Parked PHV Car Caught Fire from Joss Sticks & Driver Has to Pay $4,000

Well, it has happened. Again. Not too long ago, we were blessed with this image that reminded us to ensure that all flames are doused before leaving after we’re done with our offerings.

So you thought it won’t happen again.

But it did, and this time, we know about the cost of the damage.

Parked PHV Car Caught Fire from Joss Sticks & Has to be Repaired for $2,000

While it’s not illegal to burn joss sticks and candles on the pavement, it’s recommended that you ensure the flames have been burned out before you leave the premises.

This is an advisory by SCDF:

The consequence, as you’d know by now, could be a burnt bumper.

However, it turned out that someone else has it worse.

According to a Facebook user, her brother’s car “caught on fire due to the joss sticks being placed right at the edge of the curb.”

If you’d look closely, it’s a private-hire vehicle.

In fact, it got so bad that the entire car was in smoke…

…and the SCDF has to be called in to put out the fire.

Here’s the problem that arises from this: who’s going to pay for the damage?

You can view the post here:

According to the Facebook user, they were initially quoted $2,000 for the “excess charges”, but that, for some reason, has been increased to $4,000.

Now you’re confused, but don’t worry, Goody Feed is here to simplify everything for you.

All vehicles have to be insured, and when there’s an accident that requires repairs, the insurers of the vehicle that’s “in the wrong” would have to pay for the repair costs—for both cars.

But if a car suffered damage by itself (like losing control and colliding with a wall…or in this case, got burned by joss sticks), the insurer of the car would pay for the damage, calling it an “own damage” (OD).

However, if your insurer needs to pay (whether to repair other vehicles or OD), you need to pay them something known as “excess”, and that amount is always fixed. For example, even if the repair cost comes up to $10,000, the insurer will still pay the $10,000 but you’d just need to pay the $500 excess.

If you own the car and buy your own insurance policy, the excess is usually $500, but it could be higher if you opt for a cheaper annual premium or you’re an inexperienced driver.

If you rent a car, it depends a lot on the car rental company—some can charge up to $5,000 if they need to claim from their insurers, while some charge $500.

This is a grey area that’s not regulated, since you’d be paying the amount, which is usually called “collision damage fee” instead of excess, to the car rental company and not the insurance company.

This is, however, usually agreed upon during the rental of the car.

For example, according to Grab’s website, their hirer-partners have to pay a whopping $4,280 for OD claims. You can, however, pay an additional $5.35 per day for a “collision damage wavier” to reduce the collision damage to mere $963.

It’s unknown if the Facebook user’s brother owns the car or rents the car, but given that the “excess” can anyhowly increase, you can bet that anyone who rents a car should be more careful on where they park this year.

So, by now you should be wondering: why didn’t the reverse sensors pick up the fire?

Because you go to driving school for a reason.

The Reason Why We Still Learn Parking in Driving School

Known officially as parking sensors, this godsend technology for some drivers isn’t the same for every car. Depending on your vehicle type, there might be more sensors, but some cars would just have two sensors at the back to detect walls or large objects behind.

Usually, it won’t detect anything below the car because how the heck would the car know whether it’s a kerb or even the road? The constant beeping can be a pain in the butt.

Usually, if there are more sensors at the back, it’d be located at the corners instead so the reversing vehicle won’t hit the vehicles parked at the side.

So to sum it up, the answer is no: it’s rather difficult to detect the candles, if not it’d have detected the grass, too.

More Days to Look Out For

If you’d have realised, the Facebook post was made on 19 August 2020 and there’s a reason for it.

During the Hungry Ghost Month, people will usually burn offerings on the 1st, 15th and last day of the month.

This year, it’s on 19 August (1st), 2 September (15th) and 16 September (last day). So park your vehicles carefully during these days.

To know more about the Hungry Ghost Month and also the offerings, you can watch this video (and please subscribe to our YouTube channel, too!):

Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:

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