Bleeping Potholes!!

[Marcr1]

Hi

I'm just looking for a bit of advice really, I inevitably hit a bad pot hole today, there's millions of them around lately :(

Cut a long story short it has buckled my alloy and put a bulge in my tyre, about half the size of a golf ball which is <500 miles old (Bridgestone to which wasn't cheap).

Took it to a garage to assess the damage and they reckon the buckle isn't too bad and can be hammered out but the tyre is a danger and needs to be replaced sooner rather than later.

In the meantime I've chucked a space saver on to see me through.

I went back to the scene of the of the pothole an hour after my incident and sods law it has been filled in grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

The thing is the tarmac was still wet, there are tyre tracks on a grass next to the road and loads of bits of tarmac laying around on the grass.

I have complained to the council and asked that they pay for the damage but I think they're going to be funny with the fact it's now filled in.

A few pics:

The wet tarmac:

You can see the fresh van tracks on the grass:

tarmac debris on grass:

Any help or advice would be appreciated, other than not hitting the pot hole in the first place

[Stoney871]

They will have a record of the time the hole was fixed and you should have a record of the time you got your wheel looked at,

Where they get you is they ask for proof that their hole caused your damage,

[b1g_dav3]

Take it from someone with 7 buckled wheels - give up after they first say no, you'll just be dragged out long after you've needed the wheel replacing. It's near impossible to win, because they'll say prove it was that pot hole, and not one that was in someone else's area.

That is unless you have a lot of money for a good lawyer :P

[Marcr1]

I stopped in a pub car park to inspect the damage as soon as it happened. So I'd ask them for CCTV. I went straight to the garage from there so I could use that as evidence but I have no real proof that was the pot hole that caused the damage. I needed a dash cam!

Paha! I begrudge paying for a new tyre 4 weeks after buying it!

It should be safe to hammer the buckle back in?

[StornowayBlue]

Id try and find a new alloy m8, stick a new tyre on it and good luck with the claim against the council. I would not trust that wheel, even if they do manage to balance it out with weights.

[ayrshiredude]

This happened to me a few years ago. it caused more than just damage to the wheel. I had the car fixed then claimed from the council. First they denied liablilty but I didn't leave it there and wrote back to hem again telling them that they were responsible and if I didn't get a settlement withing a period of time I would contact a lawyer. I got a full payment within a week.

Also you don't need expensive lawyers thats whay small claims is for. If you have all the evidence its only a small cost to take them to court.

[Bladerunner]

Best of luck with the claim, as Clive said the onus is with you to prove they are liable.

I also would not risk my or anyones life with a 'repaired' wheel, buy a new one and as you say a new tyre.

Cheers

Martin

[wba1990]

This happened to me about 9 months ago, went down a very nasty pothole didn't think nothing of it then my car was pulling to the left and something didn't feel right. Carried on home as it was only 5 minutes down the road as I thought I must of knocked the tracking out, when i checked the wheel complete flat. Took it to the garage and the tyre had ripped. Cut long story short claimed on council they did pay 75% of what I had to pay but took them bout almost 6 months - so I complained about that and they gave me the other 25% :P. So although it took 9 months they did pay out eventually!

[Philf1]

With hindsight would have been better to take a photo of the pothole immediately. Trouble is that you'd be stopping every ten minutes just in case.

I've heard that councils won't accept liability if they aren't aware of the pothole. They usually mark them up ready for the hole fillers and think they have a time limit on how long they take to fix it, so if the hole isn't marked they can deny responsibilty. Might be wrong but if they can get out of paying they will do but it's got to be worth a letter at least.

[Wayneo01]

Mines in the garage today because of my pothole experience, having a full check over making sure nothing is bent or snapped.

[Wayneo01]

Just got the car back damage = 2 buckled front wheels. Think im not getting ford alloys and just getting some other ones.

[screamer]

happened to me at the start of the year, £505 lighter as it had buckled a tie rod and more, new tyre & wheel, did claim but had to retract it, as my bl**dy MOT had ran out the day before, my fault!!

my claim was in and 2 different lots from the council had said because it had not been reported before, they won't be liable for it.

got my MOT done and the same garage who fixed my car says the rear wheel is damaged

if i'd known that, i would've bought aftermarket wheels instead of the soft ford titanium alloys

[Wayneo01]

Ive got the titanium ones aswell, just thinking if i want to go after market or but just some other better ford alloys which done buckle