[Closed] Claiming for Pot Hole Damage to a Car

Can you prove it was a particulat hole, and what state of repair were they in before?

I can't imagine anyone could do that but I'm sure I'd heard of people claiming?

Take lots of pictures using something with a known size to gauge the hole, eg ruler or Soft drink can,etc.

Take pictures of the damage to your car,and keep all receipts for car hire and taxis when your car is being repaired,also phone and copier costs.

Get written estimates for the work required and the time the work should take to complete.

Then find out which council or compny is incharge of that road,some councils have privatised the roads.

Then either go to a no cost solicitor with your evidence, or approach the relevant council or private company or both,

Expect a long drawn out battle.

Submit a freedom of information request to the council/private company,and ask for specific information about the road in question, repair log,complaints log, and also how nmany times the road is swept, and drains emptied,for the last 3 years.

This information has to be supplied by law.

Programe on channel 4 this week about insurance scams.

Best of luck but in my experience you'll get nowhere without spending money on solicitors letters - might as well spend it on the car. As long the road has been checked according to guideline - which is just under once a year round here then you're screwed!

Oh, I forgot, how ever much you get back (plus the 'free' legal) is how much the council won't have to spend on services - so don't ever complain!

Thought it was going to be easier than that!

If the council knew about the problem ( ie already reported) then your claim is good, if not you will not collect..so don't run up any crazy bills - in any case you will only get your reasonable costs, ie if the tyres need replacing then you won't get fully reimbursed unless the original tyres were brand new and so on.

I trashed a wheel on my Puma recently and ended up buying 4 wheels from Ebay - the tyres were barely used and the cost was such that the wheels were effectively free.

If you damaged your car on the pothole were you
a) not looking where you going?
b) going to fast to avoid it?

You need points on your licence, not compensation paid by my council tax!

Sorry if that sounds unsympathetic, but I am.

You're not in Gloucestershire, are you? Same happened to me (but I 'only' bust one alloy). Wife was all for claiming and contacted the CC. They then sent a claim form, but I chose not to persue it mainly because I object to the claim/blame culture that's squeezing the spark out of modern life (that, and the fact that I should take at least some of the blame for not avoiding the 'hazard'.) Renault wanted £190 for a new alloy (on 'back order') so in the end I just got one from a scrappie...

andrewh - it was dark, there was a busy motorway junction ahead so I was more focused on the traffic ahead and difficult to avoid due to road island.

Its my council tax too!

Is andrewh edukator in disguise?

I wouldn't normally bother either but tyres are £100+ and I'd imagine the alloys will be £200 each - expensive trip to the swimming pool!

I damaged tyre, alloy and knocked out tracking- took photos ( with measurements) described the incident in detail, sent receipts etc and got full payment by Leeds City Council about 6 years ago.

Andrewh - imagine a blind turn, narrow road, car coming in opposite direction - would that still be points?

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Drivers-win-thousands-pothole-damage-Gloucestershire/article-1359973-detail/article.html

Gloucestershire seems to have a lot of potholes or it did when i lived there.

blind turn, narrow road, car coming in opposite direction

Small child may be easier to spot, but it is a (hypothetical) blind bend after all.

And your point is?

Thought it was going to be easier than that!

If it were a small child on the other side of the blind bend rather than a pothole he wouldn't be getting compensation!

Small child may be easier to spot, but it is a (hypothetical) blind bend after all.

So you travel at 30 mph round all blind bends (most bends are blind) do you andrewH just in case there's a child in the middle of the road?

Sometimes the self rightousness on here is epic.

So you travel at 30 mph round all blind bends (most bends are blind) do you andrewH just in case there's a child in the middle of the road?

Nope, but if I hit something like a pothole it's my fault for not seeing it/avoiding it. I don't sue the council for every little mistake I make. As Skidartist says, claim on the car insurance if you must, not on my council tax.

I pay counclil tax partly for the roads to be kept in a decent condition so I'll gladly claim on your or anyone else's council tax.

I pay my taxes in the rather naive hope that they will pay for schools, hospitals, the army, houses for MP's ducks, etc, not new wheels for drives who weren't paying attention.

I can just see out riding "I wasn't paying attention for moment and I've hit a rock and bent my wheel. I demand compenstaion."

MTFU

Count yourself lucky. The Nissan GT-R OEM wheels cost over £1000 corner, without a tyre..

I've successfully claimed for a tyre, an alloy and a pair of shocks after a rather nice hole in the road (8" deep, approx 1/3 of a lane width, turns out the council were well aware of it, had been for weeks) took out a wheel and bent a shock. Put forward a letter telling council about the hole, they replied automatically forwarding my claim to their claims department. Took about 1 month. They did try to say I should have avoided the hole, much like the self-righteous idiots on here sometimes try to, but after I pointed out that being in heavy traffic and narrow lanes it wasn't really a smart idea to swerve and brake across 1/3 of a lane width. They agreed.

Since then I've lost 2 more tyres and a track rod end, one to a ****ing enormously deep hole in a puddle that is normally just a shallow puddle in a very busy 40 section of dual carriageway trunkroad, and one on the motorway (M74) on the inside lane, nearly knocked me into the next lane, must admit I didn't spot it but on later re-passing it's bearly even noticable despite having very sharp edges. Both brand spanking new tyres after the last claim. I've not put in claims for those, but I'm very much aggreived about it. I pay my taxes in the hope that it'll pay for schools, services and keeping the roads in a decent state of repair so they don't damage my vehicle. That is what they're there to pay for. If they want to leave the roads and give me a reduction, that's fine, I'll put it towards a 4x4 that will cope with the crap surfaces they currently pass as roads.

Quite frankly the way they detect and repair the roads is sub-standard and they should be pulled up on it. I've seen council vehicles driving past massive holes day after day and it never get fixed, it only gets fixed when I go to fillthathole.org and fill in a complaint, and then ONLY if I say it's extremely dangerous or that I've damaged something. It's not the publics job to do this, the council should be doing it automatically. If they don't, people are well within their rights to claim. Don't forget the council works FOR YOU, YOU pay for roads to be repaired, THEY claim off their insurance if you claim off them. It's cheaper for them to pay claims than pay repair teams, until that swaps (when everyone complains/claims) you've little choice.

I reckon you'll struggle to prove negligence given the amount of damage the winter has caused to the roads this year

I can just see out riding "I wasn't paying attention for moment and I've hit a rock and bent my wheel. I demand compenstaion."

I hit a pothole one winter which was 6" deep and about a foot long while riding my road bike. I got nicely catapulted which bent the fork and wheel.

andrewh has a point but he's being an arse trying to make it so black and white. The pothole I hit was full of water and so impossible to see in the dark. It turned out the council had known about it for a while and hadn't done anything about it. It got fixed the day after my accident because I reported it and said I was going to chase them for payment for the fork and wheel (though actually I didn't - too much hassle frankly).

Currently the problem is that the roads are full of potholes post-snow and it's unrealistic to think that the council could have fixed them all yet so you may just have to accept that it's bad luck in this case.

andrewh has a point but he's being an arse trying to make it so black and white.

Andrewh you really do talk rubbish! How about you walking along the pavement and you catch you foot on an uneven paving stone and smash yuor teeth in. Would that be ok with you? Of course not! STFU!
As others have said its the safety implications potentially that are the greatest concern, but at the same point, why should i be out of pocket through no fault of my own?
I've had exactly the same scenario about 9 years ago, narrow road on a right hand bend, pothole on the LHS of the bend, no way of avoiding unless i go on the wrong side of the road, so no option but to go through. Two alloy rims bent and two burst tyres.
Took lots of photos (with a ruler for scale), submitted a claim to the roads dept and got the money back after about 6 weeks. Im not claiming to make a profit, just to put my car back the way it was prior to hitting the hole in the road.

Having to negotiate the rubble that was once roads on my daily cycle commute, the more drivers who complain and claim compensation the better.

I pay my taxes in the rather naive hope that they will pay for schools, hospitals, the army, houses for MP's ducks, etc, not new wheels for drives who weren't paying attention.

Thats your hope not your right.
Often "potholes" are all the way across the road making it difficult to avoid them. As a reasonable driver I do my best to avoid them however back in the real world its not always practical and occasionally its not realistic to brake suddenly for a poor road surface whilst in a Q of moving traffic.

My wife hit a pothole recently. She wondered what was going on when the steering went 'mushy' shortly afterwards. She got out and realised she had punctured. Stay with me, this is the interesting part.......

She was only 1/2 mile from home so she decided to do a U TURN and proceeded to rip the tyre off the brand new alloy wheel. I got a call to come and sort it out and found the tyre hanging off the gouged rim. The tyre was less than 500mls old 🙁

I havent considered claiming off the council as i really cant be bothered working myself up about it. Instead i told her she was not getting her hair done at the posh hairdressers as the money was being spent on a new tyre & wheel

Littlest hobo, thats an expensive hairdressers your wife uses!
Clearly Andrewh doesnt actually drive, or is smee / glupton trolling!
What a ridiculous position to take up.
Not everyone is in a position to be able to afford such luxuries as round wheels and inflated tyres all the time.
I'd quite like my taxes etc not to subsidise dole scroungers and stupid traffic calming schemes, but they are, i accept i have no control on how my taxes are spent and thats just how it is. Andrewh should too!

Andrewh do you pay your taxes for road maintenance?

Incidentally the council will not pay out if they don't believe they are in the wrong, so there should be no problems whatsoever in submitting a claim, if they agree that it's your fault you'll get rejected.

somehow a few weeks ago hit one of a couple of holes that opened up on a newly resurfaced road. Luckily no damage done, there were a few cars at the bottom of the hill hazards on with damaged tyres and suspension.

It was dark, wet and just after a corner, speed wasn't the problem more the first you knew about the hole was when you were in it.

My attitude is that the council would have got contractors in, if the road fails after 10 years fine, if it fails in a few months then the council should be seeking any costs from the contractor.

Check your tyres mrmo - I now have small sidewall bulges where the image was on mine, almost invisible when I did a cursory check.

no need to check the tyres, i had a brand new set on order at the time and have since been fitted.

andrewh - I think maybe you shouldn't be driving if you're so unaware of the potential range of problems that might occur. For me I was driving late at night in an unlit road and didn't see the pothole simply because the road was unreflective so couldn't see any detail on he road.

andrewh - jees..

you wont get anywhere unless as stated the council are aware of it.. which means you need to report a hole in the road before you know about it so that you dont misatakenly hit it..

Ok, so far I have reported hole and spoke to highways dept at local council who have told me to write to them with details, photos and copies of costs incurred.

Local Ford dealer wants £211 per alloy.

Seen them online for £186 so will prob get them there if they have them in stock.

Try your local breakers first - Yellow Pages is the place to start (I only paid £55 for mine and could inspect it before handing over the cash).

working on the basis that prevention is better than a cure

i always report potholes

http://www.fillthathole.org.uk/

and everyone has been sorted quite quickly, im most proud of teh huge great gouges outside hammersmith bus station that got sorted

Not sure I'd buy alloys from a breakers, I've bought second hand before and even then I'm VERY cautious, it can be very hrd to spot damage before getting it on a car, and in rare cases can lead to wheel failure if it was previously badly repaired to a standard that means you can't spot it.

Kimbers - must be a half-decent council where you live then, I normally have to wait weeks for action. Prevention is better than cure, but that's only really applicable if you drive that road regularly.

I now have the issue of the wheel not being in stock anywhere and being on back order at Ford!!!!

Consider yourself lucky. My wheels are no longer made/stocked anywhere, I dented 1 and now need to buy 4.

You can often get 4 alloys plus tyres at Halfords for £250...

I thought about getting a whole new set but partner doesn't want the car looking like something Ali G would drive.

you wont get anywhere unless as stated the council are aware of it.. which means you need to report a hole in the road before you know about it so that you dont misatakenly hit it..

You are correct in saying that the LA has to be aware, but the report could come from anyone...as long as the hole is reported, you will have a case. As mentioned above, put in a request under FoI, and see if there have been any reports on the specific hole.

molgrips - not usually wheels you would want on a decent car. I just want plain 5 spokes that suit the car, the OP just wants the original wheel. unfortunately the originals are usually more pricey than aftermarkets.

You are correct in saying that the LA has to be aware

really? Re they not under a duty to inspect their roads periodically?

Inspection regime could be months. A while ago I worked with the Highways dept to help them reenginer their processes, and pot hole reporting was a project done by one of my team. I remember the Risk Management team would not even look at a claim if the Council had not been given an opportunity to remedy - the SLA at our place was (and remains) 24 hours from report to fill.

During the reengineering, my colleague reported several potholes which all got filled within the timeframe. Councils know that they will be paying out, but have to prioritise their work somehow - so despite they no doubt drive past the potholes on their way to work...they are going to fix the ones that have been reported.

I report the ones on my cycle commute, as the last thing I want to do is swerve into traffic!

*this is true where I work, other LA's may differ*

really? Re they not under a duty to inspect their roads periodically?

Only trunk roads.

so despite they no doubt drive past the potholes on their way to work...they are going to fix the ones that have been reported.

They should report them themselves, was my thought, not fix them on the spot.

Surely it's simple...find out which Council area Andrewh lives and hope it isn't in the same as yours...if not, go mental on the claim...if so, go even more mental as it'll annoy him even more!

Is andrewh tandemjeremy in disguise? He obviously doesn't drive a car, or certainly nowhere there's any imperfections in the road. I wrecked an alloy wheel late one night on a narrow singletrack road and there was a pickup truck in front of me had done the same thing. Rough Tarmac, lots of loose debris and mud, a pothole is easily missed, and when it's on a road with little space to avoid, even if you can see it, there's sod-all you can do. Last year I also had to replace two alloys on my Octavia, where the rim had been bent outwards on the inside through hitting potholes. One was near the top of Box Hill, coming home from Bath, following other vehicles. Just after a slight bend, shadowed by overhanging trees, there was an almighty bang from the front of the car. I was doing 50 in a 50 limit, and the hole was about a metre out from the kerb. Didn't see it before I hit it, as I was watching other cars, and even if I had, there was hardly anywhere to go to avoid it. Andrewh is s stupid sanctimonious cock, and I truly hope he hits a nice big hole in the dark and writes off some nice expensive wheels and tyres. Arse.

Our CC has stated they will not pay out for damage caused from potholes due to the amount caused in the bad weather, they are getting around to them but they are lots of them and the cost will be huge.

Thought I would provide an update on this.

A couple of months back I was asked for info on age/condition of tyres, I assumed this was because I wouldn't get back the full amount for the new tyres I had to buy.

Obviously not as a cheque for the full £672 arrived today 🙂

Took a while but I'm chuffed about the result.

Very impressed you managed to get the full amount back. As per my earlier post on this thread - the council will not pay out unless it believes it is in the wrong so I see no harm in claiming, you WILL be rejected if you're taking the mick unfairly.

Roads around my way are a mess currently, I've just had to replace 2 track rod ends and have 2 more knackered tyres from the constant pounding over lane-wide potholes in the road that don't get fixed regardless of reporting them.