I've had a similar problem with a BMW 530d a year ago. I was driving along the motorway and pressed the accelerator gently to maintain speed on a slight incline when I just lost all power. Then a puff of white smoke came out of the engine compartment and I just about managed to coast to the hard shoulder. I phoned BMW Assist and they said it was most probably a turbo failure and that they would get a recovery vehicle out to me. 5 minutes later, however, the car was an incandescent ball of fire, with flame reaching 20 foot into the sky - quite spectacular. Unfortunately, the fire brigade took 50 minutes to get to me, comically asking if anybody was still inside (as if they'd still be alive) before putting the flames out. By this time, the whole of the front of the car forward of the front doors had disappeared leaving just the engine block and the alloy wheels. This was a godsend for BMW who once they realised the car had been destroyed, refused to have anything to do with me. They offered me no help whatsoever unless, they said, I could prove it was their fault, which is difficult as virtually nothing of it was left. They didn't even appear interested that one of their cars had nearly killed a customer. BMW's argument boiled down to saying it might have been a cigarette butt sucked into the air filter (which is made of paper). However, as I was going quite slowly in traffic before this I think I would have noticed some smoke before losing power. Also I don't think this is a particularly good excuse, that a £40k car under two years old can literally go up in smoke for the sake of a grill costing, say, £2.50. Does anybody have any advice on whether I can sue BMW for the difference between the warrantee value and what my insurance company paid out? The car was second hand from a BMW main dealer but still under warrantee. The insurance company paid out due to the absence of evidence but they have now put up my premium by £500 per year 'to recover their losses' as they put it.