JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

It was not cool(no pun intended). Had the whole fire department out there too on the side of the highway. I'm too tired to deal with it for now. BUT I did manage to snag some pictures lol.

I'm wondering if I should go through insurance or not. Anyone here have any knowledge or work in the insurance industry? What would you suggest? I can probably fix everything myself out of pocket for around $3-4k. I'll have my friends helping out so no shop labor there. Going thru insurance, they would most likely take the car to Lexus and this damage to them will easily be a $10-15k repair. Not sure if insurance will total it out or not at that point. I probably won't be sleeping tonight lol

We ripped out the fusebox and cut off all the wiring in that area in addition to pulling the battery. I didn't want a second fire to flare up in my garage at home. BTW...there's a bunch of dirt in there because nobody had a fire extinguisher. We just started to throw a bunch of dirt in there and it worked. Saved the car since most of the damage is localized to where the battery is.








The worst part...I just got my HKS turbo finished today after 8 months of waiting!

chrispy

iTrader: (21)

OMG Say it ain't so!

DangGS3

iTrader: (1)

man thats a depressing sight i feel ur pain

RI-Lex

iTrader: (4)

Sorry to hear this, hope you get to fix her up very soon.

geeznuts

iTrader: (14)

holy s&!t that sucks.

VALET dude

iTrader: (2)

WOW! im glad to hear everyones alright
just remember, car/parts are replaceable

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, we did what wasn't recommended according to all the online guides(try putting out the fire yourself) lol. It worked at least .

Does anyone have anything to comment about the whole insurance situation?

ElitistK

iTrader: (4)

GLWE. right now you're looking at either totalled or rebuilt. see if you can find a shop that will keep the cost of repairs down so your car doesn't get totalled.

Mike813

iTrader: (5)

I am not a insurance rep. but i had a old galant that caught on fire back in 97' due to a hit and run... i got hit from behind into a nyc telephone pole and front engine bay caught on fire as well... insurance did total the car and gave me what the car was worth only. i had liability since it was a galant only but any modifications (stereo,rims) or what not was not included so it was basically a blue book value i got comp'ed for... but from the looks of it youve kept the vehicle in mint condition from the past photos i've seen besides the engine bay now, im pretty sure you can get a easy range from 9-14k for what the cars worth now a days stock.

glad everyone is ok atleast, with what i see under your engine bay if the quick thinking of using sand wasnt applied. things could have gotten worse...

4play4dr

so how did it catch on fire??

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

I believe it was electrical, but caused by the turbo in some way or another. Theres so much heat next to the turbo that it melted off the insulation on the wires close to the battery. Then it started to short out and I guess it progressed from there.

I just looked it up online, and new subharness for that section costs $1000 and that's with my discount lol! Hopefully that is the only damaged harness because the other main harness is $4000!

handoverfi

iTrader: (7)

hey man sorry to hear that!!! well i just got into an accident and i claimed my whole car on isn. this is what i did i got my car checked out by an adjuster they estimated how much my damages were( by the way she was a total utter idiot and so is my ins co.!!!). adjusters only do a visual inspection they litteraly dont know crap other then what they see. i say take it to a shop you trust and just let it sit there and start taking the car apart after they do a visual inspection and estimate. And once you get that you (youself start taking the car completely apart to find alll what else was damaged and you put that to the side and let there field adjuster come out to inspect what else was damaged and you HIT THEM UP HARD for what you bought and need!!!

im still waiting for those worthless field inspecters from geico to inspect the rest of the damage to my car!! blah!!! its been more then a week !!!

fordsvtmfl

iTrader: (13)

Ah man that so sucks! that really is a depressing sight... about the insurance, I would only mess with insurance if you have it insured for what you have in it. But I think you have to have a special insurance for that. (like when you rebuild a 67 mustang or something...it could be "worth" $80000, but if you just have regular insurance, you'll get like 5-10K)

BossGS4

iTrader: (2)

Jeff,

Man that sucks about the fire, glad everyone is OK though !

Insurance wise it kinda depends on a couple of things.

1. what kind of coverage you carry.
2. do you own the car or have a lien/loan on it ?
3. your receipt records of what is in the car.
4. insurance company

There are basically 2 scenarios:

ONE: You own the car and take it to a dealer for an estimate. They TOTAL the car. You can then 'buy back' your totalled car from from the insurance company for 10-20% of the totalled value. Insurance will give you a check for whatever value they assign to the GS and you pay them out of pocket for the 'buy back'. So if they assess the car to be $10,000 (for the sake of argument) and their buyback is 20% of the value. Then you would get a $10K check from insurance and would pay them $2000 for the car. NOTE: your car title WILL change to a salvage title.

TWO: Like others have said in this thread you find a 'friendly' shop who will estimate the work for a low amount so insurance does NOT total the vehicle. You tell insurance you are using shop XYZ and turn in the estimate. If you own the car (no loans left on it) you can have them send the check to you and then go off and fix it yourself. If you still have a lien out they will ONLY pay the shop directly ... now you could negotiate with 'friendly' shop XYZ and get them to give you a rebate check (i.e. give them the paint/body work portion of the job then pay you out for the mechanical portion of the estimate) Then upside of this method is your title doesn't become a salvage title.

lexusscturbo

iTrader: (12)

Oh man jeff sorry to hear that would u not be better off$ wise getting a hit GS and swapping parts over