Pothole bills ‘top £1.25bn’

UK motorists spent a total of £1.25bn repairing pothole damage to their vehicles over the last year.

This is according to research published by Kwik Fit. It found that with more than 10.8 million drivers damaging their vehicle due to poor road conditions over the last 12 months, the cost over the last three years totals an astonishing £3.4bn.

The average bill for each of those motorists affected over the last year was £115, covering repairs to components such as tyres, suspension and wheels.

Kwik Fit believes that the total cost identified by the research is likely to rise even further as 13 per cent of drivers who suffered damage say they have not yet had the damage repaired. With the coronavirus causing financial uncertainty for many, it is likely that those repairs will be put off for a lot longer yet.

More than a quarter (26 per cent) of motorists say they hit more than 30 potholes over the course of a month – an average of one a day. A third of the drivers who have hit a pothole in the last year say it caused damage.

Almost the entire cost of those repairs has had to be borne by motorists or their insurers because only £8.1m has been refunded to drivers in compensation from local authorities.