there's a little more to the story, when the truck wasn't running correctly and he pulled over, a passerby told him that flames were coming from underneath the truck. He called 911 and this is out in the country where there is a local volunteer fire dept, but, he didn't pay his $75 fee for putting out fires....
no, wrong story, the volunteer fire dept was out on another call and couldn't respond, so they called the next closest fire dept another 10 miles away or so and needless to say, it took them a while to get there and by that time, it was simply too late.
Fire investigator and insurance man will be by tomorrow to take a look at it. My nephew has gap insurance, which covers any gap in difference between the "book value" and will at least make it so it will cover what is still owed, if that is more than the value--or something like that. I never had a car payment so I can't elaborate--I never had anything newer than 15 yrs old, and my 19 yr old nephew has nearly a brand new truck...go figure.