Pothole Damage- Where do I stand?

[Old Bugga]

I have a set of replica Lowenhart LD1 22" rims on my Chrysler C300. One developed a crack in the rim after clobbering a pothole in Paisley (worst roads in Britain?).
I have genuinely not been able to source a matching replacement. As such, I feel I am justified to claim for a full new set of four rims and the council are saying they will only pay for one.

Where do I stand on this?

Apart from still being unable to give a value on the replacement cost of one, as I cant find them, can they reasonable expect me to run a car with one non matching alloy?

[trashbat]

I'm not a lawyer but I doubt that you could reasonably claim for three extra wheels. Even if you have to replace all four to achieve a matching set, you will still own three more wheels than you did before and could sell them for a profit, which is wrong.

I sympathise with your predicament - indeed it's difficult to source my OEM wheels - but to my mind there is a moral limit to reasonable compensation. We're all aware of the general state of British roads, and thus that there is some risk of damage despite the best efforts of highway maintenance - yet we choose to drive nice cars on these roads despite this risk. If you had say £100k wheels on your car it would be hard to justify why the taxpayer should fork out when you damage one.

[abbotsmike]

Old Bugga said:

Where do I stand on this?

Not in the pothole would be a good start!

Have you considered getting a quote for repair? a good aluminium welder that can carry out the appropriate heat treatment could probably restore it to its original strength and appearance.

[Roo]

If they're anything like the council round here you've got no chance.

Unless you can prove they were notified of the pothole at least twenty four hours prior to you hitting it and they haven't repaied it they won't pay.

[HustleRussell]

Old Bugga said:

Pothole Damage- Where do I stand?

In the shower, crying?

To be honest you're lucky to be reclaiming the value of one wheel/tyre. In the worst of the potholes after the winter's freeze, I had a claim rejected on no grounds whatsoever apart from the council already having ran out of budget.

Get the wheel repaired, it must be possible.

[SonicShadow]

It's a good excuse to get rid of such tasteless wheels and put something much nicer on.

[10 Pence Short]

As far as I'm aware there are specific schedules for inspecting certain routes. The busier/more important the route, the more intense the inspection routine.

Assuming there are no other reports on that same pothole and the local authority have stuck to the inspection schedule for that stretch of road, it may be difficult to prove negligence on their behalf.

[whatmoretyres]

These guys say those wheels are exclusively through them in the UK, I assume you've asked them?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22-INCH-LOWENHART-WHEELS...

[gazza285]

whatmoretyres said:

These guys say those wheels are exclusively through them in the UK, I assume you've asked them?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/22-INCH-LOWENHART-WHEELS...

They're real ones though, not replicas.