Florida woman leaves work at Universal Studios, finds car ‘like a melted candle.’ Then she hears from insurance: ‘$8k out of pocket’

A Florida woman reportedly returned to her car during a shift at Universal Orlando to find it severely damaged by a fire that started in a neighboring vehicle. Her friend later said insurance would cover only part of the damage, leaving her facing about $8,000 out of pocket if she wanted the same car.

Reddit user sippyside shared the account in a post on r/Wellthatsucks, saying the woman’s coworkers called her to the parking garage during her shift, where she discovered the damage. The post included photographs showing extensive damage to the rear portion of her vehicle.

“The car next to hers had [its] engine start on fire. They’re okay, but my heart goes out to both of them,” the Reddit user wrote.

The owner of the first car to catch fire added context.

The same Reddit account later addressed questions about insurance coverage. In a comment, sippyside wrote, “Their insurance is only paying a part of it. Sadly if she wants the same car she has to pay about $8k out of pocket.” The post also does not identify the insurance companies involved.

A separate post in r/UniversalOrlando appears to show the same incident from the perspective of someone connected to the vehicle that caught fire. The post, titled “IOA and Studios employee parking garage on fire at the moment,” included photographs of the fire and damaged vehicles.

A Redditor user identified themselves as the owner of the vehicle that caught fire in a comment on the post. They said their car “burnt to a crisp [engine + Driver Cabin].” The user was told the fire was “most likely ‘due to wires/electrical issues in the car due to the possible heat’.” They apologized for the disruption.

One commenter who said they worked with the woman wrote, “This happened in Universal Parking garage. Only reason I know is cause I work with this girl. She got called by our leadership and had to run across property to get to it. Idk if Universal is going to help her out with this situation.”

Another added, “imagine stepping out on break just to find your car looking like a melted candle.” They said, “id turn around and clock out for the year.”

Universal Orlando operates employee and guest parking facilities at its resort. As of publication, no public statement from the Orlando authorities was available.

The incident also comes as Universal Orlando continues to see emergency responses from local authorities. In July, the Orlando Fire Department rescued about 70 people from a stalled attraction after a power outage at the resort. Officials reported no injuries in that incident.