[BonzoHansen]

A little follow up. Below is a response from a friend of mine who does auto investigations for a living. I don't have as much experience in P&C as I do in other lines of insurance. I didn't remember arson/fraud/vandalism was another avenue. I was thinking collision vs comp and was lumping all comp together (fuel, electrical , etc.) and naturally didn't think arson/fraud as I knew the event was during driving. She agreed you need to review your actual policy language if they try to deny.

The part of the insurance that covers fire is comprehensive and to my knowledge, this shouldn't have exclusions unless it's incendiary on the part of the insured or they're complicit within the act.

He needs to ask about the specific exclusions and read his policy as fire is fire (open flame with resulting char, not soot). In my job, I try to ascertain origin and then the cause. Their investigator needs to have a good background in automobiles, not just structures, as investigating a fire for one is quite different than the other.

Was he driving the T/A, just parked it, or had the car been sitting a while before the fire started? If he was driving it, the cause could be fuel, electrical, or mechanical (lubricants, friction from heat, brake fluid, coolant and yes, this can ignite given the right circumstances). If he'd just parked it and a minute later it caught fire, you can rule out fuel but the other two (especially mechanical from oil igniting on the exhaust x-over pipe) are a cause. If the car was sitting and caught fire several hours after being parked, then electrical only. These causes do not include incendiary, i.e. arson.

A collision can also cause fire from any of the above as well.