In 2016, UK drivers submitted a claim for pothole damage every 17 minutes, which amounted to more than 31,500 claims, according to research collected by the Royal Automobile Club Foundation for Motoring. Potholes can be a particularly dangerous hazard for drivers, as they can cause buckled wheels, cracked tyres and alloys, and knock out the tracking and wheel balancing. These potential damages are costly as well, since the average value of a claim was £432.
Unfortunately, councils paid out only 26.9 per cent of claims—leaving a majority of motorists to pay out of pocket for the damages. Your chances of a successful pothole claim increase dramatically if somebody has already reported the pothole, as councils are only liable for defects if they knew they were there.
If your vehicle is damaged by a pothole, follow these steps to improve your chances of receiving compensation:
- Visit either potholes.co.uk or streetrepairs.co.uk to confirm whether a pothole has been reported. If the location has not yet been reported, do so.
- Take photographs of the damage as well as the pothole.
- Collect and save all receipts for any work that is done to your vehicle due to the damage.
Call us today at 01444 810 088.