Beware The Potholes

[jimistdt 1]

As I was travelling home from work just before Christmas I managed to hit an almighty hole in the ground, due to the oncoming ars*hole that forced me into the road edge. There was an massive BANG! and I instinctively knew something was amiss. The steering became slightly vague and had torque steer-like symptoms on and off the throttle.

 

Due to the time of year and lack of funds I used the car daily for another week and half and I wasn't enjoying the driving as much due to the car not being so stable. When I went to check my tyres, that had only been on for 6 months I was a bit surprised to see I had no tread whatsoever on the inside 1/3 on both front tyres.

 

I made a phonecall to a mate of mine for a pair of tyres and that I would need the tracking doing. So it went down the next day.

 

While he had it he phoned me to say the O/S wishbone was FUBAR'd abd that it would need replacing. So he did that, sent it down to the tracking place and I picked it up...drove it for 50 yards and I thought thats not right, so I took it back. They then found a bit of play in the the other wishbone, which I had only had fitted at the same as the original tyres, all work required for the MOT.

 

I took the car back to the place where I had the MOT work done and they inspected it and said yes its faulty. I asked them if they would replace it under warranty. He looked at me like I'd asked his mother on a date in front of his dad.

 

I had never been given a receipt at the time the work was done, and they had to verify from Andrew Page's that I had had the part from them. After all that, I got a new wishbone fitted for free under the 12 months warranty period that all suspension parts come with.

 

 

I don't know if this is public knowledge, but if this helps anybody then so be it. You have a 12 month warranty on all suspension parts when fitted by a garage. I don't know if the 12 months warranty covers other areas too, but if it does then maybe someone could post it on here.

[Fox 3]

Surely that wasnt the garage's fault? If anyone was at blame it would be the council for the pot hole? Or have I missed the point?

 

Interesting to know though!

[Matt Holley 11]

Surely that wasnt the garage's fault? If anyone was at blame it would be the council for the pot hole? Or have I missed the point?

 

Interesting to know though!

 

Thats what I was thinking, the council dont maintain the roads and you hit a pot hole and the garage end up losing money because of it

[jimistdt 1]

I don't know about the garage losing money, they've made plenty out of me in the past, so i won't be losing any sleep over that.

 

 

My main point was that you have the warranty period, the parts have failed under normal use, therefore they have replaced them.

 

 

 

At least I got it settled in the same day, had I taken it up with the council I would no doubt have lost interest in pursuing it.

[Rom 0]

Most car parts come with a 12 month warranty. Something about consumer rights stating x amount of time blah blah.

 

I must admit, i was expecting a post saying you managed to get the council to pay for repairs

 

Your quite lucky, a lot of garages wouldnt have replaced it. As technically the part isnt faulty.

 

Anyway, your happy, thats the main thing.

[large 33]

You are intitled to a replacment part under the sale of goods act 1979( or some s*ite like that). This pretty much applies to every thing there is no time set in stone its all about what a reasonable person would expect. i.e. if yuo buy a t.v. for £50 and it lasts for 18 months what do you expect, but if you gave £2000 and it went faulty after 18 months you would be intitled to a a free repair at the least.

[pug_ham 244 3 Cars]

You got away lightly, I hit a pot hole on Otley Chevin in winter 07 & its blew the shock absorber on the front nearside & made an impression in the strut top in the engine bay so I got strut top strengthening plates fitted.

 

If you haven't already done this & the pothole is still there, take a picture of it asap & inform the council responsible for it.

 

Get some garage evidence of the work you had to have done (tracking receipts etc) & you can claim the money back from them.

 

I heard somewhere that some councils pay out more in compesation for damage caused by pot holes than they spend on repairing them but the one I hit was gone within a week so I couldn't make a claim. Also I had a fresh shock at home so I couldn't produce a garage bill for the repairs.

 

Graham.

[philfingers 5]

a mate of mine has claimed from councils for wheels and tyres in the past, always supported by a photgraph of the pothole with day's newpaper edition as proof. He got paid out in all cases i think

[marksorrento205 80]

a mate of mine has claimed from councils for wheels and tyres in the past, always supported by a photgraph of the pothole with day's newpaper edition as proof. He got paid out in all cases i think

 

Ive done the same. It is possible. Especially when the council admitted repairing the pot hole the week before

[SurGie 54]

a mate of mine has claimed from councils for wheels and tyres in the past, always supported by a photograph of the pothole with day's newspaper edition as proof. He got paid out in all cases i think

 

 

(for future reference)

 

If the council has that particular pot hole on their to do lists, then you will not be able to make a claim.

[yippeekayay 18 1 Cars]

surgie is right.... fecking councils....used to work for worcs as a highways engineer.....and another piece of advice. they have a "no. no. no. and ok" pay out refusual policy, ie they will refuse whatever your evidence up to 3 times before they can authorise payment.... moral of this tale, DO NOT EXCEPT NO AS AN ANSWER. and always detail the times and date of the refusals. takes time but they will pay... and a picture of the pothole and an iindication of scale, ie a foot, a ruler, tape measure etc and a date stamp is sufficient.

 

Also road inspectors ( for potholes) tend to mark them up which is a giveaway its on a list to do, sometime, which covers the councils obligation to maintain the road...so paint around the hole is bad news..

[large 33]

I can’t see how putting some paint around a hole would cover them!

It’s like driving your car with 4 bald tyres getting stopped by the police and saying its ok officer it’s on my to do list!

[yippeekayay 18 1 Cars]

its because they have demonstrated the" intent to maintain their "obigation" to maintain the highway," its bollox but have thought about becoming a lawyer and making my money from it, but am a lot toooo thick for that..

 

have friend that broke her ankle , sober , in a high street on a block paving area that was misaligned due to tree roots and I worked through with her all the way to court. they werent liable because an inspection had picked up the fault and it then automatically puts it on a schedule to be done , even though there isnt any finance in place to get it done they still have covered their "obligation"

[jdb1964 0]

I can’t see how putting some paint around a hole would cover them!

It’s like driving your car with 4 bald tyres getting stopped by the police and saying its ok officer it’s on my to do list!