So my in-laws have (had) a pristine 2002 SL500 that they used at their second home in Fla. It only had 10K miles on it. Drove it for a few minutes to the store and shut it down. Minutes later someone notified her there were flames coming from the engine compartment.

I googled this and it seems there are a few cases in the US where this has occurred on this model. Meaning the vehicle was driven and caught fire after the vehicle was shut down.

Looks like fuel to me as the most heat was generated on the driver side of the engine towards the rear of the compartment. I'm not a Fire Marshall. But I have been a tech for 27 years and have more certifications than I know what to do with.

I would post the video but I don't think I can or I just don't know how..So here are some pics.
And BTW---even with the extremely low miles---Ins co has it booked at $23K..Car cost $100K -- Can you say BuzzKill???