Tundra Engine Fire

[ChrisMI]

This type of situation always bugs me. By doing the right/safe/heroic thing it ends up costing you more. Kind of reminds me of an engine catastrophic failure in flight. If you do everything perfectly and land without putting a scratch on the plane you’ll probably have to cough up at least 50k to rebuild the engine. However, if you forget to put the gear down or similar the insurance company won’t complain about a 100k repair. 
I would not close the claim until they agreed to pay the difference between a clean trade and the fire salvage title. I would also exercise that option ASAP on a new tow vehicle. 

[LongStride]

In retrospect, I would have been better off to let it burn.  That thought never entered my mind when it happened.  In fact, I can't recall actually thinking about anything at the time.  It was more of a reaction to the situation at hand.  I attribute that to the extensive firefighting and shipboard damage control training that I had in the Navy.  That was over four decades ago, but it stuck.  Pretty good training I would say.  It may have been to my disadvantage this time though.

I did some more research on the extinguishing agent and found the same type of information that @John E Davies shared with us in his post.  I believe that my truck was stored outside in a fenced area and exposed to a lot of moisture.  I have compiled some documents, even a few published by the NFPA regarding the corrosive properties of the chemical; and I am going to meet with my insurance agent tomorrow to discuss.

Thanks to all of you for your concern and comments.

Mike

[topgun2]

Mike - 

Good Luck tomorrow - give 'em hell!

Bill

[Flyfisher]

On 11/4/2021 at 7:32 AM, LongStride said:

Hopped into the truck yesterday afternoon to go to the market and it burst into flames.  When I started it, smoke started rolling out from under the hood.  I told my wife to get out, move away from the truck and call 911.  When I got out of the truck there were flames in the drivers side wheel well and my driveway was on fire under the engine bay.  I ran to the house and grabbed a fire extinguisher. I killed the flames under the truck and then the flames in the wheel well.  I stepped back and it burst into flames again.  I gave it another shot and put it out (or so I thought).  I opened the hood and there were still flames so I attacked it from above and finally extinguished it.  Fire dept. showed up and made certain that the fire was out.

My truck is a 2020 with less than 8,000 miles on it.  Not happy.  Not a good time to buy a new truck if they total it.  Even if they can repair it I don't think I want to keep it after it suffered a fire like that.  Who knows what hidden damage it caused in addition to the obvious.

Sorry to hear of your fire.

I, too, had a truck fire 3 years ago when my 2012 Ford F-150 caught fire just as I backed it into the storage unit that we rented at the time in Montana.  The fire ended up burning the entire building and destroyed all of the contents that were in it, not only mine but of the other tenants as well.  I’m guessing the total losses were around $10 million.  Although the cause of the fire was inconclusive, I believe it was related to my truck’s air conditioner blower motor.

I also have State Farm insurance, and they were very fair with me in handling my claims, which totaled over 900 items, including an RV, truck, boats, ATV, utility trailer, and numerous personal items, etc.  I never retained an attorney, although State Farm had/has retained one on my behalf, and they are handling the multiple lawsuits that resulted from the fire.

If you do decide to replace your truck and buy a new one, there are some pretty good deals to be had if you’re not in a hurry and  can afford to shop around.  For example, one dealer in Iowa is presently offering to sell new Ford trucks ordered from the factory at 3% below dealer invoice, with anticipated delivery times of around 3 months, depending on the model ordered.