Pothole damage to their vehicles has cost UK motorists a staggering total of £1.25 billion in repair bills over the past 12 months.
Research conducted by KwikFit found that more than 10.8 million drivers, spending an average of £115 each, have incurred repair bills for pothole damage to their vehicles in the past year. With some 1.4 million additional motorists saying they have put off getting pothole damage repaired, the true figure is suspected to be substantially higher.
Potholes commonly cause damage to tyres, suspension, and wheels, and more than a quarter of motorists in the KwikFit study say they hit a pothole at least once a day. A third of those drivers say they have suffered damage in the last year as a result, and the cost of repair falls almost entirely on motorists or their insurers with local authorities having picked up a paltry £8.1 million via compensation - just 0.7% of the total annual cost.
Roger Griggs, communications director at Kwik Fit, said, “Unfortunately, every year we are seeing a worsening story when it comes to the condition of our roads and it is the individual motorist who is hit increasingly hard. The immediate impact of coronavirus will mean the demands on public spending will be many, but this should not mask the fact that roads have been underfunded year after year. Once we are out of this crisis, as a country we need to plan investment for the long term and not merely look to patch things over the cheapest possible way.”
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