Pictures of the shrink wrapped Prius would be different. According to their commercials your company would pay for total replacement. I am surprised that does not include total rental payment for a reasonable time.
The caught-in-the-grill-shutters scenario is consistent with my guess as well, although I'd be surprised if the shutters closed with enough force to damage the EBH cordset.
What happens with smoke damage on a bike? I figured that unless things melted you could just dust it off, maybe change the air filter for good measure, oil if you're really paranoid. Sucks it was involved in this. My bike, even though I rarely ride anymore, is probably what I would be most upset about if I had a fire in the hanger. Everything else can easily be replaced but I had the bike before I was married and I'm not sure I could get another one past SWMBO.
Well, all I can really do is clean it off. I don't think it's heat damaged, but I haven't looked closely at it yet because the homeowners insurance adjuster hasn't been by yet. I'll do the air filter and wash it with Dawn, then wax the paint, but there is a lot of small, difficult to access areas that will have residue. Maybe I'll hire a professional cleaner this summer if there is one in Anchorage.
I've been involved in post-fire repairs when I was Business Manager in a couple of schools - the worst was a building where 3 kitchens and equipment were smoke damaged. The powers-that-be said we could pay some people to wash crockery, appliances etc, but it wasn't quite that simple. The smoke residue seems to embed itself in some surfaces - and while a lot was able to be removed, simply washing didn't work with some items. I'd wonder about anything which is rubber or cloth - things like handgrips, footpegs and upholstery. But the biggest concern would be any electrical contacts within the bike - about 12 months after "our" fire, we started having failures with the circuit breakers, timers etc in the master switchboard. I guess the majority of components on a bike are well sealed, but if there are any exposed contacts I'd try to have them included in the underwriting costs. It could depend on the content of the smoke too, some of the smoke we were contending with was from burning plastic. I'd be pushing to get it professionally cleaned rather than try to do it yourself.
It there perhaps a way to have the bike cleaned & "re-certified" by a (trusted) manufacturer's dealer? Obviously, paid for by insurance.
How was the bike insured? It's going to be treated differently vs the other items in the garage .. is the homeowners the same company? Did you speak directly with a company adjuster regarding the 80% -- That's very odd if you have rental coverage. With some companies the rental coverage is not very high per day ... are you sure you did not go over the daly limit. Example: Insurance will only cover 80% of what you picked? I also can't see how the shutters would be able to damage the cord -- but strange stuff happens. Backing up with the cord still attached -- that's how they are normally damaged .. often the receptacle is not properly anchored to the car. 400w is not enough to overload even 16g cord of reasonable length. As to the smoke and cleaning -- your homeowners insurance should be taking care of this? In my case most of the structure was damaged -- we had to gut most of it .. what did remain was blasted with dry ice and then sealed with a clear sealant. They are good at this stuff .. no odor. Personal belongings are another matter - most of mine were replaced. Again -- insurance should be finding someone to clean what can be cleaned. Everyone should take a look at how they are insured -- too many people worry about low deductibles or glass coverage. Best to get good insurance through one of the top tier companies -- taking a higher deductible to keep the costs in line. The better companies give substantial discounts taking the higher deductibles -- payback is about 4 years. Self insure for a small homeowners claim or a $200 windshield. A big claim is a life alternating event -- best to be covered. Many policies don't provide full replacement unless you replace the item -- others only give 80% if cashed out .. others don't provide = housing .. you end up in a motel. Most don't provide code upgrades -- extremely important with an older house.
I’d like to know how the story ends, too, but keep in mind that @Kremtok may have received legal advice not to comment further in public, or may have agreed not to do so as a condition of a favorable settlement.
Latest update - The block heater that was used in my car and many others was recalled: No other news on the car or the cause of the fire since the last time I posted here, except that the insurance company is going to court with Toyota and / or the dealer. It’ll still be a while until I hear what happens with that.
In what is likely to be the final update, I got a letter from the insurance company last week. They were unable to prove that Toyota or the dealership caused the fire and I am out about $8k in insurance deductibles for good. It’s over, after more than 2 years. What’s worse is that the option packages on the 2019 Prius look to be ridiculous. What is Toyota even thinking? I’ll probably end up in a RAV4 Hybrid, but keep the Tacoma.
Even after a recall on the heater!!?? Well, that stinks!! I'd think it would be self evident that some defect in the engine compartment malfunctioned. It sounds like your insurance company decided it was cheaper to just pay their part of the damages and throw you under the bus for the deductibles.
I just traded in my 2005 after ~156K chilly (in spite of a self-installed block heater) miles and embarrassing adventures in snow and ice in Washington for a Subaru Forester. My hat is off to anyone driving a Prius in Alaska. However, I just had a peek at the new AWD Prius, which solves a lot of my previous problems, so there may be hope.
