Sorry Fotherington Thomas not quite! Pica wins - it was £8,500.
It was £65 worth of unleaded so I think that exempts it from the small quantity bracket. I'm not sure how far it was driven - said family member is being a bit sheepish about the whole thing.
It's been traded in so someone soon will have the "benefit" of a new fuel system in their 4 year old X5. Whether that's a good thing or not I don't know.
|
|
Sounds fair. It cost £9000 for a Merc S-class belonging to an acquaintance last week. The insurance paid for that as well.
|
|
People will say all that work doesn't need doing, but the insurance companies wouldn't pay if they didn't think it did.
|
Our MD had an £8K bill for putting £25 of unleaded in his newish Grand Cherokee with the Merc V6 diesel.
He only drove it 1 mile at low rpm, so he probably would have been OK with a drain & flush, but the car was just 6 months old, and he wanted to retain the balance of the warranty.
|
|
|
And it is the dodo-brained activities of some such muppets that are partly to blame for the relentless increase in insurance premiums.
I can foresee that mis-fuels will one day not be covered.
p.s. I have never mis-fueled. Our family has one petrol and one diesel.
|
"And it is the dodo-brained activities of some such muppets that are partly to blame for the relentless increase in insurance premiums."
Only a muppet would say that. It is very easy to misfuel...not paying attention or having mind on other things etc. I would love to meet someone who never makes mistakes: never met one person that is perfect yet. Only muppets think they are perfect.
Amazingly how expensive it is: would make anyone who reads this think three times before filling up their motoe!!!
|
I've done it! Driving to the station in our almost new diesel car and kept saying to myself "... put the right fuel in... put the right fuel in..."
I put in two litres of unleaded and then having realised, topped it up with over 55 litres of derv. The car is still fine over three years later, but who knows the long term prognosis. In any event, everyone is capable of such mistakes and I was concentrating and think of myself as reasonably alert to such matters.
So to state that only a muppet would do it, requires one to say it!
|
Agree with Espada and Greg. Driven diesels since 1993 but found myself with the unleaded nozzle in the Berlingo a couple of years ago - only the habit of a final x/check of grade selected on the pump saved me.
Blame work - I was mentally re-checking the running order and domestics for our annual conference the following week.
|
|
No wonder insurance premiums are so high. Personally, I don't see why the insurance company should pay out in these circumstances. It's not really an accident, is it? I'm sure it is very easy to make a mistake, but there is still a deliberate action involved in putting fuel in your car.
|
It's not really an accident, is it? I'm sure it is very easy to make a mistake, but there is still a deliberate action involved in putting fuel in your car.
It's surely no more deliberate than driving into another car. If i you did it on purpose it would not be an accident and it would not be covered just as driving into another car on purpose would not be covered
|
|
not paying attention or having mind on other things etc kept saying to myself "... put the right fuel in... put the right fuel in..." Blame work - I was mentally re-checking the running order and domestics
Yes, blame everything else in sight but yourself.
All three above prove Red Baron's point that it is " ---dodo-brained activities of some such muppets ..." .
These actions describe muppets perfectly. Where is the shame in admitting to it ? So why the reaction against Red Baron?
The shame is that insurance companies are willing to cover for such damage. They should at the very least have a very high excess for mis-fuelling claims.
Edited by jbif on 26/02/2008 at 20:20
|
SWMBO put 6 litres of Esso's finest Unleaded in the Scenic last year, luckily realising her mistake by the smell of the fuel (believe it or not) and stopping there and then. After some deliberation over whether to just chance it and top it up, we had it towed to a local indie who drained and flushed the tank and lines with fresh diesel, and added some diesel fuel system lubricant in the tank for the princely sum of £125.
Yes it's a stupid thing to do, but quite honestly who doesn't make mistakes occasionally? Life is full of distractions and mishaps - stuff happens as they say. You deal with it and move on.
I must admit though, reading the op's tale makes me so happy she didn't start the engine. I doubt a new Bosch fuel system for a Scenic would have been cheap!
Cheers
DP
|
Thanks for backing me up jbif.
I have NOT said that I do not make mistakes!.
I HAVE said that I have never mis-fuelled!!!!! It pays to beware of costly mistakes and mis-fuelling a CR diesel is one of them. I fail to understand what the difficulty is. Only when insurance companies refuse to pay for repairs will people be more attentive.
|
|
I'm surprised nobody has had a go at the manufacturers for their racketeering parts prices - there's no way replacing the fuel system should cost anything like £8,500.
|
|
It's not racketeering. It's life. For many industries the aftermarket is a good source of income.
|
It's not racketeering. It's life.
Agreed. It is a fact of economic life for servicing costs associated with any high-wages high-tech up-market product. Hence the throwaway society. For example, a £1000 plasma screen TV can be cheaper scrap and replace with brand new rather than pay for diagnosis and repair. I know of a cutting-edge high-tech US company producing defence related products which was recently given Government permission to source parts from China. The parts are currently manufactured in West Coast USA employing highly paid and highly skilled technicians. The parts are now made in China and delivered at an astonishing tiny fraction of the original cost of production in USA!
|
Only when insurance companies refuse to pay for repairs will people be more attentive.
Perhaps people would stop crashing if insurance companies didn't pay out for bodywork repairs?
|
Perhaps people would stop crashing if insurance companies didn't pay out for bodywork repairs?
Just try driving your Merc with TPF&T cover only. If you have the psyche of a normal human being, you should immediately see a big change in your driving style, habits and attention. I know that when it is pointed out to car-renters that they have a £800 or more uninsurable excess, the look of shock/horror on their faces tells all. They try to buy their way out of this excess but find that even after paying a hefty extra premium, the excess continues apply to tyres and windscreens damage. Key loss costs and misfuelling are also usually specifically excluded.
|
If your out of warranty motor develops an expensive fuel system fault, whats to stop you putting some petrol in and then claiming a whole new fuel system on the insurance?
|
|
|
|
Only a muppet would say that (It is very easy to misfuel) not paying attention or having mind on other things etc.
Lovely excuse. "I smashed into.... " "I misfuelled...." "because I wasnt paying attention" "because I had my mind (sic) on...."
Only "muppets", I'm afraid, perhaps think like this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry Fotherington Thomas not quite! Pica wins - it was £8 500.
I did not actually think my suggested figure would be the actual figure. As an aside, did you know that for the same mechanic, driving the same recovery vehicle, towing the same dead weight of machine, for the same distance, that brands of cars differ in difficulty in towing? It's true, I tell you. The more expensive to buy, the more expensive to tow, all else being constant. Well! Goodness gracious.
The sooner that insurance companies stop paying for this sort of thing the better, and the lower everyone's premiums will be.
A rhetorical question - should I inadvertantly spoon some grinding paste into the open oil filler cap of my expensive motor, and then drive the thing for a sheepish mile or three, would you be happy that your car insurance premium went up a bit when I was paid off?
|
|
|
|
