DAMAGED ROADS PROVING COSTLY
POTHOLES are costing drivers and insurers at least £1m a month in total due to massive car repair bills, according to estimates from the AA.
The motoring organisation said the number of pothole-related claims it had seen during the first four months of 2018 alone was more than for the whole of 2017.
Based on its share of Britain’s car insurance market, the broker estimated that nationally, there will have been over 4,200 claims for pothole damage so far this year compared with just over 3,500 estimated claims across last year.
With an estimated average repair bill of around £1,000, the total this year so far comes to “an eye-watering” £4.2m, it said, where drivers feel they have no option but to make an insurance claim.
Janet Connor, the AA’s director of insurance said: “In most cases the damage caused by a pothole – a ruined tyre or even two tyres and perhaps a wheel rim – doesn’t 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 lamppost.
“The pothole epidemic has become nothing short of a national disgrace.”
The AA said a survey of over 17,000 people had found 88% of drivers think roads are in a worse state now than 10 years ago.
Ms Connor said: “Local council budgets have been squeezed to the extent that competing priorities mean they don’t have the resources to keep their roads up to scratch. Our nation’s highways have become a national embarrassment.”
The AA has launched the #FlagitFunditFillit campaign to highlight what it says is a need “to invest in reversing the shocking deterioration of Britain’s roads”.
A Department for Transport spokesman said the government was “investing a record £23bn on our roads to improve journeys”.
“We have listened to the concerns of road users and are already providing councils in England with over £6bn to help improve the condition of our local highways.
“This funding includes a record £296m through the Pothole Action Fund – enough to fix around six million potholes.”