Smashed my car in a pothole. Can I make a claim?

[ATV]

I hit a major series of potholes in a road near to where my friend lives. It was at night and there were no lamppost lights around and I didn't see them till the last minute, the car scraped very badly until I stopped (was travelling around 20-25 mph).

This morning I noticed a huge oil puddle under my car and took it to the garage. I've been told that I damaged a couple of pipes on the undercarriage which will cost £90 to replace plus labour.

Should I bother writing to the local council asking for a reimbursement of my invoice? I went back to have a look at the road in the daylight and the condition is shocking, the whole road is falling apart and looks like it hasn't been touched in decades!

Please note, I'm not going to be claiming for whiplash or depression caused by having to borrow a mate's car while mine's in the garage etc. All I would like is the cost of the damage to my car to be reimbursed, after all, what am I paying my taxes for if the roads are in such a bad state?

If anyone else has ever made a similar claim could you let me know what the best way to draft a letter would be and who to submit my claim to? Should I include a couple of pictures of the road as well?

[screem]

Absolutely you should!

take a pic of the road before writing to the council though or you may find that the council very quickly repair the road and you will have lost your evidence.

[Crimson Tide]

There seem to have been a few of these recently - don't know if it's weather related. Do a search and you might find the answer. IIRC you need to prove that the council knew the hole existed in the first place, and pester them in order to get anything out of them. I think someone also suggested that all correspondence should be recorded delivery.

I sympathise - it's like driving in Kenya down here in Dorset.

Edited by Crimson Tide on Monday 16th February 21:22

[LMC]

I work with a guy who's claimed the Council twice for the damage to his Golf. Both times he got a new alloy and the suspension sorted.

[Simpo Two]

There's certainly a rash of potholes suddenly - cheap tarmac + frost I expect. St Albans is so bad you almost need a 4x4 to get round.

[tinman0]

Make a claim by all means. Go back and take some pictures, and get them dated (eg picture it with a newspaper).

You must do this as quickly as possible as they have a time limit that they will deal with the case iirc. It could be as low as 14 days or even 7 days.

[Semi hemi]

There's a guy on the scotland forum http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
descibes getting £2500 worth of damage to his RS6 and the council paying up ok might be worth a shout

[mybrainhurts]

A couple of years ago, it was reported that councils were resisting such claims and trying to bluff their way out.

If so, dig your heels in.

When you take a photo, put something in the pothole to denote scale.

[Kozy]

I am in the process of claiming for damamge caused to my Civic after hitting a pothole in January. Before you say anything to the council, make sure you have photographs, including measurements and try to get the surroundings in. Measure distance from the white line and also the track of your car. Aim to show that if driving as reasonably expected within the white lines, your car could not have avoided the pothole in question. Also contact the councils FOI officer and request details of the road maintenance records for that road for the year previous to you incident.

You will need details of the road classification, the inspection shedule, records and dates of the inspections, who they were carried out by, whether they were in a vehicle and if so, how many people were in it and how fast it was travelling. (It can be argued that one person driving at 40mph can not adequately assess the roads condition)

Also ask for any records of complaints made and hope that there is one more than two weeks previous to your incident.

The aim of all is this is to prove that the council were negligent in their maintenance of the road. If you cannot prove this, they will simply deny any responsibility and you will get nothing. You can of course threaten to take it to small claims court, but without all this evidence you havent got much hope and they will accept the offer of court over an out-of-court settlement. Again, the court will throw this out without evidence and you'll be liable for court charges.

I am collecting all this data at present for a claim for a new wheel, tyre damper and spring and anti roll bar damage caused by the hole I hit. I'll let you know how I get on!

Edited by Kozy on Tuesday 17th February 12:10