Questions about my fire damaged 2024 Lariat hybrid

[badger_biker]

I had a fire in my garage last week which damaged my beloved 2024 Hybrid Lariat as well as my wife’s Honda CR-V and I lost 6 vintage bicycles.
My insurance company had the Honda towed for assessment and my Maverick sadly goes today. The Honda was closest to the John Deere garden tractor where the fire started and had significant plastic melting. It’s a 2016 and I suspect it will be totaled.
My Maverick has melting on both mirrors and the plastics roof trim and cab light as well as wrinkled ppf film on the front. I’m hoping it is also declared a total loss because I don’t know if I can trust that the electronics was not damaged. Also the smoke smell inside is very strong. Most of the fire and heat was near the ceiling. The wait for a new 2025 would be disappointing however.
If anyone has experience with heat and smoke damage on a vehicle please advise me on what to look for and retaliate with to the insurance if they decides it is reparable. Just turned 15k on it.
Here are a couple pictures of it.
Thanks for any suggestions and advice.

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[Geo8866]

The insurance company is going to go the route that is cheapest for them. I don’t know if you have any recourse if they decide to fix it. Good luck.

 

[badger_biker]

I realize the insurance company will take the least expensive route. I’m mainly looking for other possible not readily visible issues with the truck I should be aware of to make sure they are considered if repaired and to watch out for in the future.
One other question I forgot to ask.
In an instance like mine will the repairs/incident likely show up on Carfax or similar that might affect later resale value?
Thanks.

 

[Jah.]

If you make insurance claim it will show up on carfax and etc . probably less value of vehicles .

 

[BankableWhee]

Keep in mind that the hybrid Maverick utilizes a lithium-ion battery pack to power the traction motor.

Lithium ion batteries can be damaged by exposure to excessive heat or abuse. This heat or abuse can damage the physical separator in a lithium ion cell that separates the battery cathode and anode. If this separator gets damaged, it can cause the battery cell to fail in a process called thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is a self-propagating cycle where the heat created from a single cell's failure will degrade surrounding cells and damage them enough to fail and propagate the thermal runaway chain.

If it were my truck and my insurance company saw value in repairing my truck after an incident like this, I would ask them to either provide documentation that the cells in the Li-Ion battery have been tested for integrity and are not damaged, or to include for the replacement of the entire battery pack with a new and undamaged OEM battery pack.

 

[Escapologist]

Any amount of insurance recorded Fire or Flood damage here in Ontario gets written off because the title becomes branded unrebuildable.

So if you were hoping to buy it back, it's probably useless to you unless you wanted to spend $5 or 6k just for the rims and a pile of spares.

ETA: and it does lead to "situations" a while back saw a rare late 60s Lotus, it was some guys baby, so when local yobs set off a firework on the roof, he phoned the insurance.... annnnd write off, no rebuild... and the dumb thing is, the gel coat was barely charred in a small circle and that was a removeable hard top. Coulda got it fixed for $1000 out of pocket, or even found a deal on the top for less, but nope, he's out the whole car instead... with some money obviously, but I bet it didn't make him feel "whole".

 

[Platinum2]

I'm curious how the tractor caught fire.

 

[MM Mav]

@badger_biker sorry this happened to you all. From your write up and photos it seems like the fire was contained to your garage.
I hope that there were no injuries and you're made as whole as can be by insurance.

 

[badger_biker]

I'm curious how the tractor caught fire.

Appears to be an electrical short. An older model but I know the engine area was clean and I blew the clippings off the mower deck and let it cool outside before parking it around 4:00 pm. I was in the garage about 9:30 pm and walked right past it with no smoke or smell. I discovered the fire about 9:00am the next morning and by the condition of the garage I think it couldn’t have started all that long before I discovered it.
A very good reason to consider isolating mowers and like equipment from the main garage if possible.

 

[Platinum2]

Appears to be an electrical short. An older model but I know the engine area was clean and I blew the clippings off the mower deck and let it cool outside before parking it around 4:00 pm. I was in the garage about 9:30 pm and walked right past it with no smoke or smell. I discovered the fire about 9:00am the next morning and by the condition of the garage I think it couldn’t have started all that long before I discovered it.
A very good reason to consider isolating mowers and like equipment from the main garage if possible.

Bummer. Always hate to see a deere die. Glad it didn't turn out worse than it did. Dodged a bullet there.

 

[dhaskit]

Appears to be an electrical short. An older model but I know the engine area was clean and I blew the clippings off the mower deck and let it cool outside before parking it around 4:00 pm. I was in the garage about 9:30 pm and walked right past it with no smoke or smell. I discovered the fire about 9:00am the next morning and by the condition of the garage I think it couldn’t have started all that long before I discovered it.
A very good reason to consider isolating mowers and like equipment from the main garage if possible.

Oh, Man. I’m sorry to hear that. Hopefully, the insurance company will declare the Maverick a total loss and you can start over with a new one, my friend.

Several years ago a friend of mine, who was in the hangar next to me at a grass runway airport, flew his Mooney in and pushed it into his hangar. He started his push mower and mowed the grass in front of his hanger then pushed the mower under the wing of the aircraft (gas tanks are in the wing). He shut the door and went home. The grass on the mower deck caught on fire and it ignited the aircraft and burnt the whole hangar down. A total loss for him but it didn’t catch anyone else’s stuff on fire.
The happy news is that 4 months later the old guy had a new hangar built on the same slab and had another Mooney inside it. He said his insurance really took care of him.

I truly hope that your insurance company takes care of everything for you, my friend.

 

[Bob zimmerman]

Based on my knowledge of fires:

Your car insurance will handle the vehicle, your homeowners will handle the garage contents.

Anything in that garage that cannot be cleaned will need to be replaced. Painted metal surfaces can be cleaned. Anything porous will not be salvageable. Things like plastic, drywall and so on. Any unpainted metal surfaces will corrode from the acidic smoke residue. This includes, electrical boxes, nuts bolts, garage door components. Insurance companies will offer to wash the concrete and seal the wood framing with shellac to seal the wood.

Now with your vehicle, the soot probably got into everything. This includes the foam in the seats, the ventilation system, the space inside the doors. The engine electronics. Wire connectors, unpainted metal surfaces. That smell cannot be washed out of the interior since you cannot access everything where the smell is originating.

I am not an insurance adjuster but a large part of insurance company business is fire so they know that problem well. And I haven’t seen all of your fire but I would make the assumption that your vehicle is totaled. Your claim would include the statement that they will fix everything “Like it never even happened”. There is no way they could restore everything in your vehicle like it never even happened.

You have been paying your insurance premium for the privilege of filing a claim if an accident happens. And it has happened.

Good luck, and I’m sorry. Fires are very traumatic.
Bob

 

[OleFordGuy]

I’m sorta thinking they will no total the Maverick from what I can see in the pic hope all works out favorably to you

Keep in mind that the hybrid Maverick utilizes a lithium-ion battery pack to power the traction motor.

Lithium ion batteries can be damaged by exposure to excessive heat or abuse. This heat or abuse can damage the physical separator in a lithium ion cell that separates the battery cathode and anode. If this separator gets damaged, it can cause the battery cell to fail in a process called thermal runaway. Thermal runaway is a self-propagating cycle where the heat created from a single cell's failure will degrade surrounding cells and damage them enough to fail and propagate the thermal runaway chain.

If it were my truck and my insurance company saw value in repairing my truck after an incident like this, I would ask them to either provide documentation that the cells in the Li-Ion battery have been tested for integrity and are not damaged, or to include for the replacement of the entire battery pack with a new and undamaged OEM battery pack.

Excellent info !!!!! That along with the other damage should total it. Never thought about the hybrid battery.

 

[Gray Goose]

If the insurance adjuster recommends repair, they should provide a list of approved repair shops. Talk with several of these shops to find the one that does the best work. Ask around for others who may have had work done and how it turned out. A good repair shop can uncover damage an adjuster missed. Sometimes damage isn't visible until getting into the repair. A good shop will help you make the case that the damage is more extensive than originally thought. If they find extensive hidden damage, it could change the verdict to totaled instead of repair.

 

[Fcnrwy]

If the insurance adjuster recommends repair, they should provide a list of approved repair shops. Talk with several of these shops to find the one that does the best work. Ask around for others who may have had work done and how it turned out. A good repair shop can uncover damage an adjuster missed. Sometimes damage isn't visible until getting into the repair. A good shop will help you make the case that the damage is more extensive than originally thought. If they find extensive hidden damage, it could change the verdict to totaled instead of repair.

Very Good Advice!!!
A friends Taco got damaged (driver made right hand turn - far left lane).
Adjuster, quoted one amount.
Body shop found Twice as much damage after pulling the thing apart...

The condition of the Battery, is a must!!

Jerry

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