After a car fire: claim, repair or sell what's left

What should you do after your car catches fire?

A fire damaged car needs three things before any decision: the fire report, photos and a call to your insurer. Comprehensive coverage lists fire among the losses it pays for, above your deductible, and a policy without it usually won’t pay for your own car. If the repair would cost more than the car is worth, sell it as is.

Whether what’s left counts as junk or salvage in Illinois depends partly on what the insurer decides, and what makes a car junk explains how those labels differ. The steps below come first.

Get the Chicago Fire Department’s report

The Chicago Fire Department keeps fire and investigative reports on closed or inactive cases, and you ask for one through a Freedom of Information Act request. You can file it online, email [email protected], fax 312-745-3900, or write to the Freedom of Information Officer, Chicago Fire Department, 3510 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60653.

Put three things in the request: the exact location of the fire, its date, and how you want the report sent (email, fax or mail). One thing to know before you send it: the City posts FOIA requests online, and your name and the details of the request are made public on its website.

The report is the official record of where and when the car burned. Keep a copy with your photos and your claim number.

Who pays: the insurer, the warranty or you

Insurance. The Insurance Information Institute lists fire first among the events comprehensive coverage takes in, along with theft, flood, vandalism and hail. Comprehensive coverage is usually sold with its own deductible, so the claim pays the part of the loss above it. Check your declarations page to see whether you carry it before you call.

The warranty. Even a newer car rarely has this route. Chevrolet’s 2025 New Vehicle Limited Warranty, as one example, doesn’t cover damage caused by “collision, fire, theft, freezing, vandalism, riot, explosion, or objects striking the vehicle.” Fire damage goes to the insurer, not the dealer.

You. With no comprehensive coverage, nobody else makes the call. The comparison is the repair estimate against what the car would be worth fixed.

If the insurer does total it, wait for that process to finish before you sell anything. The settlement decides what happens to the car and which papers you’ll end up holding.

Can a burned car be repaired?

Sometimes, if the fire was small and caught early. NFPA’s research found that vehicle fires most often begin in the engine area, running gear or wheel area, so a quick fire may stay under the hood. Once it reaches the cabin, a lot more of the car has gone with it. Get a written estimate from a shop that has seen the whole car, not only the scorched panel.

Age matters too. NFPA’s November 2024 vehicle fire report found that about three-quarters of the 2022 highway vehicle fires caused by mechanical or electrical failures involved model years 2011 or earlier, and it says cars at least 10 years old are at greater risk of a fire started by a mechanical or electrical malfunction. If a fault started the fire in an older car, the rest of its wiring and parts are as old as the piece that failed.

A car that took water instead of fire faces the same claim-or-sell choice, and the guide to rain and flood damage works through it for a flooded car.

If the burned car is a hybrid or EV

If the car has a high-voltage battery, tell the insurer and anyone who will move it what it is. The Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center warns that a damaged electric vehicle can ignite later, and that a battery fire can reignite even after it’s believed to be out. Hybrid and electric systems typically run at 400 to 1,000 volts, so nobody untrained should open the pack. For what a failed pack does to a hybrid’s value, see the dead hybrid battery guide.

Don’t leave it on a Chicago street

A car that can’t move shouldn’t sit on the street while you wait for an adjuster. Streets and Sanitation lists removing abandoned vehicles among the reasons the City tows, and at a City pound the charges start at $250 for the tow and $50 a day for storage on a car under 8,000 pounds. What to do when your car is at a Chicago auto pound covers that situation in full.

Selling what’s left

We buy burned cars, from a scorched engine bay to a gutted shell, and the tow is free. When you ask for an offer, say how far the fire got (engine bay, cabin or the whole car) and whether the wheels still turn, so the truck arrives ready for it. The scrap car page explains what each condition, burned included, changes at pickup.

If the title was in the glove box, which papers a junk car sale needs covers the Illinois and Indiana rules when a paper is missing. Our offer holds while the claim runs, and you’re paid at pickup in cash or by Zelle, Cash App or another digital payment. Get an offer for the car, call (708) 663-1010, or read how we buy wrecked and burned cars on the home page.

Sources for this guide

• City of Chicago, Chicago Fire Department, “File a Fire FOIA Request” (read October 7, 2026): fire and investigative reports, how and where to request them, what to include, requests posted online.
• Insurance Information Institute, “What is covered by a basic auto insurance policy?”: comprehensive coverage and fire; its separate deductible.
• Chevrolet, Limited Warranty and Owner Assistance Information, 2025: the fire exclusion.
• NFPA, “Vehicle Fires” by Tucker McGree (November 2024): where vehicle fires start; age and mechanical or electrical failures.
• U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center, “Maintenance and Safety of Electric Vehicles”: high-voltage systems, delayed ignition and reignition.
• City of Chicago, Department of Streets and Sanitation, “Common Towing Questions” (read October 7, 2026): abandoned-vehicle tows, tow and storage rates.