Car Damaged By Pothole - Can One Claim From Local Council?

[Nollywood]

Update:

The cheapest estimate out of three so far is £2,795. So it has been declared a write-off. The Council are footing the bill, and a 2011 Ford Focus 2,0 TDci has been supplied as a courtesy car. My wife's friend works for the Crown Prosecution Service, and can't do without a car.

Her insurance company has gotten involved, and together with an engineer's report, the council have no choice but to pay for a replacement car. Interestingly, the AA recovery guy said he recovered a 2008 Ford Transit Connect just days before this incident, a victim of the same pothole, though in that case, the damage was limited to suspension components. He included this in his report, and the CPS has taken care of the rest.

Fingers crossed.

[Adrian E]

Sounds like a brilliant result - apart from the obvious that they probably would've preferred it not to happen in the first place!

I should imagine working for the CPS has its benefits in access to legal advice too lol

[sarg]

just make sure it is a courtesy car and not a hire car - if for some reason the claim fails, your friend would be liable for the hire car costs, and that would almost certainly be over a grand a week

[Dezzy]

I'm quite a logical person and i can never for the life of me work out why a sign can't be placed beside / close by to warn road users of the uneven surface. A van has sustained damage there too so it can’t be treated as a surprise. We can’t just assume that every road user is in a van or car, what about people on motorbikes? You could be killed!

[christhompson]

I guess it can't hurt if the owner works for the CPS

[ainarssems]

I love this country

In Latvia if you drive in pothole and damage your car it is your own fault if you did not see it because you were not paying attention to road or did not have suitable sitting position or going too fast to brake or avoid it.

[Dezzy]

Yeah fair comment but there is no road taxation in Latvia so I assume no one is responsible.

I don't think it’s right that you have to pay an extortional amount of money to use the road network and then wake up dead.

Think about all these tests that car and tyre manufactures do, all the bullsh*t about stopping in the wet / dry. Do they test for missing road surface and how quick the tyre will stop the car when it’s bouncing off the surface? I imagine not.

I’d expect I wouldn’t be the only person that would be an emotional wreck if someone was killed by not being able to stop. ABS is useless if your wheels are bouncing and not in contact of the tarmac.

[Nollywood]

Update:

As I posted earlier, the Bora has been written off. The Council have been great, I'm surprised. An offer has also been made, will find out tomorrow what it is, and if she accepted.

[HPsauce]

Don't forget, once a reasonable offer is made the loan car will go pretty quickly, if not immediately.

[Nollywood]

Originally Posted by sarg

just make sure it is a courtesy car and not a hire car - if for some reason the claim fails, your friend would be liable for the hire car costs, and that would almost certainly be over a grand a week

It's a hire car, and my wife's friend was informed of the risks. Her words? "Not my problem, if you think I'm going to give you a penny towards hire, think again. And as for losing the claim, think again." Gulp.

I feel bad though, I helped her source the Bora, it's the twin of my sister's car, only my sister's is a TDi PD 115 and 5-speed.