurance as a whole

Your automobile insurer should pay to repair or replace your vehicle under your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage pays for physical damage to the vehicle cause by anything except collission. This includes fire, flood, theft, vandalism, falling objects etc. It ecxludes damage resulting wear and tear and mechanical breakdown and a few other things like war and necular contamination. After market parts are usually excluded but your modifications should not not void coverage for the rest of the car in this case.

Sorry...
 

Tough break...I am sure your insurance will cover it. Get another one!!!!

Really sorry for your loss, man. I understand you have lots feelings watching what you worked so hard for go up (literally) in smoke. Glad you or anyone else wasn't injured. Please let us know what happens. Best of luck on sorting this all out and getting back on the highway again real soon in another Boxster!

Should I tell the insurance?
 

Wondering if I should tell the insurance that my car was being worked on 4 days prior to my engine catching on fire or talking directly to the mechanic and asking him for a refund for my repair bill plus my deductible for the insurance. Most like and accoding to most ppl that I talk to the car will be declared a total lost, most insurance companies dont want to deal with fire problems however i am not 100 percent sure.

So what do you guys think? Inform the insurance company directly or just talk to my indy shop directly and gently inform him of the options?

Lastly, talk to an attorney???

Thanks!

It depends on what was done, usually your insurance will take care of you first, and bill the responsible party and you dont have to worry about weather they ever pay your insurance company back. If you were having repairs done, and not having aftermarket exhaust of intake.... just normal maintanence, I would definatly tell the insurance company.

It seems to me like the most honest thing to do is full disclosure to the insurance company. I think it would be good though to call the shop and let them know what happened to you also.

By all means tell your insurer. If they can prove that the fire was due to the negligence of the repair shop, they should attempt to recover from the shop's garage keepers liability insurer (including your deductible).
Since you will only be out your deductible at most, it will not likely be worth any lawyers time.

aftermarket
 

Well, my indy tech was installing aftermarket parts on my car so I am wondering if I should tell the insurance about this or just keep my mouth shut and take my losses. Or fully disclosed what was done and see what happens...

read your policy to see if aftermarket modifications are covered.

You need to be realistic, your insurance company is just that, a company. They will be looking for any way to get out of paying for the damage.
I think that a good argument can be made that if you would not have had the NON_OEM modifications done, there would be no fire.

If my wheels come off because of my spacers and I wreck the car, they should not cover it because my spacers are not OEM equipment and therefor not approved for use. It increases the risk and if the would know about it, I am sure that they would put a ryder in my policy.

If you have been drinking and wreck your car, is it covered? Nope. because alcohol was not an approved method of driving.

IE... something else caused the fire, not a mechanical failure of the car itself, but rather something that you did to it.


Just my 2 cents.
James

While the after market parts may not be covered (they are usually excluded), the damage to the vehicle will be covered even if it was directly caused by the after market part. I have been in the insurance business many years and we pay these claims every day, just as we pay for vehicles owned and damaged by drunk policyholders. :cheers:

Bnorman,
While not in the insurance business myself I will have to take your word on it. I would hope that they do cover it. I deal with health insurance daily and I can tell you with out a doubt they do not care about you or your problems and if they can find a way not to pay for your surgery or medications they will not.

Maybe I am just jaded to the whole insurance company thing. :)

J,
I hear you, but car insurance is different. Generally, people choose who they buy their auto insure from, unlike employer provided health insurance. Our biggest source of new customers has always been referrals from existing policyholders. It is just simply bad business to nickel and dime the people who are your primary source of new customers.