Car fire claims rocket 45% in four years, Utrecht leads the list

The number of insurance claims being made following car fires has gone up 45% since 2014, the Dutch insurance organisation VvV said on Wednesday.

Last year the rise was 9%, taking the total number of claims to 4,359 in 2018, the VvV said. ‘It is worrying that people seem to be just setting cars on fire because they feel like it,’ association spokesman Oscar van Elferen told the AD.

‘If a tree falls on your car during a storm, you can’t do anything about it, but this is about something in people’s heads,’ he said.

In Utrecht the number of claims rose 33% last year to 367, while in Zeeland the increase was 25% Most claims per head of population are made in the province of Overijssel, where there is one claim for every 2,900 residents.

The true total number of car fires is likely to be higher because around 30% of car owners are not covered for the damage, the VvV said.