Pot holes

[Banjaminion]

After 24 months of ownership i am proud to say that i have four unmarked 19 inch extreme alloys fitted to my car. 

 

That was until last night, i went a different way home last night to avoid traffic, a country lane that opens up near to where i live, i failed to see two large, deep pot holes and the two nearside alloy wheels got scuffed. I have of course opened lines of communication with the council and hope to get the costs of repair covered.

 

I will take pictures of the two craters as proof and the scuff to my wheels.

 

Anyone else claimed for damage against your local council? How did it go? I am 100% sure the damage was not there prior to last night as i cleaned my car over the weekend and took a tooth brush to them.

[ScottyNS]

I tried and failed, good luck. Hopefully you will get a better response than I did. 

[DaveLees]

I submitted a claim to my local council for a new tyre, repair to an alloy, tracking and replacement tyre sealant last week. There were two other cars damaged by the same hole that evening, fortunately we are all local so met in the pub last week to make sure that we all put the same location, and had plenty of photos. I don't hold out a lot of hope, and don't expect to hear anything for 21 days.

On a different note, I called Skoda assist, they were excellent. The call taker worked out my location using Google (was unlit country road), and recovery was with me within 45 minutes. He put an emergency spare on, followed me home where I put a ' summer ' wheel on, ( I had winter tyres on).

[PSM]

A lot will depend on the council as some will be more awkward than others. I damaged a wheel many years ago on my new mk 1 vrs when it was only a few months old. One letter to the council got a positive response and payment for new wheel and tyre.

[Guest]

All depends on whether the council have been notified about those pot holes.

 

I think the general rule is if a pot hole has been reported to the council but they've taken no action, then you can sucessfully claim compensation. But the council can hardly be held responsible if a pot hole has just appeared and you've been the first to discover it.

 

It's just one of those unfortunate things that happens.

 

 

Edited 15 March, 2018 by Guest

[philbes]

At a talk by a representative from the Gloucestershire highways dept. he was obviously proud to be able to say that Gloucestershire rejected more claims for compensation for damage caused by potholes than almost any other county.

[dunc69]

I too have tried to claim for wheel & tyre damage without success (Hertfordshire).

 

But my Dad (330D xDrive) claimed for a new 19” tyre successfully & with minimum fuss (Leicestershire). 

 

Good luck to the OP! 

 

 

[Ads230]

(Forgive the lengthy post - but you might find it useful). 

 

I claimed against mid-Sussex council back in early 2017 (in my previous car) - hit a massive pothole out on the A272 West-bound (similar to the type shown in the Chester pothole gaffe earlier this week), immediately parked up, inspected the tyre (front driver's side) and found a fair bulge in the sidewall. Managed to walk back to the spot, take photos of the pothole from multiple angles (including depth and width). Took the car to the garage the following day, and got a new tyre and wheel alignment sorted. The impact had also scratched the inside of my alloy, as the hole walls were so severe. Overall cost was around £170.

 

Anyway - sent off claim to council with attached evidence, invoice, and expectations of reimbursement. Was met with initial 'further investigation' letter; their point was that the frequency of checks is sufficient... therefore the pothole would have been seen. I re-sent them the photo with the measurements of the width, breadth, and depth, and then asked for evidence of their checks along that part of the road. 

 

They sent me their 'case management file' of checks etc. etc. - which I actually took the time to read through. Highlighted the key areas of the document where they'd failed to notice a pothole measuring 105cm long x 78cm wide x 8cm deep, as well as noticing that they had not effectively crossed out / hidden personal data of the 'pothole inspection staff' etc.

 

I only made it clear around the first point, that frequency of checks does not necessarily mean integrity of checks. The next letter back contained 50% of the reimbursement.

 

I sent one back saying this was not sufficient, and also reminded them of their data protection responsibilities under the DPA - and that the evidence they had sent me could be classed as a minor breach of data protection responsibilities.

 

I received the other 50% with the clause that this was no admission of liability on the council's part... and a request to shred or further anonymise the evidence they had sent me.

 

Either way, my best practices now are:

- Try and pull over, and immediately inspect tyre

- If possible, try and get static eyes on the offending pothole itself

- Photograph and time-stamp EVERYTHING

- Ensure you make an accurate record of speed / direction / external factors like "couldn't avoid due to oncoming traffic"

- Make yourself as much of a (polite but firm) nuisance to them as possible to get them to shut you up by paying out

- Try and get a written notice from your repair garage as to the cause of the damage to the car / tyre / alloy - it's often their expertise which supports your claim

- Persist.

 

Hope this helps

[buaan]

37 minutes ago, Ads230 said:

*Awesome guidance*

 

Hope this helps

 

This is excellent information! I have emailed it to myself and my wife so she can follow the guidance when we eventually hit one of the million potholes in our area/commuting route!

[Plantman]

Like ADS230, I was successful in claiming against Devon County Council. The pothole was on an A road (just) and it was in an area I simply could not avoid (just inside the white lines on my lane) with a car coming in the other direction to me. It was also just after a slight bend!

I just had to break a bit then take the hit!

 

If I locked up fully to try to brake whilst going into the hole it could have caused more damage to the car and the wheel and I couldn't swerve into the oncoming car of course, the other option was to dive into a Devon hedge, which you do not want to mess with ....ouch what a horrible bang it made. 

 

I took loads of pictures from all angles, with something in the pothole to scale it, pictures from further up and down the road.

After some advice on here I think it was I asked the council, under the freedom of information act, how often that section or road was inspected. It turned out that the frequency was not enough so I think that helped with my claim.

I submitted the garage alignment invoice too.

 

Only took a few letters and a form to fill in and they settled. Luckily it was just a bit of alignment that was out so again, I was lucky.