(must resist temptation to point out that the above only narrows it down to about 95% of the state)

 

Lmao you ain't lying. I'm just here finishing up college.

 

Hope the insurance covers everything. Did you take any pictures?

 

Yeah I got a few pictures. Nothing good though. Btw dealing with geico, police, and fire department I wasn't think about pictures.

 

I can't tell if you are just really bad at grammar and spelling or "panic typing" because you are worried people may think you burnt your own car?!?!

Just busting your chops.

 

Your initial post was just very oddly worded, and people steal/burn/crash their own cars all the time. I said that's what it looked like. Knowing all the details and parts that usually go with a story helps. If they found a cigarette in there, then it's pretty clear that somebody probably had car envy, and decided to trash your car. Maybe not to that extent, but nonetheless it went up in flames.

I've been in that business (claims, etc) for almost a decade, and I can promise you that they suspect you burned your car down-especially GEICO. They are terrible to deal with on claims and look for any way out. However, if the FD is on your side, you're good.

As for the damage, it is almost undoubtedly a total loss. The threshold is 80% of value AND be capable of being returned to its original condition. If the repairs exceed that, the car is totalled. Get your own estimates as well, you have that right. Don't sign anything. If it burned out the insides completely, you're looking at MSRP of 5k alone on the seats. 3k in airbags burnt up. 2k in factory stereo (if you had SSS). ECU and harnesses is a few grand. Lights, headliner, back seats, AYC controls, damaged hydraulics, damaged aluminum, etc...it's probably not fixable. Even then, the smell would never, ever go away.

Stick to your guns, don't sign anything, and remember the duty of insurance is to indemnify you (make you whole). No settlement should be less that what you owe on the car, regardless of that cost, since before the fire, you did not have a car payment and no car, so, the settlement needs to end your payments as well. If they try to repair it, all you have to say is that when you bought the car, it had never been in a fire. And now you're supposed to accept the same car back, that had been in a fire? A car that you would have never bought in the first place, knowing it had burned to the ground? That does not count as "indemnified", since that does not leave you, the insured, in the same position you were in before the fire.

People forget that insurance is an aleatory contract that binds the insurer, and you have a lot of rights as a claimant. Be prepared for a lengthy standoff...last time I fought out a claim, I rented a car for 103 days and made them pay for that, too.

good luck man, sorry this happened.


tl;dr- it should be totalled.

 

Dude, you just acquired a fan of near-stalker proportions.

 

Interesting thread...

I'm not saying you burnt down your own car to get out from under the payments, and I think it was probably done by someone who was just hating on your car. But just because a cigarette was found in the car and you are not a smoker, doesn't mean that you couldn't have bought a pack of ciggs and still did it yourself. Atleast if I was the investigator I wouldn't rule you out just because you are not a smoker.

On that thought, the cigarette didn't burn up completely? The car caught fire but the cigarette stayed in tact? Also cigarettes now have that fire control safety in them. Now this doesn't mean they are full proof. But as a smoker, those things go out pretty quickly if you are not puffing on them.

 

If you do some reading up on arson investigations, you'll quickly learn that they are mostly wild guesses packaged up to look like scientific deduction. (The best example is that guy that Texas executed based on total nonsense.) In other words, I would not be surprised if told that no cigarette butt was found, but the investigator concluded arson-by-cigarette, anyway.

 

This is true. But I was questioning because of this response:

 

Wait. You want me to read the whole thread before posting? Bah!

Translation: my bad.

 

Thanks I appreciate the advise. I was trying to keep my original post brief.. I didn't figure I'd have to explain the details. But I'm meeting with the adjuster Friday to look at the car more. He told me Monday he was at 5,000 but was sending it to a body shop to take it apart to see if it's repairable. The part that concerned me was he said they were going to vacuum out the car to try to see what could be saved.. I quickly replied I pay a lot for this car because it nearly new. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay that for a burnt car. But the adjuster is a local guy and has actually been super nice and helpful. I feel he will treat me right. But we will see.

 

No no he showed me the cig butt. Maybe I'm making the fire out to be a lot worse then it was. We caught it just in time. But it was weird because I had some notes from class sitting in the seat that wasn't burnt either. I think the lack of oxygen inside the car is what kept it from getting worse.

 

Probably just bad grammar. Math is my subject not English. Haha I admit my faults. Plus idc what ppl think on here.

 

Um, if there were a significant lack of oxygen inside cars -- especially those with a window partly open -- how, exactly, would people use them to go places?

Just askin'.