Does your auto insurance cover fire damage?

Fire insurance is a coverage included in extended third party policies and fully comprehensive insurance

Fire coverage is one of those guarantees that we do not give the necessary importance to when buying car insurance, but that we miss when we have some kind of problem. In this article, we show you the details you have to look at in order to get the most out of this coverage and, incidentally, save money on your auto policy.

Fire car insurance is certainly one thing you should consider when buying car insurance. You can find more details about this at ZeCoverage.

What is fire insurance?

Fire insurance covers damage to the car caused by a fire. The cases in which the fire took place as a result of acts of terrorism or vandalism, would be covered by the Insurance Compensation Consortium.

Key aspects to assess this coverage

How much does the insurer pay you in case your car burns? The main factor in knowing if the fire coverage of a car insurance policy is good or bad is knowing how much the insurer will pay you if your car burns completely and you are forced to buy another one. To understand the differences, it is necessary to previously clarify 2 terms that companies use in their conditions:

NEW VALUE: This is the price you would have to pay if you wanted to buy your new car from a dealer at the time of the claim.

VENAL VALUE: It is the price at which you could sell your car at the time of the claim. It is calculated based on the GANVAM tables. As a reference, it can be said that the market value of a 5-year-old car is approximately 60% lower than the price of the same car when buying it new.

The main difference between car insurers is how much they will pay you depending on how old your car is at the time of the fire.

Explanatory example:

Imagine that you bought your car 1 year and a half ago and because of a short circuit a fire breaks out in the garage of your house. Your car is burned and you are forced to buy another. If your car cost you about $35,000 when you bought it, an insurer with good coverage would pay you that $35,000 to buy another one, or even $37,000 in the case of Pelayo (they call it “Happy End” coverage). However, the compensation of an insurer with basic coverage would barely be around $20,000.

What other expenses can the insurer cover?

As we have already mentioned, thanks to the fire coverage, the insurer will take care of the repair of your vehicle or will give you the compensation that will help you replace your vehicle in the event of a total loss. However, some companies also take care of other expenses that may arise if your car is affected by the fire.

Some of the most common expenses that can occur during a fire are those related to extinguishing them. For this reason, through the fire guarantee of your car insurance, companies usually cover the fire service fee. In this way, if your vehicle is involved in a fire and needs the intervention of firefighters to put out the fire, many companies tend to bear the costs that this entails. Likewise, there is also the possibility that they cover the expenses involved in the transfer of the vehicle or its extraction.

What is excluded?

Like any coverage included in car insurance, the fire warranty has certain exclusions. For example, many companies exclude from their policies the damages that have been caused by fuel or other flammable materials in the event that these were being transported by the vehicle in question, even if their reaction has occurred as a result of an accident that is covered. for insurance. That is, if you are transporting some material in your car that can cause combustion, you suffer a crash and after this accident, your car is engulfed in flames, some companies will not be responsible for the costs that this entails.

Also, you should bear in mind that some elements of the vehicle may be outside the fire coverage. For example, non-standard items or non-fixed parts of the vehicle – such as the GPS, stereos, or luggage racks – could be excluded from compensation. However, it is possible that, if you expressly inform them about these extra accessories, the company will include them in the policy. Otherwise, if you suffer a claim, for example, and you have not insured the optional equipment, you will only be compensated for the standard price of the vehicle, so you will lose the money invested in the extra accessories.

However, it should be noted that the limits of fire coverage must be marked in the policy and the holder must be aware of the elements or situations that it excludes. For this reason, it is necessary to carefully read all the points of the insurance and assess which is the policy that best suits your interests. If you want to know the policy that best suits your needs, you can compare more than 30 insurers in the free Acierto.com comparer.

By contracting an insurance company with windows, fire, and theft coverage, you can be assured that you have comprehensive car insurance. In this way, if your car is damaged or caused by a fire or explosion, you will have the backing of the insurer who will take care of the repair or, in the event of a total loss, will compensate you. It should be noted that the compensation will depend on the age of the car. For example, if the first registration of this is less than or equal to two years, 100% of the value will be delivered again, while if the date is greater than three years the amount will be 100% of the market value.

In this sense, it does not matter if the fire has affected the entire vehicle or only a part, just as it is not exclusive if the damage is caused by an accident outside of you. However, if there is a third party who assumes the fault, it will be their insurance that will take care of it. However, the company does not cover the damages produced in the non-fixed parts of the vehicle, the damages caused to the trailers and caravans towed by the vehicle, as well as the damages whose perpetrators or accomplices are relatives of the Insured up to the third degree of consanguinity.

Fire insurance is very important and should be considered by everyone who owns and drives a car daily.