I hit a pothole — what should I check, and can I claim?
What to look for immediately, what to photograph if you intend to claim, and why most pothole claims against councils fail on one specific legal point.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 20 min
- Read
- 5 min
- Safety
- caution
Short answer
Stop somewhere safe and check the tyre sidewall for a bulge, the wheel rim for a flat spot, and whether the car now pulls or vibrates. If you want to claim, photograph the pothole with something for scale, note the exact location, and report it to the highway authority — but understand that councils have a statutory defence if they can show a reasonable inspection and repair regime, and it is the reason most claims are refused.
Autumn and winter are pothole season because the mechanism is freeze-thaw: water gets into a crack, freezes, expands, and breaks the surface apart a little more each cycle. The damage a pothole does to a car is usually one of four things — a split or bulged tyre, a buckled wheel, disturbed alignment, or damaged suspension components — and the annoying part is that all four can be present with nothing visible at the roadside. Knowing what to check turns a vague worry into a decision.
Safety
Step by step
- Pull over somewhere safe and look before driving on.Not on the hard shoulder if you can help it, and not in a live lane. What you are checking takes two minutes and can prevent a blowout.
- Inspect the sidewalls of both tyres on the impact side.You are looking for a bulge, an egg-shaped lump or a cut. A bulge means the internal cords have broken and the tyre must be replaced before driving at speed. It is the most common serious pothole damage and the easiest to see.
- Look at the wheel rim.Run your eye around the edge of the rim where it meets the tyre. A flat spot, a dent or a crack means the wheel is damaged, and a cracked alloy will lose pressure slowly and cannot be safely welded in most cases.
- Drive gently and assess how the car feels.A new pull to one side suggests alignment has moved. A new vibration through the steering suggests a buckled wheel or a shifted balance weight. A knock over bumps suggests suspension damage. Any of these need a garage, and the sooner the cheaper.
- Check tyre pressures within a day.A rim damaged at the bead seat leaks slowly. If one tyre is losing pressure over the following week, that is why.
- Photograph the pothole if you intend to claim.You need the hole itself with something for scale — a shoe, a phone, a coin — plus a wider shot showing the location, and the date. Note the road name, direction and nearest landmark or house number. Photographs taken later are much weaker evidence, and the hole may well be filled by then.
- Report it to the right authority.For most roads that is the local council; for motorways and major A-roads in England it is National Highways, with equivalent bodies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Reporting it also creates a record, which matters for anyone who hits it after you.
- Understand the defence before you invest time in a claim.Under section 58 of the Highways Act 1980 a highway authority has a defence if it can show it took reasonable care — a documented inspection schedule appropriate to the road, and repair within its own timescales once a defect was recorded. This is why so many claims are declined, and why asking for the inspection and repair records for that stretch is the single most useful thing a claimant can do.
- Weigh a council claim against an insurance claim.A comprehensive policy usually covers pothole damage, but you pay the excess and it may affect your no-claims discount. For damage worth less than the excess, the council route or paying directly is often the only sensible option.
Common mistakes
- Swerving to avoid a pothole — Like animals in the road, the swerve is more dangerous than the impact. Brake before it if you can, and ease off the brakes just before you reach it so the suspension is not compressed.
- Not photographing the hole at the time — Councils fill reported potholes, sometimes within days. Without a dated photograph and a precise location, a claim has very little to stand on.
If it doesn't work
Tyre has a bulge in the sidewall
Cause: Broken internal cords from the impact — Fix: Replace the tyre and do not drive at speed on it. This is not repairable and it is a genuine blowout risk.
New vibration at motorway speed
Cause: Buckled wheel or displaced balance weight — Fix: Have the wheel checked off the car. Alloys can be buckled enough to vibrate while looking straight to the eye.
Car pulls to one side afterwards
Cause: Alignment disturbed, or a bent suspension arm — Fix: Have a four-wheel alignment done, and ask them to check for damage rather than just adjusting. Adjusting to compensate for a bent component hides the problem.
Claim declined by the council
Cause: Section 58 defence — Fix: Ask for the inspection and repair records for that stretch under a freedom of information request. If the defect had been reported previously and not repaired within their own policy timescales, that is the strongest ground for challenging the decision.
Damage found days later
Cause: Slow leak or gradual alignment wear — Fix: Still report and claim if you can evidence the impact, but be aware that establishing causation gets much harder with time. This is why the roadside photographs matter.
Questions people ask
How likely is a pothole claim to succeed?
Less likely than most people expect, because the statutory defence in section 58 of the Highways Act is a real one and most authorities can evidence an inspection regime. The claims that succeed are usually those where the defect had already been reported and was not repaired within the authority's own timescale.
Should I claim on my insurance instead?
It depends on the size of the damage against your excess and how much a lost no-claims discount would cost you over the following years. For a single tyre it is usually not worth it; for a wheel, tyre and suspension arm it may well be.
Can I report a pothole even if my car was not damaged?
Yes, and it is worth doing. Once a defect is recorded, the authority's own timescales start running, which both gets it fixed and weakens the section 58 defence for anyone who hits it afterwards.