My vehicle went up in flames

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fernan85

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Joined
Jul 6, 2018
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10
with two children in the vehicle. We escaped the car at 4:40 with 7 minutes it was burnt beyond recognition. The vehicle had just been pickup from the dealership after nearly a year in service and over $10K in repairs. BMW ultimately took zero responsibility for the incident because the car was too damaged and posed a safety risk to the engineer who was to inspect it. The vehicle was actually lost en route, as it apparently caught on fire after being loaded on the tow truck. I was told by BMW to lawyer up if I wanted to explore compensation, but I was offered $4k toward another BMW. Please help! Car.JPG
 

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fernan85 said:
with two children in the vehicle. We escaped the car at 4:40 with 7 minutes it was burnt beyond recognition. The vehicle had just been pickup from the dealership after nearly a year in service and over $10K in repairs. BMW ultimately took zero responsibility for the incident because the car was too damaged and posed a safety risk to the engineer who was to inspect it. The vehicle was actually lost en route, as it apparently caught on fire after being loaded on the tow truck.
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The description doesn't quite make sense - perhaps you can clarify?

It went up in flames with two children on board and was burnt beyond recognition within 7 minutes - but then you state that it caught on fire after being loaded onto a tow truck. It's hard to see how both of those things can be possible, because I doubt they would let you leave two children on board while it was loaded onto the tow truck. So I guess you mean that it stopped, you called recovery and it caught fire while being loaded for recovery?

The big problem is not being able to get an inspection to locate the cause of the fire. Without that it's going to be very very difficult to prove that any specific party was to blame. Unlucky, but it may simply be that you have to accept your insurance company's payout and start again.
 
I don't think it's that unusual for people on forums to "cut a long story short" and abbreviate out some of the details - sometimes so much so that some of the sense is lost.

It seems that the tow truck driver must have had his act together, because neither the photo nor the video clip seem to show a car on fire on a tow truck - so I guess the recovery driver must have been able to remove the car and drive away before the fire took hold?
 
can you explain why this same image was posted to Twitter in September 2022? Also- story is "similar" but nothing about a Tow Truck. In the Twitter post someone "ran her off the road".
 

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fernan85 said:
with two children in the vehicle. We escaped the car at 4:40 with 7 minutes it was burnt beyond recognition. The vehicle had just been pickup from the dealership after nearly a year in service and over $10K in repairs. BMW ultimately took zero responsibility for the incident because the car was too damaged and posed a safety risk to the engineer who was to inspect it. The vehicle was actually lost en route, as it apparently caught on fire after being loaded on the tow truck. I was told by BMW to lawyer up if I wanted to explore compensation, but I was offered $4k toward another BMW. Please help! View attachment 457
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Of course I had insurance, but the issue is I had picked up the vehicle a day earlier from the dealership, they let me drive off the lot with two small children. The vehicle literally caught on fire while I driving without warning. Another motorist noticed the smoke. No indicators or warnings while I was driving. There was an explosion five minutes after exiting the vehicle. Everything was lost. BMW then said they had no responsibility in the matter because the vehicle could not be inspected because it was dangerous, but not too dangerous to continue to sell to others or to allow children to ride in.
 
EvanstonI3 said:
can you explain why this same image was posted to Twitter in September 2022? Also- story is "similar" but nothing about a Tow Truck. In the Twitter post someone "ran her off the road".
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I can't explain, but that is my vehicle, and I have plenty of other photos and videos and service receipts, registration and insurance stubs to prove as much. I suspect another motorist posted the photo. This happened in 2022, I just spent months dealing w BMW believing that they would take accountability because there was so much evidence that this was a manufacturers issue. After several months, and being drained of resources I had to step back but feel irresponsible for not sharing the danger with others. Another motorist did in fact save our lives.
 
mojo said:
I don't think it's that unusual for people on forums to "cut a long story short" and abbreviate out some of the details - sometimes so much so that some of the sense is lost.

It seems that the tow truck driver must have had his act together, because neither the photo nor the video clip seem to show a car on fire on a tow truck - so I guess the recovery driver must have been able to remove the car and drive away before the fire took hold?
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Believe what you want, I'm confident time will reveal the danger and hope that selective bias doesn't embolden others to put their families at risk. If interested I have audio recordings of BMW headquarters explaining the long story. Long story, 1 year in service, 1 day off lot, 1 massive explosion and 1 divine intervention (another motorist shepherding us to safety). Understandable that this seems fictional, but its a real risk and real effort to conceal information. But, easier to believe what is most convenient, I understand this.
 
mojo said:
I don't think it's that unusual for people on forums to "cut a long story short" and abbreviate out some of the details - sometimes so much so that some of the sense is lost.

It seems that the tow truck driver must have had his act together, because neither the photo nor the video clip seem to show a car on fire on a tow truck - so I guess the recovery driver must have been able to remove the car and drive away before the fire took hold?
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Caught on fire twice, i did not see fire number 2 on the truck, but was informed later. Police reports confirm this, but this would require that you actually seek truth rather than discredit advocates that are genuinely concerned for the safety of others. I understand the difficulty in actually considering information that is different than your pre-existing beliefs. I hope you and others are safe, despite your disbelief. Cheers!
 
mojo said:
The description doesn't quite make sense - perhaps you can clarify?

It went up in flames with two children on board and was burnt beyond recognition within 7 minutes - but then you state that it caught on fire after being loaded onto a tow truck. It's hard to see how both of those things can be possible, because I doubt they would let you leave two children on board while it was loaded onto the tow truck. So I guess you mean that it stopped, you called recovery and it caught fire while being loaded for recovery?

The big problem is not being able to get an inspection to locate the cause of the fire. Without that it's going to be very very difficult to prove that any specific party was to blame. Unlucky, but it may simply be that you have to accept your insurance company's payout and start again.
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I agree, the only reason i learned of the second fire was when my insurance said they couldn't pay because they couldn't locate the vehicle. I couldn't figure out what was left to catch fire but that was what I was told. American Towing in Lansing Michigan might be able to answer this.
 

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