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I'm wondering if there's a silver lining to the Sandy cloud for Fisker. If the water was high enough for long enough to make one car catch fire, then the water almost certainly ruined all the other cars in that lot. That would make them a total loss for Fisker, but presumably they were all insured. So, Fisker gets "paid" for all those cars right away, and now gets to make replacement cars to sell. That increases demand, production efficiency, and presumably puts a ton of cash into Fisker's coffers.

Or, am I not getting how the insurance thing actually works?
 
I'm wondering if there's a silver lining to the Sandy cloud for Fisker. If the water was high enough for long enough to make one car catch fire, then the water almost certainly ruined all the other cars in that lot. That would make them a total loss for Fisker, but presumably they were all insured. So, Fisker gets "paid" for all those cars right away, and now gets to make replacement cars to sell. That increases demand, production efficiency, and presumably puts a ton of cash into Fisker's coffers.

Or, am I not getting how the insurance thing actually works?
All those 338 (last I heard) Karmas on that lot are a total loss. We assume they were insured, so it is probably a good thing Fisker will get paid for them. However, it's hard to say how that will affect demand. Fisker told Reuters that they did "not expect any problems with meeting U.S. demand." That's after loosing well over 10% of all Karmas ever sold (as far as I can tell). Seems to me that might mean that US demand is rather low. We don't know how long those cars were being stored on that lot. I've heard no production updates from Fisker in months.
 
All those 338 (last I heard) Karmas on that lot are a total loss. We assume they were insured, so it is probably a good thing Fisker will get paid for them. However, it's hard to say how that will affect demand. Fisker told Reuters that they did "not expect any problems with meeting U.S. demand." That's after loosing well over 10% of all Karmas ever sold (as far as I can tell). Seems to me that might mean that US demand is rather low. We don't know how long those cars were being stored on that lot. I've heard no production updates from Fisker in months.

Some of those cars had would-be owners, but the dealers just left them in the path of a major hurricane. If I was a Karma reservation holder whose car was just destroyed, after reading about all the recalls I would use this as a legitimate reason to cancel my order and get my deposit back.

Larry
 
Some of those cars had would-be owners, but the dealers just left them in the path of a major hurricane.
Do we actually know that some of those Karmas were spoken for?

There were thousands of cars at that port, not just the Karmas. I don't fault whoever's responsible for leaving them there. Temporarily moving them all at once takes time and money, and is a huge logistical operation. You don't know for sure that they'll be flooded, but if they are, that's what insurance is for. The priority at times like that is getting people to safety and the loss of those cars is just a blip compared to the destruction caused by that storm.
 
Do we actually know that some of those Karmas were spoken for?

There were thousands of cars at that port, not just the Karmas. I don't fault whoever's responsible for leaving them there. Temporarily moving them all at once takes time and money, and is a huge logistical operation. You don't know for sure that they'll be flooded, but if they are, that's what insurance is for. The priority at times like that is getting people to safety and the loss of those cars is just a blip compared to the destruction caused by that storm.

Hi Doug,

I'm too lazy and indifferent to Fisker to further research this, but if I recall correctly I read an early report regarding the 16 or so Karmas that burned in which they reported that some were awaiting delivery and hadn't be picked up by the various dealerships.

Larry
 
...if I recall correctly I read an early report regarding the 16 or so Karmas that burned in which they reported that some were awaiting delivery and hadn't be picked up by the various dealerships.
I remember reading that too, but now think that was just speculation. Yes those cars are meant to eventually go to dealers, but given Fisker's sales volume, those 300 cars would have been (and maybe already were) sitting on that lot for a while.

FiskerBuzz doesn't get a ton of traffic, but I haven't seen anyone complain about the car they were expecting to get being destroyed.
 
I had a strange experience while on vacation the other day. Someone heard that we had a Tesla Model S, and wanted to help us out by telling us to get rid of it before it set fire to our house! He gave us enough details to be pretty sure that he was talking about the two Karma fires not caused by flooding, but absolutely refused to believe that it wasn't the Tesla. I think he thought the Volt fire was Tesla too. Strange... he's a very intelligent and well read guy.
 
I had a strange experience while on vacation the other day. Someone heard that we had a Tesla Model S, and wanted to help us out by telling us to get rid of it before it set fire to our house! He gave us enough details to be pretty sure that he was talking about the two Karma fires not caused by flooding, but absolutely refused to believe that it wasn't the Tesla. I think he thought the Volt fire was Tesla too. Strange... he's a very intelligent and well read guy.
I had to disabuse some math dept friends of the notion the Volt was a fire hazard. "Smart" people are still people and like many folks, don't bother to read much past the headlines of things they're not that interested in. Your experience does go to show that Fisker's issues do have collateral damage. Hopefully they can get their act together.
 
I had a strange experience while on vacation the other day. Someone heard that we had a Tesla Model S, and wanted to help us out by telling us to get rid of it before it set fire to our house! He gave us enough details to be pretty sure that he was talking about the two Karma fires not caused by flooding, but absolutely refused to believe that it wasn't the Tesla. I think he thought the Volt fire was Tesla too. Strange... he's a very intelligent and well read guy.
He probably works for fisker lol
 
I've had some fairly intelligent/well-read friends assure me that it was a Roadster that started on fire -- and also that it was assembled in Finland. I finally ended the conversation with 'just google it & let me know if you find the article'.


A few years ago, a Tesla ranger came to my home and installed an insulator on the positive 12v lead- due to a few cars catching on fire. I think part of the Roadster was assembled in the Europe, perhaps they are mixing all this up but are indeed referring to the Roadster?