If you're staring at a bill for damaged shock absorbers or broken suspension springs, you have two basic options if you don't want to pay it all yourself: claim with your insurer or request compensation from the council or organisation responsible for maintaining the road.
Here, we examine your chances of success when claiming with local authorities, and the pros and cons of turning to your insurer instead.
Councils unlikely to accept and slow to respond
In theory, getting the council or authority to refund you the costs of the damage should be the most efficient way of resolving an incident caused by poor road maintenance. You're going directly to the responsible party and cutting out the 'middleman'.
Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that seeking recompense from councils is a slow, low-reward process.
Data from an RAC survey of 177 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales last January found that in 2024, only 26% of claims made to councils were settled within a year of being made.
Most claims were rejected, with 97% of councils rejecting 90% of the claims they received.
English county councils compared
A similar analysis conducted by price comparison website Quotezone last December found similarly bleak results.
Between 13 English county councils surveyed in its research, more than 9,000 claims were made for a total of £10.2m in compensation between April 2024 and March 2025. Only £666,712 (6%) was successfully approved for payment.
However, there was wide variation between councils, with Oxfordshire settling 21% of the value of claims made against it. Meanwhile, Leicestershire and Hampshire settled less than 2%.
| Authority Area | % of claims costs paid 24/25 | Potholes reported 2024/25 | 2024/25 - Total claims made (12 months) | Total amount claimed for | Total actually paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oxfordshire County Council | 20.52% | 34,447 | 1,773 | £763,715 | £156,744 |
| Warwickshire County Council | 19.35% | 6,492 | 408 | £495,591 | £95,918 |
| Nottinghamshire County Council | 16.05% | 24,359 | 633 | £144,250 | £23,146 |
| West Sussex County Council | 15.62% | 32,530 | 792 | £625,197 | £97,654 |
| Cambridgeshire County Council | 14.29% | 16,370 | 1,000 | £799,957 | £114,294 |
| Surrey County Council | 10.14% | 17,737 | 778 | £387,189 | £39,255 |
| Suffolk County Council | 8.99% | 13,599 | 227 | £94,370 | £8,480 |
| East Sussex County Council | 8.64% | 18,282 | 764 | £253,097 | £21,871 |
| Kent County Council | 2.76% | 24,217 | 768 | £903,690 | £24,935 |
| Gloucestershire County Council | 2.62% | 13,743 | 515 | £182,846 | £4,784 |
| Worcestershire County Council | 2.45% | 4,111 | 101 | £34,966 | £856 |
| Leicestershire County Council | 1.50% | 5,203 | 128 | £194,385 | £2,919 |
| Hampshire County Council | 1.41% | 21,957 | 1,464 | £5,393,788 | £75,856 |
| TOTALS | 6.49% | 233,047 | 9,351 | £10,273,040 | £666,712 |
Are insurers a better bet?
If you have fully comprehensive car insurance, you're covered for accidental damage to your vehicle and will be able to claim for pothole damage.
However, you'll probably need to stump up some of the cost yourself. When we examined 66 car insurance policies, 59 included a compulsory excess for accidental damage, ranging from £45 to more than £350.
Find out more:Impact on your no-claims discount
Claims are typically recorded as 'fault' claims, where there's no other driver (or insurer) involved, and your insurer can pursue for costs.
Making fault claims means you'll lose no-claims discount (NCD) – and our research suggests this is typically the situation where you've claimed because of poor road maintenance.
Of the 66 policies we reviewed, claiming for pothole damage will deplete your NCD with 60 of them (91%).
However, in 22 cases, your NCD will be restored if the insurer can recover its costs from the council or body responsible for maintaining the road. While insurers probably stand a better chance than their customers at chasing councils for costs, success is far from assured.
Three must-dos if you hit a pothole
Whether you're planning to pursue a pothole claim through the local authority or choose to rely on your insurer, make sure you take these three crucial steps.
Gather all the evidence you can of what happened.Find out who's responsible for maintaining the road.Report the incident to your insurer.Find out more:source https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/potholes-can-wreck-your-car-and-your-insurance-a5MVX5b7VqWH