Anyone successfully Claimed Pothole damage?

[MPX309]

drove over one today and its scrapped the wheel. . . like quite high up (that deep). . . So I might ring tomorrow and complain. Had it have happened parking I wouldn't be so annoyed, as that would be on me, but pot holes are surely a responsibility of the council?

[richard150]

did you take a picture of the pothole 

 

[Russ]

As many Pictures of the pothole as you can get from various angles preferably with a rule/tape measure (or something to guage the length/width and depth of the hole). Also as many witnesses that you can get who have seen it or driven past it to give a written statement saying it was there and I hope you have the patience of a saint! Also get some quotes for any damage to the wheel/suspension/tyre/stearing.

A mate in my last work argued for 13 months with Edinburgh council before they caved in and paid about £1000 for the damage from hitting a pothole on his BMW. 

[ukcal]

No, although I scraped my alloy on a dropped kerb that turned out to be very dropped at all...  Growth covering the fact it actually had become a two inch kerb...

I also had to have my front right spring replaced at the weekend after it cracked on a speed bump... No claims required, the spring had lost its powder-coating, water had gradually seeped in, bit of rust and then a cold morning followed by a speed bump was the straw that broke the camel's back!  Perhaps speed bumps should be removed and the tarmac saved used to fill the holes in the roads...  More pleasant and safe driving for us all...

[alexp999]

I believe you can only claim for potholes which are now marked as that shows the Council is aware of it, but has so far done nothing about it.

They can no longer be held accountable for potholes they don't know about afaik...

[MPX309]

1 hour ago, richard150 said:

did you take a picture of the pothole 

 

Not yet, I'm going to go back tomorrow. Will post pictures of damage and hole tomorrow on here.

Granted the damage isn't all that bad, but I like my car in immaculate condition (as do we all), and well, now it's not.

It's on a very busy road though, and due to low light in evenings early now gonna be difficult to attain good pictures. But I'll try.

[cjay1]

report it to www.fixmystreet.co.uk they pass reports on to council and let the public know when report was submitted you can also check to see if anybody has reported your pothole yet. if not report it so the council can fill it

[GavinJ]

I hit a pothole on Queensferry Road in a Range Rover and burst a nearside rear tyre (a 2" gash in the sidewall) and have successfully extracted money from Edinburgh Council to pay for it.    It took 4 months.

Burst Tyre happened on 12th Dec, complained about it through the formal Council channels and completed a form with photos; received an email confirming receipt of the email but was told that their security software would not allow photos etc to be downloaded; was told internal Council, then external Insurance Company and then (finally) an external Claims Assessor would need to review the claim and this might take 6 months; complained about the 6-months and the claim was accelerated through the system.   Within 8 working hours of insurance company receiving the claim from the Council they refused it as the pothole had not show up on the last road inspection.

Fired off a FoI for the last 3 Road Inspection Reports and wrote to the CEO of the Council suggesting that he pay for the tyre as it would cost a lot less than engaging in legal proceedings.   FoI returned with no record of the pothole I hit either before or after the date of the accident; CEO wrote back saying it was an Insurance Company decision and he can not interfere with an external / independent decision.

Started a Court Claim through Edinburgh Sheriff Court under The Simple Procedure (basically an Scottish online court procedure for debts of under £5k) and whacked off another FoI asking for very specific information about the pothole that I hit.   Submitting the Claim costs £20 and requires a bit of form filling but takes less than 3 hours.

Was contacted by an Edinburgh lawyer who was acting for the Council who exchanged a few very formal emails.   2-weeks before they would have to turn up on an on-line / Zoom Court Hearing I got a nice email from the lawyer saying after a lot of work the Council would instruct the Insurance Company to pay the claim plus all Court costs.   The funds were paid to me within 4 days.

A week later I got the response to my 2nd FoI - saying that the Council do not keep details of potholes that are registered (I had a Council reference number for "my" pothole nor do they keep records of the potholes that have been fixed.     So my conclusion:

1)  Its nonsense when the insurance company says that they have never heard of the pothole that you hit

2) The CEO can overrule an external insurance company 

3) When the costs of fighting a claim look like significantly exceeding the cost - they pay up.

My tyre was £260 - the cost of filling a pothole is £51.