Yup. The worst. Long story short, recently moved from Boston,MA to SF, CA and need to bring my 2006 TL over. I did plenty of research of how to get her across the country and get back to me in one piece. Well here goes.

Contacted broker that helped me look for a carrier to move my TL over. Carrier came on the set date to pick up my car from work and off it went. This was Monday June 18, 2012. Both drivers of the car carrier were Russian native and with a very heavy accent. I had to call their company dispatch to actually talk with someone that speaks English. They said and agreeded on delivering my car to SF within 1 week time frame...so next Monday. Called mostly every other day to see where the carrier was from the dispatch office. Flew over on Friday June 22. Called the dispatch the next day to see if everything was on schedule. Neither did the dispatch picked up or the drivers. Tried again Sunday and still nothing.

On Monday...day of delivery...the dispatch said that the entire Car carrier caught on fire. FIRE?! Are you kidding me?! Hes like no it's not a joke. He said only one car was saved cause it's at the very end. Mine was at the top rack all the way in the front (by request) good thing. Here's the pics finally.




^ according to the police report, this was somewhere in Utah. They said the middle to the back end of the carrier caught on fire. I'm still not clear how it happened.

As of right now, my car looks like its one of the luckiest. However, I don't know how much of the engine area is damaged if any. From the 2 pictures, it looks like the heat effected the bumper to cause it to melt a little. Rest of the car looks fine. Reference my car to the bottom car...bottom car's front looks like it was effected so I'm assuming the rest of the car is okay. Adjuster is still acquiring the estimates...

Car carrier company is taking full responsibility and full coverage. Now question is...what kind of work am I going to be expecting from the shop? I have the accord fog mod on my car but looking at this now...seems like I have to get a new front end. Would the shop work out something to get me into a type s front end with headlight and fogs? Sorry for long post but first time giving my car to someone to and to hear from them saying "your car is totaled along with the 7 others"

Here's my beautiful car last time I saw it

 

holy crap....i guess TL's are lucky cars

 

Wow you got so lucky...

 

Hope you have the receipts from when you purchased the materials for the accord fog lights.

If you don't, they are going to tell you too bad and you will just have to hope that they over compensate you on reimbursement so you can get a type-s bumper or accord fogs again on their bill.

 

You should be able to work something out with the shop. You may have to pay any differences in part prices or additional labor required. It would still be cheaper then doing it on your own.

 

Yeah, if anything I would think they would just let you to pay the difference for a Type-S bumper.

 

That is so lucky man, you treat that TL with love and respect like no other for now on haha.

Glad to see it made it out alive. And I agree also, they'd cover what your bumper costs and you could pay the difference.

 

very fishy fire,probably for a false ins. claim.Those russians,man!!It all happened in Utah,in the middle of nowhere,where nobody is watching.Yeah right!!At least you got lucky!!

 

wow, that's awesome luck. It's almost comical (in a sad way) that your car looks nearly normal and the car next to it its burnt to a crisp.

 

I blame the prius

 

I'm an insurance investigator for 26 years, I've had numerous car carriers catch on fire like this. If a tire explodes or goes flat the rubber rubs up against the hub, smokes then ignites, then a vehicle above the area catches on fire. Its hard for the driver to detect a problem, especially if the carrier is fully loaded. By the time they do see smoke & pull over it's too late. It then takes another 15 minutes or more for the nearest FD to respond.
The good news here is that they all carry liability insurance. Get your TL back, be sure to note on the receipt there is FIRE DAMAGE & SUBJECT TO INSPECTION. Also note whatever damage you can visually see. Take photographs! Then send a certified, return receipt notice of claim to the carrier IMMEDIATELY. In the meantime have a shop look at the car & get an idea what it needs. You will then be contacted by the ins adjuster for the carrier.

 

You lucky bastard

 

lol i was thinking the same thing

 

Beat me to it

 

I can imagine your car smelling really nice now.

Sorry to hear man!

 

Title really should be...............NEXT to the WORST

 

If your bumper melted I would immediately change all of your fluids and inspect any and all plastic parts (like your radiator) for damage. Also inspect any wiring that goes down around that part of the car......

 

holly crap, save because you requested to be put on the front.

 

Lmao first thought was "I blame the Prius!"

The carrier insurance already filed a claim under their insurance company and already had an adjuster out to look at all of the cars. Now I gotta find out how much they are going to cover me and my rental. Bs is that they aren't covering for my rental.

 

Damn man that shit is crazy! As far as the mods you did, you're out of luck. For some reason I don't think you will be getting the type-s front bumper even if you paid the difference. I recently got into a little accident and had to have my headlight redone and the shop tried to get it covered, but they said no. I'm pretty sure all insurance companies are only going to cover what came with the car stock even you you were to pay the difference, but who knows, maybe you'll get lucky, you already did once.

 

if your auto policy has a rental rider, they will cover you.

 

I'm dying here, the TL is like "I'm getting the **** outta here LOL"

 

Hahaha...me too! Wouldn't be the first time I saw Prius go up in flames for no apparent reason.

Glad your car survived for the most part with "easy" fixes.

 

OK..................NOW-I've heard everything.

 

Unbelievable!!!!

Glad your TL is ok. Good luck in forthcoming repairs.

 

now thats a miracle

 

100% agree. The company I work for ships 1,000s of truckloads all over the US every year. There are many "mishaps" and not all of the trucks reach their destination. From the pictures, I would say there was likely a problem with the brakes or one of the tires on the back of the trailer and the rest is likely as you have described.

OP - looks like you have gotten away relatively unscathed, but as others have said, you need to make sure it is properly inspected. Also looks like it is going to be interesting as to how they get your car off the carrier as I doubt the hydraulics on the trailer still work or would be trustworthy at this point. Keep us posted.

 

OP! From you requesting to have the front your car was the only that didn't burn up. I second what everyone else said, have that bad boy inspected thoroughly. Glad you didn't actually lose your car though. Man. That shits crazy. I would've myself if I was told my car was burned up.

 

Amazing. I would keep that TL forever!

 

 

As of right now, I'm playing the ridiculous cat and mouse game of trying to get to the adjuster and also back and forth to the carrier company. Last I heard was that it got towed and was inspected now just waiting to see how much it is to fx it. Hopefully engine is okay...

If you guys zoom in on my car...front is like hazed from the heat. Don't really see any scorch marks from the fire.

Also I don't got rental coverage on my side of insurance -.-

 

I don't know if it works this way or not, but shouldn't you be able to get a rental car at their expense since you are waiting on them?

 

If I was moving from the east coast to the west coast, I'd drive my TL there.

This is a car worthy of a cross country excursion!
.
.

 

I'm sure HokAy already has several times, but if he hasn't he needs to read the full contract (fine print) signed between the carrier/broker and himself. I've never shipped a car, so I'm not even going to guess what is included and what isn't.

HoyAy - So your car is still in UT somewhere? Any opportunity to see if for yourself and remove some of the speculation? Probably increased out of pocket cost for you though. Are you planning on getting it fixed in UT or will/can they fufill the original contract and deliver the car to you in CA and you can oversee repairs locally?
Still curious as to how they got your car off the carrier. Maybe it's better we don't know -

 

OP, this is quite the story. You definitely made the right move in requesting where your car was loaded on the truck. Hopefully the repairs work out accordingly

 

^^this. i've done this trip from LA to the east coast. not in my TL, but in a honda. it takes 3 1/2 days if you don't play tourist. i would be nervous to have my car on a truck, not knowing where it was. of course this would depend on the car. in any case i would still be upset if the car was destroyed by a freakish fire.

OP, that's just crazy how your TL is the only one that survived. hope the repairs are swift and your TL is back to where she was at before her crosscountry trip.

 

I've done that trip a couple times as well. Not too bad except the time I did it alone. When alone my OCD comes into play and I make up stupid games like trying to do the whole drive without sleeping and only filling up every 500 miles.

When I clicked on the preview I was about to recommend against a carrier before I saw the pictures. I've never had any luck with them. I've had the roof sliced open from something above, huge dents that I had to prove weren't there before being put on the carrier, a hole slashed in the floor, bent tie rods from the car being held down by them, never a good experience. I've even driven the GN 1,000 miles at at best of 22mpg to avoid putting it on a carrier but that turned out to be a fun trip. Only had to use the tool box in the trunk a few times lol. I had plans to hit up the more famous drag strips on the way but it was the wrong time of year for that. The TL would be a great car for a cross country trip, I would actually prefer that to flying.

 

Yikes! All of things to worry about with your car being transported. I wouldn't have guess this one. If I were in your position (moving cross-country), I'd probably do the same. I hope everything works out well for you and your car.

Also, I guess it's not quite the worst since your car doesn't look like those others.

 

Wow, so lucky.

 

UPDATE!

Since it was July 4th holiday all the insurance people are off till this coming up Tuesday, which basically sucks for me cause I can't get my car to the shop. However i did manage to chase down the estimator/adjuster. She got me more pictures and told me where my car was. Car is currently sitting in a IAA lot in Utah still. Awaiting orders for it to move to the shop I want. However hardly anyone seems to know who to contact about moving my car to CA.









Car seems in OKAY condition for now. Looks like a new bumper and headlights and fogs. Maybe new bulbs?? Anyways the adjuster is cutting me a check of around $1600 for the damages. However in my mind, I don't think that's enough with all the parts and repaint. Also the report doesn't say anything about the underbody of the car. Not sure if the heat shield is in good condition. Oi. Gotta call them again first thing Monday to hopefully tell their asses to move my car out of that lot.