Can you claim if you damage your car hitting a pot hole?

silkyuk9

I'm sure we all are having problems with pot holes in the road no matter where you live.

what is the law regarding damage if you hit a pot hole in the road and it damages your car, whther that is only a suspension spring or part of the wheel or the mechanics that steer the car.

In my area there are holes all over the place and these are on 'A' roads.

a few years ago my son hit a pot hole on the A64 near York on a busy duel carrageway and damaged his car, when he got out the front drivers wheel was like a cheese wedge had been removed from the wheel.

Ive hit a few pot holes in my area and im convinced that my steering as gone funny.

darich

In short , it is possible.
In real life it can be tricky - you have to prove the council knew that the hole was there and had been slow in repairing it.

With the recent very cold weather, and then the thaw, many roads are splitting/cracking/breaking up. It would probably be unreasonable to expect a council to know that the pothole you hit was there, since it could easily have appeared earlier that day.

Get a photo of the hole with item for scale eg coin also in the shot and an accurate description of what happened and when. You'll also need to either get the works to your car done and have a receipt or have a quote from a garage to have the repairs carried out.

You may or may not be successful but even if successful you may not receive the full amount of the repair for a variety of reasons eg empty road but you still hit big pothole? could be scam to have suspension fixed or tyres were almost bald but now you're claiming for new one so you get better than you had before (normally called "betterment" - situation where someone else pays for you to receive better than you had before)

forgotmyname

You need to prove which hole did the damage IF there is any damage, Checked your tyres/tracking/bushes?

You would also need to prove the pothole is large enough and that the council knew about it but failed to make
it safe.

It wont be a simple case of write a letter and wait for a cheque.

mustrum_ridcully

You could claim, but tort law is based on what is reasonable...

So a council with it's head screwed on could argue the following: they were unaware of that particular pothole; in light of recent government budget cuts it's unreasonable for all road surfaces to be maintained to perfect condition; in light of it having been the coldest December in 100 years it's unreasonable for road surfaces to be perfect condition; drivers are expected to drive with due care and attention so therefore it's reasonable to expect a driver to pay attention to the road surface that includes paying attention to the road surface*.

* IIRC there was a case of a motorcyclist being charged with driving without due care and attention when they went through a pot hole and fell off, though what happened in the end I don't know (I bet the case was probably dropped after the Daily Mail/Express went into full OUTRAGE mode )

p00hsticks

silkyuk9 wrote: »

In my area there are holes all over the place and these are on 'A' roads.

Ive hit a few pot holes in my area and im convinced that my steering as gone funny.

Have you reported them to the local authority ?

http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/index.jsp?LGSL=557&LGIL=0&ServiceName=Report%20a%20pothole

They can't repair them if they don't know they're there, and they won't know they're there if no one tells them.

If you can show that the authority were aware of them but haven't repaired them in a reasonable time, then you might have a case for compensation for any damage caused ..

Ben1030

Im wondering the same thing, ive had to replace the fornt suspection twice in under a year as its impossible to avoid big trenches to get to my house. The only difference is that these trenches (which are still there and deepending) are totally manmade by some work carried out 2 years ago. Can i claim?

dbt3mummy

We've just claimed off our insurance - they've taken the car and further details regarding it - including photos and a video we took just after it happened.

Also another person who received a lot of mre damage than ours has made a successful claim as well.

There is no way this pothole would of appeared over night



Our suspension (you can see our vehicle in the picture) is shot to pieces, both passenger side alloys have huge flat spots. This hole is just off a blind bend and hitting it at 60mph threw us across the road, luckily nothing coming!
The small corsa van that hit it afterwards suffered a lot more damage. Luckily we were able to turn around and warn other oncoming vehicles whilst we took evidence.

Give it a go! Hopefully we will hear by the end of the week if the insurance company will pay out.

kriss_boy

dbt3mummy wrote: »

There is no way this pothole would of appeared over night

Our suspension (you can see our vehicle in the picture) is shot to pieces, both passenger side alloys have huge flat spots. This hole is just off a blind bend and hitting it at 60mph threw us across the road, luckily nothing coming!

It probably didnt appear overnight... perhaps it took a couple of weeks. You cant expect your local council to check B class roads at a greater frequency of every 4 weeks- its just not practical.

To me it sounds like you were driving too fast to spot it and react. Its really not that difficult to spot the bad ones- you kinda expect them in along the verges of rural roads like that at this time of year.

If people actually reported them instead of moaning about them then it would have probably been fixed weeks ago.

Plus people dont realise 99% of their council tax goes on Social work and Education- not transportation!!

dbt3mummy

I have a video taken at 20mph and even then you can clearly hear me say to my husband to swerve for it as due to sun direction and on the case of the day it happened, water it is NOT clear to spot.

The legal limit on this road is 60mph - even though it is a B road it is one of the main links between two Major A roads.

Having done some research and knowing a few people in the council, this was first reported to them as a "minor" pothole in mid December just before the first major snowfall yet they only went to repair it last weekend after a poor elderly gentleman was taken to hospital after hitting head on traffic.

And we aren't all just moaners - - we do take driving very seriously and report anything that would cause damage or harm to other road users. And yes I think most of us are aware that the road fund licence plus tax on fuel and council tax does go to other funds and definately not highways maintenance

thenudeone

I once successfully claimed (using the insurer's legal service) a significant 3-figure sum for a damaged catalytic converter from a council because a large piece of tarmac (bigger than a brick) bounced up from a pothole, but my insurers said they were surprised they paid out!

andygb

kriss_boy wrote: »

It probably didnt appear overnight... perhaps it took a couple of weeks. You cant expect your local council to check B class roads at a greater frequency of every 4 weeks- its just not practical.

To me it sounds like you were driving too fast to spot it and react. Its really not that difficult to spot the bad ones- you kinda expect them in along the verges of rural roads like that at this time of year.

If people actually reported them instead of moaning about them then it would have probably been fixed weeks ago.

Plus people dont realise 99% of their council tax goes on Social work and Education- not transportation!!

So, you would do what?

Swerve into the oncoming traffic?

Do an emergency stop?

How far away can you spot a pot hole from, probably not more than twenty yards - how long does it take a car to cover twenty yards at 40 - 60 MPH?