Pothole Damage Query

Danny-r

Hi all,

Looking at putting in claim for a really deep pothole. The appropriate council have asked for letter of interest from my insurer, and they won't process without. Obviously I don't want to claim via my insurance, but is this them saying that if I don't claim via insurance, I can't claim for pothole damage?

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

Ectophile

Danny-r said:

Hi all,

Looking at putting in claim for a really deep pothole. The appropriate council have asked for letter of interest from my insurer, and they won't process without. Obviously I don't want to claim via my insurance, but is this them saying that if I don't claim via insurance, I can't claim for pothole damage?

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

You can claim.  You send them a letter before action, followed up by a court summons.  By the time it gets to court, if they don't process the claim, they lose by default.

Hoenir

Danny-r said:

Obviously I don't want to claim via my insurance, but is this them saying that if I don't claim via insurance, I can't claim for pothole damage?

Be open to abuse otherwise. 

cw8825

Danny-r said:

Hi all,

Looking at putting in claim for a really deep pothole. The appropriate council have asked for letter of interest from my insurer, and they won't process without. Obviously I don't want to claim via my insurance, but is this them saying that if I don't claim via insurance, I can't claim for pothole damage?

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

I believe until you have either claimed via your insurance or paid yourself for the repairs. 

You have not suffered a loss that you can then try to claim back from the council. 

You need to weigh up the costs of the repairs against the time/likelihood of making a successful recovery. 

Had the pothole been reported?
what’s the council policy for pothole repairs l?

theoretica

Ask on local social media for anyone who has the pothole on dashcam?

DullGreyGuy

cw8825 said:

Danny-r said:

Hi all,

Looking at putting in claim for a really deep pothole. The appropriate council have asked for letter of interest from my insurer, and they won't process without. Obviously I don't want to claim via my insurance, but is this them saying that if I don't claim via insurance, I can't claim for pothole damage?

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

I believe until you have either claimed via your insurance or paid yourself for the repairs. 

You have not suffered a loss that you can then try to claim back from the council. 

You have suffered a loss... in principle all Motor claims are based on the loss of value for the vehicle at the instant of damage. The repair costs are actually just a convenient proxy for the loss of value... I am sure many engineers would argue that this isn't true because buyers tend to underestimate repair costs but its what a senior judge declared a few years ago so thats the basis until someone takes it to a higher court for a different opinion. 

There is no legal obligation to claim on your insurance, though you do need to inform them and the Council may well if you dont. You need to follow the standard processes for confirming 1) if they were aware of the issue 2) when the road was last inspected 3) what their policy is. The law allows them to mark their own homework on these things so as long as they've not broken their own rules it's unlikely a claim will succeed. 

p00hsticks

Danny-r said:

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

From your description, it sounds like a major road. 
Are you sure that maintenance is the responsibility of the local council and not National Highways ?
Network claims - National Highways

DullGreyGuy

p00hsticks said:

Danny-r said:

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

From your description, it sounds like a major road. 

It's a road over a motorway... some are major roads, some are little more than farm tracks that were negotiated as bridges when they wanted to divide the farm in two by the motorway. Certainly not all are major roads. 

Danny-r

p00hsticks said:

Danny-r said:

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

From your description, it sounds like a major road. 
Are you sure that maintenance is the responsibility of the local council and not National Highways ?
Network claims - National Highways

This is the roundabout, with the M602 underneath. Is there anyway to find out who is responsible. I do have dashcam footage so will get that tomorrow. Most councils don't require a letter of interest from insurers. I don't believe NH do either.

facade

cw8825 said:

I believe until you have either claimed via your insurance or paid yourself for the repairs. 

You have not suffered a loss that you can then try to claim back from the council. 

<snip>

If you claim on your insurance, then the only money that you can claim (and keep) is your excess and any uninsured losses you suffered. If the Council pay the whole claim, then the (payout-excess) has to be passed onto the insurance company.

If you pay yourself, then you can claim all of the costs, and keep the money if they pay out.

When you claim on your insurance, the insurer can claim their payout back from the negligent third party.

They won't bother unless it caused an accident with a payout of hundreds of thousands because it will be throwing good money after bad chasing a reluctant council for a few hundred.

p00hsticks

Danny-r said:

p00hsticks said:

Danny-r said:

Just to add to, I know the exact location of the pothole, but there is no pedestrian access. It's on top of a motorway with 4 entrance/exits, motorway east/west and then into a town centre and one into the hospital, it's a very busy roundabout. Not sure if I can argue this but it's really not reasonable nor safe to take a picture of the actual pothole. It absolutely cannot be done in daylight.

From your description, it sounds like a major road. 
Are you sure that maintenance is the responsibility of the local council and not National Highways ?
Network claims - National Highways

This is the roundabout, with the M602 underneath. Is there anyway to find out who is responsible.

Apparently, it's not a strategic A road so you are correct in your first thought that it'll be the local council. 
For future reference, you can find out if it's the responsibility Of National Highways (who maintain motorways and major A roads) by entering the road number on their website here
Roads we manage - National Highways