Expert: webfoot - 10/29/2006

Question
My son was driving his 1999 Eclipse to work one morning when he heard a clunk which was followed immediately by the car starting on fire.

As he is a Volunteer fireman he immediately pulled the car over, called 911 to report it, grabbed a cup lying in the back seat and proceeded to put out the fire localized in the engine bay.  After managing to put the fire out completely he then called 911 back to report the status.  The fire chief did arrive on the scene so the car fire report should be documented.

After being towed to a local garage the State Farm adjuster came to inspect the vehicle and reported that the engine fire was a result of a blown rod going through the block spewing oil which egnited. The claim now stands that State Farm is willing to cover only the melted wiring harness leaving my son with a paperweight of a car with a blown engine.

The engine had only 66K miles on it.  The car has full coverage including comprehensive in NJ. Is he really stuck with this car that essentially is totalled with no real compensation even if fully covered?  

I question this since I have just gone through an incident with State Farm where my other son's car was rear-ended with the bulk of the resulting damage being underbody.  The adjuster had reported covering only minor bumper damage.  

Answer
When I spoke of hot rodding, I referred to my younger days, not now.  Unfortunately, my 6 cyl Impala is pretty boring.  Early 90's Eclipses however, are very popular with the "under 25" tuner crowd and again, I've never seen a rod come through the side of a block for no reason.  I've also managed to meet with at many bereaved parents through the years who cannot believe the carnage that their straight A student just caused on the road.  

As far as my assumptions, feel free to take offense if you wish.  You'll see that in my profile, I advertise a candid response.  Some parents will choose to take offense, others may choose to step away from the situation and look at it through the eyes of another.  The fact that someone is a fireman, volunteer or otherwise has absolutely nothing to do with their driving habits or level of maturity.  Just in the last year, we've seen many local firefighters getting in trouble with the law for DUI, racing, drugs and yes,,even setting fires.  Once hit a lady head on a couple of weeks ago, killing her and her unborn child.  They are all humans,,,,not super humans.  Personally, I think our last true hero's came from WWII.  I'm not belittling what firefighters do, but statistically speaking, we lose many more convenience store clerks and roofers in the line of duty.
Looking back at your question, I do have to wonder why a mature, responsible, self-reliant fireman would have his mom handling his insurance claim or why he'd even be on her policy...

As far as your comment about racing to fire scenes, maybe that type of abuse had something to do with the engine failure.  However, it is still not covered under any insurance policy.  In fact, many policies and warranties are actually voided for such use.    My brother was a volunteer fireman and blew up his S10 motor on the way to a fire scene.  I find that so ironic given that no department authorizes that type of extreme driving and that the actual fire equipment driven by the full time professionals don't end up with rods through the blocks.  In fact, though a modern police car has the same stock engine has civilian vehicles, they don't blow theirs up either.


Response to my original answer:


   I'd like to thank you for your assumptions. Lord knows we know what assumptions equates to. It's lovely how in this day and age that we can count on them, they only feed into our ever present judgemental reactions. He does not need the "heart to heart" you spoke of since he is already fully aware of the very same judgemental ideas you so clearly laid out. They are so often the reason why he is constantly followed unnecessarily by police as he either adhere's to the posted speed limit or 5-10 below it. Of course they are as unaware that he has outgrown that idiotic and dangerous behavior as you seem to be. They don't know that the reason he is a safer driver today is due to his exposure to extrication and fatal accident calls he has responded to as a Volunteer Fireman. They don't know how he placed his own life in harms way to cut away a pick up truck wrapped around a severely cracked utility pole placed closely to a gas line. BTW it was driven by a middle-aged man, and still my son does not assume that all middle-aged men driving pick-up trucks are poor drivers. I raised him better than that. BTW, this incident was reported to nhtsa as a follow-up to to a similar complaint regarding the same year, make and model as my son's car with only 72K miles. The car in the other complaint was driven by a 36 year old woman. But then I guess that was because she was a woman right? BTW, the other adjuster complaint I made. He could have clearly seen that the exhaust was mangled if only he had bent over a tiny bit. Especially since the home office thought it was quite obvious from the pictures. But I guess that was too much to ask...and if the repair shop had actually driven it afterwards they might have had reason to check the swayback bolts. Let's hope one of these crazy driver kids never has to rescue you from either an accident, or god forbid a fire. Especially if he has to hop in that truck at top speed to get to you.

Original Question and Answer

Why would Statefarm owe him for the engine?  The engine is a mechanical item that has failed, most likely due to poor maintenance or lack of oil from an unrepaired leak, but more likely from of over-revving.   There is nothing else as 60k that will cause an engine to throw a rod.  I can tell you that my experience regarding old Elipse's and young males is that these cars have become to modern version of the hot rods we drove back in the 70's and 80's. I see alot of them running the bottle as well.  Yes, I've missed a gear or two myself and yes, I've thrown a rod through a block as a result.  However, I'd never dream of asking my insurance company to pay for it no more than if my clutch were to go out.

Your insurance policy covers unplanned, catastrophic events, not mechanical failure.  Now if a mechanical failure ends up causing another event like a fire, then that is covered, but only the fire damage.  This is an insurance policy, not a warranty.  
If the engine had failed in the exact same manner but had not caused the fire, would you be asking Statefarm to cover it?

As far as your other claim issue.  Vehicle adjusters can only write their initial estimate for the damage that is obvious before tear down.  We don't carry jacks and creepers to examine the bottom side of cars.  This is why the shops put the cars up on a rack and call in a supplement.  

Good luck with the Mitsubishi.  May be time for a heart to heart with the boy though about what happens to engines at 9,000 RPM and why it would be revved high enough to blow it up to start with...