Taxi Driver Online

When the taxi owner driver smells something burning, sees smoke coming from underneath his dashboard, discovers that his wiring loom has caught fire behind the dashboard, then instinctively reaches for his fire extinguisher to tackle the fire and succeeds in putting it out, but not before £7,000 worth of damage has been caused to the loom and the taxi will not start or drive!!

That’s exactly what happened to a Brummie owner driver’s VW Eurocab taxi and guess what?

The insurance company won’t pay out!!!

The loom behind the dashboard is so badly damaged that the taxi requires a complete new loom; cost £7,000 and I don’t know if that includes fitting or whether fitting is on top of the cost of the loom.

The insurance company are saying that if the owner had not tackled the fire and just let it burn, then they would have paid out. But because he tackled the fire, they are not going to pay out!!

Figure that one out!!

His insurance is comprehensive, so he is covered for fire.

The only thing I can think of is that the insurance company are treating it as a vehicle ‘malfunction’ as opposed to a fire, just in the same way as if you had an engine problem.

The moral of this story is;

If your taxi or vehicle catches fire, LET THE F8KCING THING BURN TO A CRISP!!!

THEN CALL THE FIRE BRIGADE!!!

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Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Were there flames ? Many insurance companies won't pay out (certainly household policies) for damage unless there are actual flames involved. So if you leave an iron on the carpet and it burns - no payout, but if the carpet catches fire - payout.

But yes, general consensus round here is if the vehicle catches fire let it burn.

I think they are trying to get out of it by saying "he caused the damage by fighting the fire".

I agree with you Brummie when you say let it burn, they'll have to pay out then.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

I wouldn't bet on it.

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Grandad,

A typical wording for what is not covered is "Wear and tear, mechanical, electrical, electronic and computerfailure, breakdowns or breakages". Any resultant "fire damage" caused by the loom burning would be covered but unless the whole vehicle was burnt out and written off, he could find himself in a situation where the damage caused by the burning loom was covered but still not the cost of fixing the loom. Motor insurance has always been the same in the 30+ years I've been doing it. Your advice , BC, to let it toast is probably correct.

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Nobody told me to use my initiative. To err is human to arr is pirate.

On reflection, Grandad has a point because a "duty of care" is ensconsed in the policy and probably it would be realised that as a taxi it almost certainly would have an extinguisher fitted.

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Nobody told me to use my initiative. To err is human to arr is pirate.

Maybe if you were to discharge the extinguisher in the general direction of the fire without actually putting the fire out, you would have a chance.

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Grandad,

They should do if its burnt out.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

what steps would i take in the event of a fire?


bloody big long ones to asafe view point


ive an extinguisher and a first aid kit as required by the regs, im not trained to use either and nowhere in the regs does it say i have to use them, any ensuing claim following incorrect use of either and its my neck on the line

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

About 20yrs ago my dad had a van catch fire through an electrical fault, never got paid out, so nothing new.

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stressed controller!!!

This sounds VERY familiar.
After my fire the guys at Mertrux (Merc garage) told me 'under no circumstances should I attempt to put out a fire'.They described a case exactly the same as yours,a woman's car had caught fire,a passing motorist with fire extinguisher put it out and the Insurance company refused to pay out.I didn't understand the reasoning then and still don't except they are skanking bar stewards.
Their advice was to walk away and let it burn.

I was lucky I was about to flip the bonnet open but a lorry driver advised it would go up in my face.On reflection,I wouldn't even consider my fire extinguisher should I ever be so unfortunate again.I'd still grab all my CD's again though

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'I wouldn't say I was the best in the business but I'm in the top one'