One in four have damaged their car on a speedhump or pothole

The Opinium research of over 2000 drivers, on behalf of InsuretheGap.com, found that over a quarter (26 per cent), who have damaged their car on a speedhump or pothole, paid between £51 and £100 to fix it; a third (35 per cent) paid between £101 and £250; and 8 per cent said it cost more than £250.

Two fifths (39 per cent) of affected drivers complained to the council about the potholes or speedhumps and more than half of them (55 per cent) said their compliant was ignored, but 39 per cent said action was taken as a result. One in ten (10 per cent) went so far as to send their bill to the council.

A fifth (21 per cent) said they had considered complaining “but didn’t see the point as nothing would change”, and 12 per cent complained to the Highways Agency (now called Highways England / Transport Scotland, Traffic Wales or the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure). Instead of complaining, one in six (17 per cent) now take a longer route to avoid potholes.

In 2017 – 2019, more than 905,000 potholes were reported on UK roads according to Confused.com.

Ben Wooltorton, COO, InsuretheGap.com, said, “Damage to cars caused by speedhumps and potholes, in particular, is becoming a big problem as councils struggle with the cost of repairing them. This cold snap will see more potholes and, as we can see from the research, repairs can run into hundreds of pounds. It really is worth avoiding them if possible, and going a different way if the road is particularly bad.”

To report a Pothole online go to Gov.uk (www.gov.uk/report-pothole).