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You Can Claim Money From The Government If Your Car Is Damaged By A Pothole

You Can Claim Money From The Government If Your Car Is Damaged By A Pothole

Motorists are able to claim money back from the government if they can prove that their car was damaged by a pothole

Mike Wood

Mike Wood

UK drivers are being told that they can now apply to get compensation if their car is damaged by a pothole. Happy days.

The UK government say that the ability to claim back is dependent on several factors, including where the incident occurred and the perceived condition of the road that caused the incident.

A Pothole
A Pothole


"You may be able to claim compensation if your vehicle has been damaged by a road," says the government's website on the issue. "The organisation you contact depends on where the road is and the type of road."

"You can't claim compensation if debris from another vehicle caused the damage. Contact your insurer instead," they add.

"Contact the organisation responsible to tell them: what the damage was, why you think they are responsible, the specific location where the damage took place - the road name and the nearest marker post number or feature which identifies the part of the road you were on and the date and time the damage was caused."

They are at pains to point out that motorists should not venture onto motorways to take photographs, however, as the potential for danger is large.

Potholes have been a growing problem in 2018, especially after the harsh weather that most of the UK endured at the start of the year caused the surfaces of British roads to deteriorate.

Estimates hold that there have been more claims for damage made in the first four months of 2018 than in the whole of 2017, with the AA claiming that at least £1 million in damages a month have been caused by poor road surfaces.

Janet Connor, the AA's director of insurance, told The Independent in early May: "In most cases the damage caused by a pothole - a ruined tyre or even two tyres and perhaps a wheel rim - does not justify making an insurance claim given that it is likely to lead to the loss of your excess and no-claim bonus. So the claims we are seeing are clearly much worse than that.

"Drivers are hitting potholes and ruining their suspension, steering, the underbody of the car, breaking axles and occasionally being knocked off course and hitting other vehicles, kerbs or a lamp-post.

"This year we are seeing a growing number of pothole claims described as: 'car severely damaged and un-driveable' which didn't happen at all last year. The pothole epidemic has become nothing short of a national disgrace."

Featured Image Credit: The Simpsons / Fox

Topics: government, UK News