Claiming for pothole damage

Lum

Recently, coming home from work about 1AM, on a local 70mph dual carriageway A-road, I managed to catch my front left wheel on a pothole. This was on an enterance to a large, unlit, roundabout (the kind of roundabout that is taken pretty fast when empty due to excellent visibility) and by the time I'd seen it it wasn't possible to safely take evasive action. After the impact the car didn't quite feel right in corners any more. It's hard to describe exactly what was wrong, it just felt less confident, didn't seem to handle right.

I'm not fussed about any damage to the tyre. I was about to replace them anyway (They were down to 3mm tread and I only allow myself to run on less tread during the hot summers) but immediately after replacement I had the alignment checked at the alignment shop around the corner, oh dear.

I'm now running 4 1/2 degrees of negative camber on that wheel, which is way out of spec, also the caster is way out of spec too. There was also excessive toe-in but they were able to adjust that. The camber and caster are not adjustable and will require replacement parts. The design of suspension on my car is double wishbone and will require at least a replacement top wishbone and probably a replacement tension rod. I'd either need to get genuine Nissan ones that will need to be imported from Japan, or aftermarket adjustable ones (which would also allow me to correct for any damage to the chassis that may have occured). Also as I continue to drive around I am putting excessive wear on my shiny new tyres that cost me £100 per corner.

How do I go about claiming for this. Is it the local council or the highways agency? Since it's a roundabout joining an A road to local roads I'm not sure.

I have some pictures of the hole here. They've repaired it once before, badly, and it's gone again as a result.

lazer

It is a very small pothole - almost on a roundabout - If you have done any serious damamge to your car your were obviously going far too fast.

As you should be driving slowly around roundabouts - this should not have caused much damage.

However, if your intent on claiming you should try the agency highway

thescouselander

That pot hole doesn't look big enough to cause the sort of damage you describe. Are you sure all the damage was caused by this incident?

Lum

The scale is hard to tell in those pictures. The hole is at least two inches deep and it's a very big roundabout. The hole is also wider than my front tyre (225mm)

It's pretty normal at quiet times for people to go through that roundabout at 50+ when it's quiet and perfectly possible to go through it breaking the 70mph speed limit if you use both lanes (a popular trick with the local boy racers, white van drivers and police BMWs). I was doing about 45 at the time.

Also what you can't see is that the previous attempt at a repair has actually subsided quite a fair way, driving into it is like driving up a speed bump, so it may well have been that that did it rather than the hole itself.

Edit: [Google Maps] As you can see it's pretty much a straight line through that roundabout when traveling east to west. There are no visibility issues as the trees are actually cut so as to allow you to see what's coming and make a judgement whether to go or stop way in advance. Note the two HGVs in the satellite picture to get an idea of scale.

oscardog

Without endangering yourself, try and get a photo with something next to the pothole to show scale (30cm ruler always works well).

I did this when I had the same problem and it help hugely when anyone form the "opposition" looks at your evidence.

System

You appear to have taken the roundabout at excessive speed AND you were obviously aware that there was damage to the carriageway at that point and didn't make any allowance!Putting your left front wheel into that seems to indicate that you were driving down the centre of that road instead of on the left or right. The remnants of road markings seem to indicate that this hole staddles the white line between lanes. Poor driving all around.

thescouselander

If it is just the scale I suggest you re-take the picture with something next to the hole so you get an idea of the size. To me it doesn't look that big from the picture and that may affect your claim.

Its still hard to tell how you could have caused all that damage though. Is your car lowered and did the suspension hit the stops?

Anihilator

I dont see how you could safely across any roundabout at 50MPH

Lum

oscardog: It's not possible to actually get onto the carriageway and take measurements. During the day there is too much high speed traffic and at night while there is little traffic, it's not worth the risk of going out there because what traffic there is will be going very fast indeed.

The road in question bans pedestrians and cyclists (effectively making it a 2-lane motorway in all but name), so I had to park up on the road heading for Ochrwyth (to the south) and take the pictures from a distance in order to comply with the law.

thescouselander: The car is running standard suspension, however the standard suspension is the same as that fitted to the R32 Nissan Skyline, problem is my car is somewhat heavier than a Skyline, 1500kg, and most of that weight is at the front due to a cast iron 6-pot engine, automatic gearbox and AWD system all hanging over the front axle. The rear of the car consists of a massive empty boot that weighs pretty much nothing.

I doubt this damage was caused elsewhere as when I last had the alignment checked, all 4 wheels were in spec, then the car was off the road for 6 months waiting for a new windscreen to be delivered from Japan, I only got it back on the road at the start of November so it's only seen just over a months worth of driving since the last alignment check. The car has only done 43000km (27000miles) so I doubt it's down to wear and tear either.

Anihilator: Taking that roundabout at 50 is dead easy. You make your decision whether to proceed, slow down or stop from 50-70 yards away, keeping in mind the golden rule of being always able to bring your car to a complete stop in the distance you can see to be clear (highway code states this is 60 yards, including thinking distance, at 50mph though this has not been revised since the days of drum brakes and skinny wheels).

I'd worry that you say it's impossible to cross any roundabout at 50. Not even this one??

!!!!!!: I entered the roundabout from the right hand lane (having overtaken an HGV about a few hundred yards previously) and took a slightly smoother (therefore safer) line through it. Yes I cut the lane slightly, but this (pothole notwithstanding) is neither dangerous or illegal, unless there happens to be another vehicle there which obviously there wasn't.

robredz

Anihilator wrote: »

I dont see how you could safely across any roundabout at 50MPH

looking at the photos quite easily with no other traffic around, or straight across between the arrows in a 6x6 Pinzgauer, wouldn't try it in a Citroen 2CV though you may get seasick

seriously, have a look here on Honest John's site regarding claiming for pothole damage:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=28561

cyclonebri1

You will get laughed out of court if yo try to pursue that. Whatever damgaged your car it was not that pothole.