zetec
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 10:25 AM |
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Road pot hole claim.
At the weekend my daughter hit the mother of all holes in busy country lane. In no way her fault and I've now found out it has been reported to
the council many times in the last few weeks.
The damage is a buckled alloy wheel, tyre looks OK but will probably replace just in case.
We were thinking of claiming and started to go through the process but then had a nasty thought that it might go against her car insurance, and at 19
that is the last thing you want!
So do I stick a used wheel and tyre on for £55 and just swallow it?
If we go the insurance route it will be a claim against the council for about £260 + tracking check for a new wheel and tyre from Ford.
Big worry is if her car insurance history, which is blemish free at the moment, gets this added as a no fault claim which can in a lot of instance
lead to a jump in premium.
" I only registered to look at the pictures, now I'm stuck with this username for the rest of my life!"
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INDY BIRD
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 10:33 AM |
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Hi I thought you could just claim direct with the council on this?
I had a dust cart blow a hose next to my car and hydralic oil all over my car, i claimed direct with the council, you will need photo evidence of the
hole etc, if it has been already marked by the council with paint for repair they wont follow on the claim, but if nothing you may have a chance,
[Edited on 23/3/16 by INDY BIRD]
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INDY BIRD
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 10:35 AM |
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some good info here
http://www.theaa.com/breakdown-cover/pothole-damage-how-to-claim.html
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lsdweb
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 10:35 AM |
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Claim directly to the council. They will probably try and bat you off but don't give up. If they knew about it and did nothing to prevent damage
to vehicles then they don't really have much of a 'defence'.
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zetec
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 10:45 AM |
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They were asking for the details of the vehicle car insurance, I suppose I could direct them to the website for checking a vehicle is insured or tell
them to sod off as none of their business!
I'm not one to claim on such things normally but in this instance the hole is very deep, even saw a couple of the local eastern Europeans
sitting next to it with their fishing rods!
[Edited on 23/3/16 by zetec]
[Edited on 23/3/16 by zetec]
" I only registered to look at the pictures, now I'm stuck with this username for the rest of my life!"
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Charlie_Zetec
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 11:47 AM |
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Your claim is against the Council direct, not your insurance company - don't give them any information about your insurers! I had a similar
incident 8 years ago; went through a mahoosive pothole and tore holes in the sidewall of 2 tyres (luckily the wheels remained undamaged, somehow).
When I tried to claim they fobbed me off with excuses, but the best thing you can do is take measurements of the length, width and depth of the
pothole, check the location (ie. is I t within the white lines of the road itself) and check they are outside of the Council/Highways Department size
guidelines for repair. If they are, then pursue the claim. The Council will still refuse to pay, and you'll end up threatening them with Small
Claims Court action to recover costs of wheel, tyre, and cost of Court - then they'll normally offer you a "without prejudice"
settlement.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity!
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nick205
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 11:51 AM |
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Don't give up and push them hard until they pay up! I once knackered a good tyre on a pot hole and never claimed. It was a company car and the
tyre was replaced with no cost to me other than time to go to Kwik Fit.
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BenB
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 12:29 PM |
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Didn't realise it wasn't possible to claim if the pothole was marked. That explains why the road I drove down yesterday looked like the
surface of the moon. Each 10cm deep 30cm wide pot-hole had a nice white circle around it. It look like the paint had been there about six months if
not longer!
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 01:09 PM |
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Do NOT give them your insurance detail, you don't have to. It has nothing to do with them, it's not an accident and it's not a
notifiable event for insurance.
Call the councils roads team and ask for a claim form. I've done it, it works. It takes a few months.
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nick205
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 01:16 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by BenB
Didn't realise it wasn't possible to claim if the pothole was marked. That explains why the road I drove down yesterday looked like the
surface of the moon. Each 10cm deep 30cm wide pot-hole had a nice white circle around it. It look like the paint had been there about six months if
not longer!
The time lapse between identifying an issue and fixing it can be long! Personally I think it stems from being the council and who really checks what
they do.
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zetec
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 02:54 PM |
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Not say they get a lot of claims but they have a dedicated section of their website for claims...
" I only registered to look at the pictures, now I'm stuck with this username for the rest of my life!"
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craig1410
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| posted on 23/3/16 at 10:55 PM |
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I successfully claimed against one of my local councils for damage caused by a pothole. The hole had been reported previously and not filled in so I
got a friend to come with me to witness the hole and help me take photos showing the dimensions including the depth and the position. I sent these
pictures to the council alone with photos of my buckled wheel and (assumed) tyre damage. It took me nearly 6 months of letter ping-pong but eventually
I got £260 in damages. I probably had to write the original claim plus around 3 follow-up letters with some additional information and justifications
for the damage repairs but it was no big deal really and worth it in the end. This was around the late 1990's so maybe things have changed and
this was in Scotland.
Good luck!
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 24/3/16 at 12:00 AM |
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quote:
Didn't realise it wasn't possible to claim if the pothole was marked. T
It is, unless they put a cone over it. Paint is hardly visible and especially not at night or in rain. Don't let them claim that.
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Slimy38
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| posted on 24/3/16 at 09:16 AM |
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Regarding marking the hole, I thought it was the other way round, IE the council can't be done for damage they don't know about?
From that AA link;
quote:
It's important to understand that they do have a statutory defence as they cannot be held liable for a defect they do not know about,
either because it has not been reported to them or because it has not been picked up in their own road condition surveys.
If they've marked it, that means they know about it and haven't fixed it. That should make it easier to claim rather than harder.
[Edited on 24/3/16 by Slimy38]
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 24/3/16 at 06:27 PM |
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quote:
Regarding marking the hole, I thought it was the other way round, IE the council can't be done for damage they don't know about?
This.
And don't feel guilty about it, as plenty of folk will try to make you feel guilty. You pay your rates, if they can't manage the budget to
cover the repairs they need to sort it, not expect you to cover it. They will do their best to make you feel it's your fault for not steering
around it, for not seeing it, for them not knowing about it (they have a responsibility to monitor the road network too, not just repair in response).
They have actively told me they balance rate of claims against cost of preventative repairs - if they've chosen not to fix it, they've
chosen to hand the cost to you and hope you don't claim.
[Edited on 24/3/16 by coyoteboy]
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