Heres my story. two weeks ago on a saturday night I took my wife out for dinner, not three miles from my home. We took my 2004 XJ8 40,000 thousand miles all service work done at my local dealer "Alpine" Jaguar from day one. Upon arriving home my wife and I went inside were my wife put on the dogs leash to take her out before retiring. She then screamed out at me that my car was on fire. I ran out and saw flames coming from in front of the passengers side front wheel well and the headlight assembly. I immediately sent for the fire department who arrived in about six to eight minutes by which time the whole front of my car was melting. Anyway the car is completely totaled. Since then I have been informed by the Insurance Co that the book value of my car is $8,000. I cannot by a 2004 Camry for that money let alone a one owner all books and records XJ8. Anyway such is life, my claims adjuster told me that it is not uncommon for Jags to catch fire. Any thoughts anyone, Thanks Edv

 

Edv,

I'm heartsick to hear of your tragedy, but thankful that you and your wife are safe.

I've owned Jag saloons for 20 years and have spent a lot of time on Jaguar forums since the mid-'90s, and as far as I can recall, I may have heard of only one or two Jaguar fires in all that time.


If your claims adjuster has any empirical data on this subject, I'm sure we'd all be interested. And of course, we'd all REALLY like to know the cause of the fire. The only things I can think of that reside near that front passenger-side wheel well and headlight are the Front Power Distribution Fuse Box and the ABS/DSC Hydraulic Control Modulator. The fuse box would seem a likely culprit - could the HID headlamp have been the source?

I'm going to resist making a bad joke about your wife putting on the dog's collar, but the way you described it struck me as humorous.

Please let us know if the insurance company tracks down the cause of the fire - you may save other owners the same loss.

Cheers,

Don

 

I have been posting since 2010 and this is the first fire I have read about. Normally, one would expect fuses to protect electric circuits, so any information on the cause will be very gratefully received. After all, we are all driving around in the same model as yours !!

 

Edv,
Very sorry to hear this, I know I would be gutted if this happened to me.
Best of luck with the insurance company.

 

Fires went out of vogue with Jags when the V12's went away. But...several of the Ford models had issues with cruise control fires about the time our Jags were built...and they were Forderized after '94!

 

I've never heard of an X350 spontaneously combusting, so it's hardly a common occurence. Your insurance adjuster either knows something the rest of us don't, or he's living 25 years in the past...

There's not much under the bonnet at the right front that you'd think would cause a fire, it would have to be some sort of electrical short, which then caused something plastic to burn.

Sure would like to know exactly what caused it.

P.S. don't accept that offer from your insurer, i'd fight them on it.

 

Awful feeling; my first Jaguar had an injector hose leak and catch fire - that was a very early XJS that I owned back in the 80's. I do think it is rare, but that doesn't help when it is your car.

Reason for my response however is regarding insurance. One of my cars was hit in a parking lot last year, the insurance company wanted to paint a small part of the car, and the shops felt they couldn't get a 100% match, so it would show a little. The car was very tidy and deserved to be done right. The initial money they wanted to pay was in the 2500 region, they went up to about 3800 after several calls with me just saying no.

Over time it got up to a full repaint (including removing doors / light covers / etc) and they are paying out just over 9000.

I spoke with an 'insider' at the insurance company, he told me they will push you around until they believe you won't ever back down - then they will want to close the file.

Don't be rude, but be firm. And DO NOT COMPROMISE. No reason to give a little hoping to get a little. You may not get all you want I suspect what you want is for it to have never happened, but in the end you should be able to get treated fair.

My feeling is that they are probably right that an average one can be found for that money at wholesale - but yours is likely much better than average - add to that the fact it is yours, and if you are like most of us you probably valued the car for more than it would sell for.

Reality is to get a car as cherished as your car from another person you would have to pay above market. Push hard. Look for car shows or Jaguar club meetings to find someone with a car as nice as yours that you would accept and ask them their price; pass that on to the insurance as what it will really cost.

I think with a bit of pressure, and if you can afford to wait, you will get treated a little closer to fair. If your policy has a loss of use car rental clause make sure you tell the you want to use it (even if you have multiple cars and don't need it), then you can ask them to cash that out - for my they delays and time in the shop was over the 30 days max. They normally allowed up to 35 a day for a car, they offered me 25 cash - I held out for 30 and they wrote a cheque that was ON TOP of the repair payout.

I wish you luck, and I hope you can afford the time to fight them. Keep very precise notes, don't offer them any edge.

Cheers,

Rob.

 

It is very important to know what your policy states as well as the relevant legislation.

It is also important to understand valuation. For example, in the US, the insured is
entitled to retail market value of a comparable vehicle in his local market. Values derived
from wholesale books, or distant markets just won't do.

Case in point on the rules:

- the seats of a previous vehicle were vandalised with an ice pick

- the insurer insisted on sending the car to "their" shop instead of an offer
to use a friend's Dr. Vinyl mobile service

- "their" shop said "whoops, not vinyl, Connolly Leather, weeks to match, not guaranteed, $3000+"

- asked for cash settlement based upon the quote by "their" shop/appraisal representative

- adjuster refused full amount, but would "settle" at $1500

- at this point it is their choice to settle or repair

- but the legislation says they must settle for cash upon notification after 30 days if repairs not commenced

- strung them along for 30 days

- asked for full amount, explained the law and was refused again by adjuster and supervisor

- wrote a stiff letter to the regional VP

- VP calls while packing for a trip to head office in Chicago

- apologies and a cheque in the full amount will be waiting for pickup on Monday

- he understands that the reason he has to call while packing is because his staff is
not doing their jobs properly

Knowledge is power ... acquire it and use it to your advantage.

++

 

Have never heard of an X350 fire damage over here, so sorry to hear it.
Just a thought, a few years ago a friend had a car written off ( not a Jaguar ), they had a low settlement figure given them by the insurance. As, in your case, they said they could not find a car to match theirs for the money on offer. They spent some time cutting adverts out of motoring papers and auto trader magazines of similar spec/ age cars to show the cost of a replacement, the insurance company ended up increasing their offer until both parties were happy.
Best of luck

 

Edv468

Does the car still run and drive? I am curious as to how much damage the car has suffered. You said the whole front was on fire. Do you mean just the front bumper cover and headlights?

My 05 XJR was an insurance loss due to the right front damaged by fire. I suspect my car was parked close something very hot to get the headlight,front bumper cover and grill to melt. But I have no way to verify that.

If you car is not damaged to0 bad, you may get the insurance company to pay you and negotiate a deal to keep the car fixing it yourself. The Wiring harness and electrical components are the big concerns.

I suspect someone is going to fix a 04 XJ8 with only 40K miles of course depending on the amount of damage.

 

Woodford Jag ,Thank you for your message. Unfortunately the car is completely totaled, over the course of about ten minutes the entire passenger side front of the car and the grill, headlights, radiator and just about everything else in the front was burned beyond recognition. It looked like it had melted.

 

Sorry for the unwanted drama, and thanks for not posting any photos, too graphic! ....

Totally agree with the other chaps here. The insurance company's game is to run out the clock on your patience and frustrate you into signing the back of their low-ball offer. I've never been involved with an insurance dispute where they didn't have more in the till to offer.

Once they see you're in no hurry, they'll eventually get more serious with the figures. I suppose this tactic works on enough of the uninformed folks for them to continue the practice.

Good luck, and do let us know the cause if it's ever determined. Think I'll buy an extinguisher to keep in the XJ just in case.....

 

And, if you have rental reimbursement, the agent's clock is ticking a lot faster than yours! Take your time and find high dollar comparables. I have tripled an initial insurance offer in the past by presenting pictures and comparables...although it did take time and determination.

 

cjd, excellent point about the rental.

 

Insurance companies assume that most people are in dire straights and must take their first offer so that they can get a replacement car, ANY car, as soon as possible. Most people can't miss work, soccer practice, etc. while waiting out the insurance company and haggling over value. The key is that if you have something else to drive, you can just keep refusing to settle until they finally agree to make you "whole" again. They have charts to account for low mileage, but I don't think they have statistical data on how ownership history and maintenance records affect value. Indeed I did pay about a 20 to 25% premium for the fact that my x308 came with full records by a conscientious owner vs no shortage of the same car on local used car lots with no history. Good luck.

 

Sort of on topic.
After I married my wife, I switched to her insurance company which is Mercury (tons cheaper). I had an '86 Olds 442 ..t-tops,etc. fully equipped. Some celler dwelling actuary pegged it at $1,000 for totaled value which didn't go over with me one stinkin bit.
I got an independent appraiser and he valued it at $8,400. I paid him $150 for his work. I showed it to the insurance agent whereupon they requested their appraiser to value it. Their appraiser valued it at $10,100. (Gotta love a big oopssss)
Moral of the story...get an independent appraiser to look at your car so you can get a fair value for it if ever needed. Present that value to your insurance agent and make sure they have that value for your car on your premiun notices. May cost a few $$$, but the end result could be much better for you.

 

In the classic car world, you can get "agreed value" policies whereupon there is no depreciation and by contract you get the value set forth at the beginning of the policy. I have three antique cars insured that way. They will offer that for some modern cars that they consider future collectibles but not sure if that's available for daily drivers or not. Grundy has been advertising on TV that they insure all your vehicles now and not just classics so might be worth giving them a call. I have used Amica for years for home and daily drivers and I can't say enough about how great they are. They've been generous in valuing my claims and their customer service is outstanding. I just wish Amica did agreed value policies on classic cars because I don't know how good my JC Taylor classic car insurance would actually be if I ever had a make a claim.