I got woken up Thursday morning from about 0430 by someone pounding on my door and ringing my door bell. I opened the door and there was a deputy sheriff standing there and he asked " Mike? Is that your jeep on the street?"
I said yes and he told me it was on fire...
She is a total for sure
Man when it rains it pours on my family and life!
That really sucks! Do you have insurance to cover it?
Wow Mike, that sucks. How long before the fire was it that you last drove it? Do they suspect arson? Other than an electrical fire there are not many things that could have caused it. Parked on the street there aren't other logical sources of ignition that could have caused a fire if you had a fuel leak. Certainly seems suspicious to me, especially if it hadn't been driven for a few hours.
It hasn't been driven in over 48 hours before the fire the toe company that picked it up says it's totally arson...
I have full coverage state farm insurance hopefully I can get it taken care of fast cause it's my only vehicle right now
Fingers crossed that it gets resolved quickly.
Mike G said It hasn't been driven in over 48 hours before the fire the toe company that picked it up says it's totally arson...I have full coverage state farm insurance hopefully I can get it taken care of fast cause it's my only vehicle right now
Be sure to talk to Kris since he knows how the auto insurance system works. Otherwise you might get everything you're entitled to.
Mike, I assume the insurance company is providing you with a rental car.
Jeff_R said Mike, I assume the insurance company is providing you with a rental car.
Unfortunately I have always had multiple vehicles so I never got rental car coverage but I just sold my truck a few weeks back so I'm out for now
Went and got my personal plates off the Jeep today and took some pics in the light... so sad to see my beloved Jeep like that
It's obvious from the burn pattern that it didn't start in the engine compartment because there is no heat damage on the grill and on the front aspect of the hood and there was more intense heat in the cab.
My neighbor came and talked to me today and said he heard a horn going off for almost 30 he went out side and started walking towards the noise and then the jeep just went up in flames.
Not sure if that means anything cause I know nothing about it but in my job anytime I see a burned car I think they couldn't afford their payments, but that's not my case I own it outright
Geez, that sucks Mike. Sorry to see this happen.
Mike G said My neighbor came and talked to me today and said he heard a horn going off for almost 30 he went out side and started walking towards the noise and then the jeep just went up in flames.Not sure if that means anything cause I know nothing about it but in my job anytime I see a burned car I think they couldn't afford their payments, but that's not my case I own it outright
Almost 30 minutes or seconds? If there were no visible flames and the horn was going off then I would highly suspect an electrical fire provided the eye witness account is reliable and correct. How well do you know your neighbor? Can he be trusted? Having responded to a lot of vehicle fires in my years as a firefighter, this vehicle was clearly well involved when fire arrived on scene. That means that fire had a good head start before being reported, the response time was long, there was a good fuel source, or ???. Newcastle Fire is administrated by Placer Hills Fire District where I served. I will do some checking for you Mike. I would want to know the time the fire was reported and the time that fire arrived on scene. Given that you live close to the fire station, this should not have been more than 10 minutes. That's still plenty of time for an electrical fire to do significant damage but typically those fires occur under the hood. The hood contains the fire to some degree so it is unusual to see that kind of fire damage in the passenger compartment if the fire were to have originated in the engine compartment.
The next most logical electrical fire source would be in the dashboard area where there is a lot of wiring and a lot of plastic to burn. However, with the ignition off I don't know what might have caused the fire. The second set of pictures appear that the most intense heat was towards the real of the vehicle. Was the fuel tank involved? If the fuel tank was involved and if the source of the fire was a fuel leak then why would the horn have sounded before flames were visible and what was the ignition source? And why didn't your neighbor come over and wake you up after reporting it ( I assume he was the reporting party) if he knew it was your vehicle on fire? Was the Jeep parked in front of your house or your neighbors? Your neighbor claims that the Jeep wasn't on fire when he first saw it. Correct? And when fire arrived it was that involved? If I were investigating this fire I would have a lot of questions for your neighbor.
If the hardtop was on and if the vehicle was totally closed up tight then it may be possible that the fire occurred in the cab, smoldered for some time, was oxygen starved, sounded the horn and then vented and erupted in flames just when your neighbor came out. Or as we say in the fire service, it could have been mice with matches!
Jeff_R saidAlmost 30 minutes or seconds? If there were no visible flames and the horn was going off then I would highly suspect an electrical fire provided the eye witness account is reliable and correct. How well do you know your neighbor? Can he be trusted? Having responded to a lot of vehicle fires in my years as a firefighter, this vehicle was clearly well involved when fire arrived on scene. That means that fire had a good head start before being reported, the response time was long, there was a good fuel source, or ???. Newcastle Fire is administrated by Placer Hills Fire District where I served. I will do some checking for you Mike. I would want to know the time the fire was reported and the time that fire arrived on scene. Given that you live close to the fire station, this should not have been more than 10 minutes. That's still plenty of time for an electrical fire to do significant damage but typically those fires occur under the hood. The hood contains the fire to some degree so it is unusual to see that kind of fire damage in the passenger compartment if the fire were to have originated in the engine compartment.
The next most logical electrical fire source would be in the dashboard area where there is a lot of wiring and a lot of plastic to burn. However, with the ignition off I don't know what might have caused the fire. The second set of pictures appear that the most intense heat was towards the real of the vehicle. Was the fuel tank involved? If the fuel tank was involved and if the source of the fire was a fuel leak then why would the horn have sounded before flames were visible and what was the ignition source? And why didn't your neighbor come over and wake you up after reporting it ( I assume he was the reporting party) if he knew it was your vehicle on fire? Was the Jeep parked in front of your house or your neighbors? Your neighbor claims that the Jeep wasn't on fire when he first saw it. Correct? And when fire arrived it was that involved? If I were investigating this fire I would have a lot of questions for your neighbor.
If the hardtop was on and if the vehicle was totally closed up tight then it may be possible that the fire occurred in the cab, smoldered for some time, was oxygen starved, sounded the horn and then vented and erupted in flames just when your neighbor came out. Or as we say in the fire service, it could have been mice with matches!
He said 30 minutes and that was the first time I had ever met that neighbor. There is no parking in front of my house so my jeep was 2 doors down in front of the granite shop. The neighbor is an uncle to a neighbor I know really well, he told me his truck was broken in to last year and all his tools stolen. When I was sweeping up the mess another neighbor I ha e never seen before stop and asked if my windows got broken cause him and his 3 roommates all had their windows broken on their cars just 2 weeks prior.
We moved away from the city to not have to worry about this crap and my jeep was vandalized last year being keyed and tires slashed. Im thinking if it was vandalized again its all cause the Trump sticker on my jeep. Just didn't think any snowflakes would have the balls to do something like this
Oh and I always leave my windows cracked when it's not raining to keep air flow going on in my jeep
Bummer...
Wow Mike, that really sucks.
Hope they find the creeps that did this.
Auction company keeps calling me so they can pick it up but my insurance hasn't even called to talk to me...
I really dislike having to deal with this makes me think of getting a new insurance company but I'm sure they all suck like this
That is just terrible. . I am so sorry to hear this. . .
Don't let anyone take it until you have settled with insurance!
This is a little bit different situation than I am used to as the jeep is fully totaled and not rebuildable (and not worth parting out). You have less than $5k in parts on the Jeep so I am pretty sure that your insurance will cover the extras without issue (that was State Farms policy for aftermarket parts a few years ago, not sure if it has changed recently). You may need to show proof of what some of the parts cost but that should be as easy as printing out some web screenshots.
As for the lack of communication from your insurance company that could be due to having a lazy claims rep or because there is an investigation from the sheriffs department that they are waiting on prior to moving forward with the claim. Best option would be to call your agent and ask why you haven't heard anything. Your agent will be more effective at getting wheels moving behind the scenes at the claims department than you trying to get through the company phone directory to talk to an actual person. They legally have 30 days so depending on how busy they are not getting any info in the first week isn't that uncommon.
I called and lit a fire under my claims adjusters butt yesterday. Told her I have been vandalized with my jeep and I feel I am being vandalized again by my insurance.
She apologized right away and then tried to tell me I had to release the jeep so it can go somewhere and not incur more charges and get inspected. I said no I'm not letting it go sit somewhere and have it take weeks or months to get inspected. She said fill out an affidavit and send pics and we'll skip it all and go straight to settlement. So I should have their offer by Friday.
I'll keep you all posted. She did ask if I would want to keep it and I said if they give me enough for it I'll keep it...👍
Mike G said I called and lit a fire under my claims adjusters butt yesterday.
Perhaps a poor choice of words in this situation. Lol
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