Sorry for the long story.
A few weeks ago on my way to work my car had an unexplained meltdown. It's a 2010 Volkswagen GTI coupe. While sitting at a stoplight on my way in to work the lights on my dash started to dim and flash randomly (they didn't seem to indicate anything specific). At the same time I started to smell that distinctive electrical burning smell as smoke started to pour out from under the hood. I immediately pulled my car off the road and shut it off. After giving it a few seconds to cool off I disconnected the battery. I could not see anything specifically wrong under the hood except for some brownish discharge on some part under the battery ( I am not mechanically inclined.)
I had it towed immediately to my regular mechanic. He told me that my battery had cracked and spewed battery acid all throughout the engine compartment. He used baking soda and water to neutralize as much as he could but he said he could not be sure that acid did not penetrate the wrapping around the wiring harness. He said that the starter appeared to have burned or melted and the insulation around the wire from the positive terminal to the starter had also melted. He showed me where acid had also melted some plastic directly over where a large bundle of cables underneath the battery. He said that he could not explain this type of meltdown and his concern is that the acid in the wiring would not be able to be completely cleaned up and it would potentially need to replaced. He told me cost for a new wiring harness was roughly $3500 on top of at least 25 hours of labor which involved essentially disassembling the entire car. He recommended that we get my car insurer (State Farm) involved because there was a possibility that it might be covered under my comprehensive coverage.
About a week later a claims adjuster came out to inspect the car. The mechanic explained everything to him while he took pictures of the damage. It seems that state farm is only willing to cover anything if there was literal fire under the hood. The mechanic showed him the singed wires, starter and burns on the plastic and they were both on the fence as far as whether anything was actually on fire. State Farm's investigation was inconclusive and my mechanic told me that he was not going to be able to repair this unless it was just to replace the battery, positive battery cable and starter just to get it back on the road. His words were "I can get it moving, but i'm not confident that it won't burn up again in the very near future".
State farm called back and offered to have it towed to a dealership in hopes that they could better diagnose the issue and determine if there was a fire that fits the definition in my policy. Once it was at the dealership, I was told that it was referred to the shop foreman because of how odd this particular case was. It took about a week before he even had time to inspect the car. Their report was that the battery "exploded" and asked me if I had tried to jump the battery in reverse and that was the only thing he could think of causing this. I explained that I was driving it when it happened. He said that they could not troubleshoot further until the starter/battery/positive cable is replaced. Once i mentioned calling the insurance company back to find out how i should proceed he told me he was stopping and I needed to get the adjuster out to inspect. (I got the feeling that he forgot that I mentioned the insurance company was involved when I first called to ask about having my car towed there in the first place.)
I guess I'm looking for advice on how to proceed. At this point the car is still at the dealer and I am waiting for the adjuster to inspect again. I have no idea if any of the repair is going to be covered by insurance. I still owe roughly $5000 on the car, I bought it brand new, it had 72000 miles on it when it melted down and it was very well maintained. The battery was replaced about a year ago with another VW battery. Do I have any options with Volkswagen directly even though the warranty ended at 60000 miles? Both mechanics that looked at it seem to indicate that they have never seen anything like this. I have checked for recalls through Volkswagen directly, there were none. I went with a Volkswagen because I felt like they were one of the more reliable manufacturers. The impression I got from my regular mechanic was that the full repair including wiring harness would cost well over $5000 and I just think that is a little insane for a car that's still so young.
TLDR; New-ish car had major electrical failure, Insurance is on the fence as to whether or not they will cover repair. Looking for advice if they can not help. Also wondering if anyone has had similar experience since it seems to have stumped two mechanics so far.
A few weeks ago on my way to work my car had an unexplained meltdown. It's a 2010 Volkswagen GTI coupe. While sitting at a stoplight on my way in to work the lights on my dash started to dim and flash randomly (they didn't seem to indicate anything specific). At the same time I started to smell that distinctive electrical burning smell as smoke started to pour out from under the hood. I immediately pulled my car off the road and shut it off. After giving it a few seconds to cool off I disconnected the battery. I could not see anything specifically wrong under the hood except for some brownish discharge on some part under the battery ( I am not mechanically inclined.)
I had it towed immediately to my regular mechanic. He told me that my battery had cracked and spewed battery acid all throughout the engine compartment. He used baking soda and water to neutralize as much as he could but he said he could not be sure that acid did not penetrate the wrapping around the wiring harness. He said that the starter appeared to have burned or melted and the insulation around the wire from the positive terminal to the starter had also melted. He showed me where acid had also melted some plastic directly over where a large bundle of cables underneath the battery. He said that he could not explain this type of meltdown and his concern is that the acid in the wiring would not be able to be completely cleaned up and it would potentially need to replaced. He told me cost for a new wiring harness was roughly $3500 on top of at least 25 hours of labor which involved essentially disassembling the entire car. He recommended that we get my car insurer (State Farm) involved because there was a possibility that it might be covered under my comprehensive coverage.
About a week later a claims adjuster came out to inspect the car. The mechanic explained everything to him while he took pictures of the damage. It seems that state farm is only willing to cover anything if there was literal fire under the hood. The mechanic showed him the singed wires, starter and burns on the plastic and they were both on the fence as far as whether anything was actually on fire. State Farm's investigation was inconclusive and my mechanic told me that he was not going to be able to repair this unless it was just to replace the battery, positive battery cable and starter just to get it back on the road. His words were "I can get it moving, but i'm not confident that it won't burn up again in the very near future".
State farm called back and offered to have it towed to a dealership in hopes that they could better diagnose the issue and determine if there was a fire that fits the definition in my policy. Once it was at the dealership, I was told that it was referred to the shop foreman because of how odd this particular case was. It took about a week before he even had time to inspect the car. Their report was that the battery "exploded" and asked me if I had tried to jump the battery in reverse and that was the only thing he could think of causing this. I explained that I was driving it when it happened. He said that they could not troubleshoot further until the starter/battery/positive cable is replaced. Once i mentioned calling the insurance company back to find out how i should proceed he told me he was stopping and I needed to get the adjuster out to inspect. (I got the feeling that he forgot that I mentioned the insurance company was involved when I first called to ask about having my car towed there in the first place.)
I guess I'm looking for advice on how to proceed. At this point the car is still at the dealer and I am waiting for the adjuster to inspect again. I have no idea if any of the repair is going to be covered by insurance. I still owe roughly $5000 on the car, I bought it brand new, it had 72000 miles on it when it melted down and it was very well maintained. The battery was replaced about a year ago with another VW battery. Do I have any options with Volkswagen directly even though the warranty ended at 60000 miles? Both mechanics that looked at it seem to indicate that they have never seen anything like this. I have checked for recalls through Volkswagen directly, there were none. I went with a Volkswagen because I felt like they were one of the more reliable manufacturers. The impression I got from my regular mechanic was that the full repair including wiring harness would cost well over $5000 and I just think that is a little insane for a car that's still so young.
TLDR; New-ish car had major electrical failure, Insurance is on the fence as to whether or not they will cover repair. Looking for advice if they can not help. Also wondering if anyone has had similar experience since it seems to have stumped two mechanics so far.
