Claiming for pothole damage

Wig

I can see from the picture that it was not the pothole you hit, but the uneven road surface to the left of the pothole, it is difficult to see but it can nonetheless just be made out that the repair has sunk and a wall of tarmac rises on the far side of the repair. As to how succesful a claim would be I would say probably little to no chance of winning. Report the pothole/uneven surface and move on.

kriss_boy

Its a sign of the times, people constantly looking to blame others and looking for financial compensation.

There where a few pot holes on a main road near me. Every time I drove the stretch I safely moved a touch nearer the centre lines to avoid them. I would frequently glance in my rear view mirror to see if others did the same. But predictably enough they didnt.

Infact that goes for practically any situation. You slow or navigate around something and the drivers behind you are oblivious to your actions.

Lum

Worth bearing in mind that the drivers behind you can't see the pothole until you've cleared or avoided it, so have less time to react. For some situations such as obstacles in the road (fallen traffic cones, ladders, car parts etc.) I'll put my hazard lights on before I start to go around it to alert the driver behind that something is up. If safe to do so I'll sometimes stop and remove the object from the road.

In the case of the hole I started this thread with, it was very nasty when I hit it, and the accompanying back and neck pain were rather painfull for the next day or so (no I don't intend claiming personal injury, my back and neck are quite weak due to a previous accident). My car then went on to fail it's MOT due to the front suspension bushes being torn to pieces. The car has not done many miles since it's last MOT and had no advisioris for suspension on the last one. Cost me £226.64 for new ones and £60 (cash) fitting.

The obstruction is pretty much invisible, because it's a subsided bit of road, not the pothole, that did the damage. My GF who commutes on that road regularly says it's been like that for about a year.

I'm now getting increasingly annoyed with the pothole situation around here. Just started a new job and my daily commute is now mostly single track lanes with passing places, the potholes are almost impossible to avoid, especially if you get someone coming the other way. I'm going to, reluctantly, go with a company car and sell one of my cars just so as to not have to pay for the ongoing suspension damage.

With the amount of tax that drivers pay, is it really that unreasonable to expect the roads to be maintained to a good standard and to be compensated when they are not and it damages your car?

kriss_boy

Lum wrote: »

Worth bearing in mind that the drivers behind you can't see the pothole until you've cleared or avoided it, so have less time to react...
...
My GF who commutes on that road regularly says it's been like that for about a year....

....is it really that unreasonable to expect the roads to be maintained to a good standard and to be compensated when they are not and it damages your car?

Two second rule mate, unless your tailgating the driver infront then you would have plenty of time to react.

Youre clearly driving too fast, taking the racing line through the roundabout at 50mph is madness, no wonder the car failed its MOT.

Unfortunately your road tax doesnt pay for the upkeep of roads!

Lum

I was referring to other drivers in that post, to explain the behaviour that kriss_boy posted about. I don't tailgate people.