One in five pothole-damaged cars has to be written off

12th November 2024

Impacts from potholes are now so bad that one in five vehicles damaged has to be written off.

Insurer Allianz has revealed that it’s paid out more than £4.6m for 1,266 pothole claims since the start of 2023. The figure includes 1,114 single-vehicle pothole claims – where no other vehicle was involved in the incident – that saw 225 vehicles deemed beyond economical repair.

The average total loss claim for pothole damage cost £7,900 – but the biggest insurance claim paid was £53,000 for a BMW 7 series wrecked on an A-road while travelling at 60mph.

Other claims to high-end prestige cars include a 2020 Mercedes GLC220 that hit a pothole at 30mph and ran into a ditch, damaging the bonnet, bumper and windscreen. The car was deemed a total loss and the insurance claim totalled £25,000.

This summer also saw a new Audi A3 Sportback 40 TFSI hit a pothole on a B-road at 15mph. The damage caused to the front nearside wheel and undercarriage was so extensive that the vehicle was classed as a total loss and the claim totalled £36,000.

Caroline Johnson, claims director of motor insurance at Allianz UK, said: “Our roads are blighted by potholes and it is astonishing to see the problems they cause. Many incidents result in damaged wheels, wrecked suspension and misaligned bodywork. In one in five cases, the damage is so severe and structural that it is not worth the cost of trying to repair the car. It’s a huge waste, and these costs feed back into the insurance premiums that many motorists are struggling to pay.”

Johnson added that the “growing menace” of potholes had led a steady rise in both the frequency and cost of claims over the last few years.

“In early 2023 a typical claim cost just over £3,000, but that now stands at £4,000. It has become more expensive to repair cars for many reasons, including the cost of parts and specialist labour, so fixing any pothole-damaged car adds to the overall cost that insurers and ultimately consumers face.”

Last month saw the Government create a new taskforce to crack down on the spiralling costs of car insurance. Pothole damage is seen as a big factor in the rise in insurance costs alongside inflation and rising car thefts.

The Allianz data, published following Labour’s Budget commitment to give an extra £500m for road maintenance in the next year, comes as latest AA data shows that pothole-related breakdowns have hit a new record

Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) calculates the total annual cost – caused by damage to vehicles, accidents and reduced speeds – of potholes in England amount to £14.4bn a year.

That figure is the same as the latest estimated total cost of fixing all current defects in England and Wales, which currently stands at £14bn.

The Pothole Partnership – which includes the AA, JCB, British Cycling and the National Motorcyclists Council – has highlighted that permanently fixing the potholes would reduce costs to road users while also reducing casualties.

A campaign on potholes by Cycling Weekly in 2023 found that 118 bike riders were killed or seriously injured due to a defective road surface between 2017 and 2021, with six tragically losing their lives.

Allianz’s Caroline Johnson added: “Our roads need better maintenance to reduce the number of potholes. The Government’s recent announcement of increased spending on repairing the nation’s roads is welcome and will hopefully go some way to helping to alleviate this problem.”

Motorists can report potholes to their local authority via Fixmystreet or on National Highways for problems on motorways and A-roads.