Pothole popped 2 of my tyres on a private driveway! Please Help!

KILOCHARLIE

Last week I went a conference at a hotel and when driving up their private driveway to the car park my car hit a huge pothole and burst two of my tyres! I had to leave my car there as I only had one spare, find alternative arrangements to make the 100 mile journey home only to return the next day with another spare and make the journey home.

While collecting my car I took photos of the pothole, spoke to the duty manager of the hotel and explained the situation. He said they would inform their insurers but to get my car insurance company to contact them and it would all be sorted. I explained that I didn't particularly want to get my insurance involved unless needs be as it was clearly not my fault and despite the inconvience I suffered all I was interested in was getting a bill for two new tyres dealt with. He stated that was understandable and to email his boss with the details and see what he could do.

10 days on and I am really in the same situation. I have been in contact with the main manager a few times via email and he states he has passed the details on to their insurance company and they will be in contact. I still have not had my tyres replaced yet (the car is on two of those space saver spares) as I am a bit worried that if I pay to get them done at my local garage there will be problems later on with the insurance company saying I should have gone to a tyre centre approved by them or that by me paying for them myself I have admitted liability or something.
Has anyone any advice at all? Anything would be appreciated as I've heard many people's opinions and I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing or not. Some have said that I should contact my insurers and let them deal with it, but I am not keen on this as I will then have to declare this "accident" every year, risk losing my no claims or pushing up my premium and to be honest would rather fork out the £300 out of my own pocket rather than that. Others have said just keep contacting them until their insurance people get in touch and some to just get my tyres fixed and send them the bill. I really don't want to cause much fuss but need to get my car sorted!

Thanks all

StephenMarsh

Do you have legal expences ?

KILOCHARLIE

don't think so i'm afraid.

TonyMMM

Whether you contact your own insurers or not, this could take a while to sort out, and spacesaver tyres are only for emergency use ... so get your tyres fixed (and keep the old tyres maybe as evidence if you like.) By doing so you make no acceptance of liability whatsoever.

Your claim is against the hotel ( if they want to pass it on to their insurers is their decision) so send the bill for your two tyres PLUS any other reasonable expenses you incurred (extra travel etc..) to the hotel requiring payment within a fixed time (I would give them 14 days). Assure them you will commence small claim proceedings against them without further communication if full payment is not received.


BUT .....Bear in mind that to succeed in a claim against the hotel, you may need to show negligence on their part .. i.e. show that they new about the danger of the pothole but did nothing about it ... things like other people having cars damaged previously would be very useful ?

I assume you took photos /measurements of the pothole you hit ?

huckster

Tyres are not covered by Insurance.

Your only hope is the hotel or their Insurers paying out.

I think you are going to be waiting some time, as I cannot see you getting anywhere with this. I bet you get a letter saying that they do not believe the pothole was responsible for the damage to the tyres and they don't acknowledge any liability.

dunstonh

I can imagine that they will say you were travelling too fast for the road conditions for you to have done two tyres at once. Especially if there was a speed limit on the road (as many hotel drives do have). You are then stuck in a deadlock situation that would ultimately require legal action with no guarantee of success but a good chance of incurring costs for failure. Costs that are likely to be more than the cost of a tyre or two.

Even if you could go with the insurance (see hucksters note), it would be pointless as the excess would be more than the cost of the tyres (and the cost of future renewals).

KILOCHARLIE

Thanks all, had the insurers email me earlier asking for my full address and estimate for repair (£352). I also sent them a couple of pictures I had taken of the pothole and of the main gate where there was no warning signs or speed limit. They said they will make a decision as regards to liability and let me know.

Glad that I you all agree not to get my insurance involved. Would rather pay myself I think just to save the effort of addng the accident details into every quote I ask for in the next 3 years!

Will get my tyres fixed tomorrow then and fingers crossed on the outcome. As for other reasonable expenses I can claim, it would only be the £20 petrol cost so hardly worth mentioning, unless there's anything else I'm not thinking of.

Thanks again and please feel free if you have any more suggestions!