Pothole Car Damage
Posted by: Mike-B on 26 January 2010
I managed to hit a snow covered pothole big enough to hide a small child in. Saw it too late & nowhere to go in dark & fog.
It bent both N.S.front & rear alloy wheels & nicked the front tyre.
An insurance claim is not worth it especially if you have full N.C. & even if you have "protected" it means your base premium goes up anyway, plus whatever £££ excess to pay.
I am claiming off the County Council Highways.
I know they are all set up with denial clauses & whatever. But I am not lying down over £500 of out of pocket expense for nothing to do with me.
I have joined the www/potholes.co.uk forum - good tip.
Any Naimites with info, tips, hints, ideas, friendly but free of charge QC's, that we can all share would be welcome
It bent both N.S.front & rear alloy wheels & nicked the front tyre.
An insurance claim is not worth it especially if you have full N.C. & even if you have "protected" it means your base premium goes up anyway, plus whatever £££ excess to pay.
I am claiming off the County Council Highways.
I know they are all set up with denial clauses & whatever. But I am not lying down over £500 of out of pocket expense for nothing to do with me.
I have joined the www/potholes.co.uk forum - good tip.
Any Naimites with info, tips, hints, ideas, friendly but free of charge QC's, that we can all share would be welcome
Posted on: 26 January 2010 by shoot6x7
The same thing happened to me three years ago here in Canada.
My insurance agent at the time is a family friend. She told me not to contact her 'officially' as the claim would be considered 'at fault'. A pothole is a road hazard which I'm expected to see and avoid.
I claimed against the municipality. They immediately forwarded my case to a loss adjuster who ruled against my claim. Most people are expected to give up at this point, but not me.
I wrote him back a letter with responses to each f his claims i.e. the pot hole had been adequately repaired. I pointed out that clearly it hadn't been sufficiently repaired; I had a witness who told me that the dip in the road had appeared that morning at 7am; a major snow storm the day before had required a full snow plow response which obviously wrecked the repair and created the sinkhole.
I added my engineering credentials at the end of the letter, they paid up two weeks later !
My insurance agent at the time is a family friend. She told me not to contact her 'officially' as the claim would be considered 'at fault'. A pothole is a road hazard which I'm expected to see and avoid.
I claimed against the municipality. They immediately forwarded my case to a loss adjuster who ruled against my claim. Most people are expected to give up at this point, but not me.
I wrote him back a letter with responses to each f his claims i.e. the pot hole had been adequately repaired. I pointed out that clearly it hadn't been sufficiently repaired; I had a witness who told me that the dip in the road had appeared that morning at 7am; a major snow storm the day before had required a full snow plow response which obviously wrecked the repair and created the sinkhole.
I added my engineering credentials at the end of the letter, they paid up two weeks later !
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by Staedtler
I had little luck with my local authority when I hit a pothole which buckled my wheelrim and instantly deflated the tyre. I did learn a bit about how the authority worked though.
Sorry if potholes.co.uk already mentions these but;
Ask them to tell you when the road was last surveyed (the timeframe varies according to the road classification).
Ask them when the pothole had been reported (asking them "if" allows them to instantly say "no").
Take photographic evidence including placing a tapemeasure or ruler aginst it an done for the depth.
No guarantees you'll get anywhere, they're increasingly becoming of the "Not our fault" attitiude siting varying laws and reasons why they shouldn't be. Imho, the roads are their responsibility and I pay taxes for them to be of serviceable quality.
Hope this helps.
Sorry if potholes.co.uk already mentions these but;
Ask them to tell you when the road was last surveyed (the timeframe varies according to the road classification).
Ask them when the pothole had been reported (asking them "if" allows them to instantly say "no").
Take photographic evidence including placing a tapemeasure or ruler aginst it an done for the depth.
No guarantees you'll get anywhere, they're increasingly becoming of the "Not our fault" attitiude siting varying laws and reasons why they shouldn't be. Imho, the roads are their responsibility and I pay taxes for them to be of serviceable quality.
Hope this helps.
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by Joe Bibb
It's good advice from Jagster.
You can see why it's not a great idea to claim on your insurance unless you have got all that information. It's exactly the same info the insurer would need to have any chance of recovering the cost on your behalf. So better to cut out the middle man and go straight for them.
We always try and recover if we have the details, but the lack of good info means we are seldom successful.
Joe
You can see why it's not a great idea to claim on your insurance unless you have got all that information. It's exactly the same info the insurer would need to have any chance of recovering the cost on your behalf. So better to cut out the middle man and go straight for them.
We always try and recover if we have the details, but the lack of good info means we are seldom successful.
Joe
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by Chillkram
The pothole situation at the moment is terrible owing to the recent poor weather. It's going to be a pretty big bill to repair them all.
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by Guido Fawkes
And the even poorer council who think that resurfacing a road means you throw some stones except of course for the totally unnecessary new council building which has a beautiful tarmac'd road. Sorry I'm sure it is unfair to tar all councils with the samequote:The pothole situation at the moment is terrible owing to the recent poor weather.
Try to find out who is responsible at the council and get a no win, no fee lawyer to target them directly.
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by BigH47
County Councils are responsible for the roads , Local Councils the pavements.
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by Derek Wright
You want some pot holes?
Posted on: 27 January 2010 by Blueknowz
Now that's a pothole!
Posted on: 28 January 2010 by BigH47
Think that qualifies as a sink hole?
Posted on: 28 January 2010 by vandergraafuk
Hi Just thought I would give you some encouragement as I had a very similar incident 2 years back on the roads of buckinghamshire. The pothole buckled both alloys and wrecked both tyres on my SLK. I took pictures the next day and armed with measuring tapes and an improvised depth gauge I sent about measuring the offending pothole. I contacted the county council and emailed them the photos. I then took the car to the dealer and got all the damage documented and photo'd. I sent this report to them along with the invoice for the repairs. A week later they sent me a cheque and repaired the hole. 
Posted on: 28 January 2010 by Mike-B
Thank you vandergraafuk, encouraging words indeed
... roads of buckinghamshire.
Me too - Stokenchurch near shops on main A40
... buckled both alloys
Me too
... took pictures the next day
Me too
I replaced 2x road wheels & 2x tyres
The tyre cmpy invoice describes the damage caused by pothole
I have made a claim, attached photos & copy invoices, & cc'd my solicitor who's office is next door to BCC offices on Eastern St, HW.
Fingers crossed, hoping for same result as you
... roads of buckinghamshire.
Me too - Stokenchurch near shops on main A40
... buckled both alloys
Me too
... took pictures the next day
Me too
I replaced 2x road wheels & 2x tyres
The tyre cmpy invoice describes the damage caused by pothole
I have made a claim, attached photos & copy invoices, & cc'd my solicitor who's office is next door to BCC offices on Eastern St, HW.
Fingers crossed, hoping for same result as you
Posted on: 28 January 2010 by shoot6x7
The sinkhole was so bad in my case that there was a tow truck and a police cruiser arrived there just as I hit it.
So a police report was very useful in my case ...
So a police report was very useful in my case ...
Posted on: 28 January 2010 by Trevor
The Councils should be able to pay for car damage and pot hole repairs easily enough from the money they saved by not gritting main roads frequently enough and not even bothering with side roads or pavements.
Posted on: 12 February 2010 by anderson.council
Just wondering if any of you who have made claims from county councils have had any success ?
I cracked a rim recently (night + rain = low visibility) on either the A436 heading into Stow on the Wold or the B4077 between Toddington and Tewkesbury - both massive impacts even at only 40-50 mph.
I've been advised to replace the tyre as well as the wheel and to have a geometery test done (which I think I would have done anyway). All this equates to just a bit more than my insurance excess.
I have informed my insurance company that I intend to claim from Gloucestershire CC and I've spoken to GCC about it. They are sending out claim forms but won't comment about success rates ... probably understandably.
Cheers
Scott
I cracked a rim recently (night + rain = low visibility) on either the A436 heading into Stow on the Wold or the B4077 between Toddington and Tewkesbury - both massive impacts even at only 40-50 mph.
I've been advised to replace the tyre as well as the wheel and to have a geometery test done (which I think I would have done anyway). All this equates to just a bit more than my insurance excess.
I have informed my insurance company that I intend to claim from Gloucestershire CC and I've spoken to GCC about it. They are sending out claim forms but won't comment about success rates ... probably understandably.
Cheers
Scott
Posted on: 12 February 2010 by Mick P
Chaps
As a rule of thumb, a local authority is only liable for car damage six months after they have been notified of the pothole which is a brilliant get out clause.
If someone notifies them, they are supposed to ring it with yellow paint and then they have six months to carry out a repair. It cost an average of £200 to fix a pothole so it makes economic sense to do as many holes in the same road at the same time, hence the irregularity of repair times.
LAs tend to fight claims because of the cost involved.
Regards
Mick
As a rule of thumb, a local authority is only liable for car damage six months after they have been notified of the pothole which is a brilliant get out clause.
If someone notifies them, they are supposed to ring it with yellow paint and then they have six months to carry out a repair. It cost an average of £200 to fix a pothole so it makes economic sense to do as many holes in the same road at the same time, hence the irregularity of repair times.
LAs tend to fight claims because of the cost involved.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 12 February 2010 by rich46
rumour as it councils are using pot holes as speed humpsquote:Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps
As a rule of thumb, a local authority is only liable for car damage six months after they have been notified of the pothole which is a brilliant get out clause.
If someone notifies them, they are supposed to ring it with yellow paint and then they have six months to carry out a repair. It cost an average of £200 to fix a pothole so it makes economic sense to do as many holes in the same road at the same time, hence the irregularity of repair times.
LAs tend to fight claims because of the cost involved.
Regards
Mick
Posted on: 12 February 2010 by gone
I find it helps if you tell the council where the potholes are. Bucks County Council seems very responsive at the moment - you can report potholes on their website, and they send a team out in fairly short order - I've done it a couple of times. Simply click on the map and describe the damage. I know it doesn't help if you've already hit it - I know what it can cost and I feel for you guys. But if no-one reports damage, it's unlikely the council will know anything about it until the claim comes in. It's also in our interest to keep council tax down. A pothole repair must cost less than a pair of alloys, tyres and legal fees.
Blimey, I almost feel sorry for them so I'd better shut up now
Blimey, I almost feel sorry for them so I'd better shut up now
Posted on: 12 February 2010 by Mike-B
This might be funny if you have run out of real funny stuff.
I am the O.P. on the post. I am in the process of waiting for a response from the CC, OK all iz kool, not out of patience - yet
But driving the road with "MY" pothole today, I notice with horror the repairs that they made 2 days after my damage in mid January is now broken again.
The new hole is practically the same size as the old one, the big tarmac plug they filled the hole with is now in a thousand bits spread along the road.
The only saving grace is the pothole is actually in the middle of the road lane, whereas when I hit it it was in the snow slush line that defined the drivable part of the road. So its now easy enough to drive over.
I phoned the CC, waiting 15 minutes with nice reassuring "sorry to keep you waiting" messages. I hung up & sent an e-mail.
Problem seems to be they are making temporary repairs - I am tempted to call it "bodging" but that is an honourable chair making trade in this part of the world - but it seems to me the only way to fix these holes all over the country is to repair the hole properly & then resurface the whole road.
I guess we the tax payer had better be prepared.
I am the O.P. on the post. I am in the process of waiting for a response from the CC, OK all iz kool, not out of patience - yet
But driving the road with "MY" pothole today, I notice with horror the repairs that they made 2 days after my damage in mid January is now broken again.
The new hole is practically the same size as the old one, the big tarmac plug they filled the hole with is now in a thousand bits spread along the road.
The only saving grace is the pothole is actually in the middle of the road lane, whereas when I hit it it was in the snow slush line that defined the drivable part of the road. So its now easy enough to drive over.
I phoned the CC, waiting 15 minutes with nice reassuring "sorry to keep you waiting" messages. I hung up & sent an e-mail.
Problem seems to be they are making temporary repairs - I am tempted to call it "bodging" but that is an honourable chair making trade in this part of the world - but it seems to me the only way to fix these holes all over the country is to repair the hole properly & then resurface the whole road.
I guess we the tax payer had better be prepared.
Posted on: 14 February 2010 by Derry
quote:Originally posted by Mick Parry:
Chaps
As a rule of thumb, a local authority is only liable for car damage six months after they have been notified of the pothole which is a brilliant get out clause.
If someone notifies them, they are supposed to ring it with yellow paint and then they have six months to carry out a repair. It cost an average of £200 to fix a pothole so it makes economic sense to do as many holes in the same road at the same time, hence the irregularity of repair times.
LAs tend to fight claims because of the cost involved.
Regards
Mick
Where can onr find this precedent/case law?