One-in-five cars written off after suffering pothole damage

A fifth (21%) of insurance claims where a car hit a pothole leads to the vehicle being declared an insurance write-off, according to data from Allianz. 

The insurer has paid out more than £4.6 million for 1,266 pothole claims since the start of last year. 

It has paid out 1,114 single-vehicle pothole claims – an accident where no other vehicle is involved – with 225 vehicles being deemed beyond economical repair and the average total loss claim costing £7,900.

In one incident in 2023, a BMW 7 series M-Sport hit a pothole on an A-road while travelling at 60mph. The impact caused so much damage that the car had to be written-off, with Allianz paying a claim totalling £53,000.

Caroline Johnson, claims director 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.”

Dale Eynon, Defra's director of group fleet services, told October’s Fleet News at 10 webinar that it had to write off a car for the first time ever after hitting a pothole.

“It damaged the sump of the engine so much that the car was written with about £8,000 of damage,” he added.

The AA dealt with 631,852 pothole related incidents in 2023, the highest for five years. 

Johnson said: “Potholes are a growing menace, and we have seen 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,” Johnson continued.

“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.”

Claims to high-end prestige cars can be hugely expensive. This summer, 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. 

In another case, a 2020 Mercedes GLC220 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. 

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 £14.4 billion a year.

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