Pot hole damage to vehicle

You can expect to have to avoid many more potholes as they seem to be opening up everywhere in this rain. As for it being a drivers’ fault that seems a bit harsh – many just look like puddles in this weather. Of course if our roads were properly sealed we would not be having this discussion at all.

What, like an Audi RS8?

Fifth Gear did an interesting piece on potholes in the UK.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9GPXVqMIi4

Get yourself a 4×4 and problem is solved 🙂

qbngeek said :

CTPI is exactly what it sounds like, insurance for the third parties. Your CTPI will not cover your own car. You can try your comprehensive insurance if you have it but even that is a long shot.

CTPI doesn’t cover ANY vehicle, it only covers damage to person. Indeed in years gone by it was called thrid part personal insurance which sounds a lot more descriptive than CTPI.

Since when does the $ sign come after the number?

mickey said :

There is no intention of ‘suing’ the government, I just want to claim for repair costs for the wheel. And obviously claim for towing from NRMA. I do have an invoice, I will be getting the receipt by email, hopefully in the next day or 2.

*You* drove into the hole, why should *I* (the ratepayer) pay for it?

Next time, drive to the conditions.

Oh, and get a real car.

I saw that being patched up, must have driven by right after! It’s a huge hole and there is a similar one on the way back. I also drive a small car, I guess I’m lucky, went right into a hole the other day. I’m not sure how you can claim, I’d contact Canberra Connect and ask, or write a grumpy letter to TAMS/your MP and see what they say. Sorry about your car.

Jim Jones said :

If you went to any rural or regional town and tried to tell them that the roads in Canberra were ‘downright shameful’ they’d probably punch you in the mouth.

People in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, etc. would just laugh at you.

As someone who lived in Adelaide for the past 23 years and moved to Canberra two months ago, I can honestly say that the roads here are much worse than Adelaide’s roads, in terms of pot holes and also some really weird paved segments on some of the roads leading into the city – I was thinking maybe it’s called Brisbane Ave, if you’re in the right hand lane you need to place your car so that your right wheels sit either to the right or left of a really weirdly patched strip of road. Plus there’s some massive gouges near a set of lights. In general the roads seem to be in a lesser state of repair.

I also lived in a rural town with around 500 residents for 6 months and except for an issue with gravel at one intersection, the township boasted better roads than Canberra.

4 getz wheels and tyres for $100 on epay – no other bidders.

I’d shop around a bit, unless your happy to just pay the quoted amount.

I doubt you will get a cracker from actgov.

btw – on Hibberson St this AM there was a massive pothole near the main pedestrian crossing into big W. Its obvious that repairs have been made – several times – but its just getting bigger. I wouldnt drive your getz over it, it might fall in.

Have a look at s113, Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002. It was – I think – intended to overcome concerns arising from the 2001 High Court decision in Brodie v Singleton Shire.

Learn to drive. Try leavng enough space between you and the car in front so you can actually see the road.

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

I bet you didn’t even read the post did you? I hope a sinkhole opens up under your car, don’t worry we won’t be wasting any tax money on an ambulance!

Dumbass. As if they could see a water-filled pothole in the crazy rain we’ve been having.

You think Canberra’s bad? I was living in the lovely city of Montreal, and every spring the roads would grow a million potholes big enough to pop tyres. I know people that have popped all four tyres at once there. Scary stuff… and you couldn’t tell which were deep and which weren’t.

Having said that, I’d live there again in a heartbeat. Roads aren’t everything 🙂

Sorry to hear about your car Mickey! I drove past the hole and yourself most likely yesterday morning. Possibly going to take this off topic a bit but having figured out where the pot hole nastys are at the moment I have been slowing down to ensure I do not encounter a similar story but each time have had a flash of the lights, honk of the horn or some other gesture which I am sure means thanks for slowing down and making the car behind you aware of the pot hole, question is, when did people turn into such ars*’s? If I chose to slow to make it home alive and with no damage how does someone have a right to abuse me about it. Also, does most of Canberra listen to CDs and not the radio so they have missed the giant car eating pot hole, also lots of rain, danger alert, slow the f down message?

It has just really frustrated me that I have concern for my safety but apparently no one else does.

Katy G needs to do something about it! I’m not dying in Canberra.

Love to know if you’re the person who abused me too, I saw something above about punching in the face?!

As a ratepayer in the ACT, I truly hope you don’t get a red cent. While the events you describe may be expensive and shitty luck/management for you, I hardly see any fault resting on ACTGovt (aka us). If it was a monster pothole taking out cars over weeks or a terrible trip hazard known to the Govt and not fixed or mitigated, then maybe you’d have a case.

You hit a pothole. Potholes develop quickly in the wet on all types of road surfaces in all cities. Just explain to me how your misfortune/mismanagement is our problem?

You need to be able to show that TAMS knew about the pot hole, and did not fix the pot hole in a timely manner.

How did you get charged for towing, your NRMA road side should have covered that.

Oops, $255.

And $300 for a wheel and tyre? I would have thought $50 from Franks Parts Plus would suffice there.

mickey said :

The towie advised that since a pot hole damage is considered to be an ‘accident’, caused by an ACT road, there are good chances that ACT roads/ TAMS will reimburse you for repairs if your car is registered (3rd party insurance cover?), as there is a CTPI premium you pay at the time of registration.

If I was a towie ripping you off to the tune of $225 then I’d spout a load of bollocks at you to try and make you feel better about the situation too. Claim it on your comprehensive Insurance. If you don’t have comprehensive and can’t afford to loose your car, then you shouldn’t be driving. Take the bus instead (that’s where all the money’s going, only problem is it’s way to inconvenient for most people if it doesn’t stop outside their door at a time that suits only them)

You might be lucky if TAMS have had lots of complaints about particular pothole, kept records (an FOI request will tell you) and have neglected to get it fixed. Good luck.

It seems unlikely that you “had to take the day off work” … Why didn’t you catch a bus to work and pick the car up from the mechanic at the end of the day?

Unfortunately, I’d say the unusual weather, causing many large potholes, would mean that the ACT Government wouldn’t be expected to compensate anyone who damaged their car, provided they were looking after the potholes as quickly as is reasonable under the circumstances.

If you were charged $255 for the tow by an NRMA towtruck then it sounds as though you chose a lower premium and therefore a higher threshold you would have to pay for a tow? That’s a choice you make when you choose your insurance policy …

Not worth any form of legal action for $500 unless it’s a straightforward Small Claims Court matter. On this issue the ACT Gubmint would definitely pay lawyers to avoid a precedent ….

Just move on!

“My question is – how can I make a claim to the ACT government for damages”

You can’t, game over

You have no chance.

There is a rule/ruling/legal precedent or whatever you like to call it that if a pothole develops it’s in the act of god territory and the roads owner/maintainer is not liable.

However, they are liable if they fixed it and did a bad job, and that broke your car. The reasoning was something to do with it not being negligent to do nothing, but it is negligent to do something, and not do it right.

I did once hear about a case in NSW in which the RTA was found to be liable for not fixing a road, but it was a very narrowly defining ruling that was based on the council had been notified (there were records), and they had breached their internal procedure for prioritising repairs. It caused a lot of worry at the time because it looked like a major precdent, but the person suing had been very badly injured (like quadraplegic or something) and the court was obviously fishing for an excuse to access the council’s insurance funds. In effect, they lost because they had bad paperwork, not because of not fixing the pothole.

Public roads are not warranted to be fit for any particular purpose (such as driving at the speed limit on a wet day that obscures potholes for example), and the onus is on you as the driving to operate your vehicle in a safe manner.

Keijidosha said :

I’d be surprised if you get a cent out of the Government for the repair costs to your car.

I’ve been through a similar situation with a pothole and the Government apparently has a rule for this kind of thing. As far as they are concerned the pothole doesn’t exist until someone notifies Canberra Connect/TAMS (usually the person who falls foul of said pothole). From that point the Government has 48 hours to repair the road surface before they become liable for any damage caused to vehicles.
So what you need to do is call CC and ask when they were notified of the pothole. If it was more than 48 hours before you ran through it, then you have a case for claim.

That aside, the fee you have been charged for the replacement wheel & tyre sounds pretty steep. If it is a standard steel wheel you could pick one up from a wrecker for $50 tops.

This is pretty much the rule for footpaths as well, and there have been an awful lot of people who have tripped on a footpath and sued for their injuries (yeah yeah, no need to express outrage, this type of law suit has been around for many many years). In any event, I dont see why roads should be different to footpaths – if TAMS has been notified and it was reasonable for them to correct it (taking into account the degree of danger, its resources, the risk to drivers etc) then it would be liable.

A second issue is why the pothole developed – if it was poor road laying then that might be a breach of whatever standard or contract was in place (this would make the contractor liable – but the ACT can’t necessarily escape liability to a driver by saying it was the fault of the ACT’s own contractor).

So I would put in the claim and see what happens. Chances are the response will be ‘we didnt know about the pothole/it developed suddenly in the rain/ it wasnt repairable in time’. Then you are left trying to disprove the issue.

And if you get really angry, there is always the small claims court. Is your time worth the effort? Is the ACT’s time worth the effort of defending?

How long have you been in Australia? The dollar sign is placed *before* the amount: ie: $500.00 – not 500$. It has been this way since Decimal Currency was introduced in 1966. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this mistake.

I’d be surprised if you get a cent out of the Government for the repair costs to your car.

I’ve been through a similar situation with a pothole and the Government apparently has a rule for this kind of thing. As far as they are concerned the pothole doesn’t exist until someone notifies Canberra Connect/TAMS (usually the person who falls foul of said pothole). From that point the Government has 48 hours to repair the road surface before they become liable for any damage caused to vehicles.
So what you need to do is call CC and ask when they were notified of the pothole. If it was more than 48 hours before you ran through it, then you have a case for claim.

That aside, the fee you have been charged for the replacement wheel & tyre sounds pretty steep. If it is a standard steel wheel you could pick one up from a wrecker for $50 tops.

Chance of success, pretty much nil.

The ACT Government, for most matters, is a self insurer, i.e. there is no insurance company and you have to claim directly from the government. Forgetting the issue of whether your claim has any merit, which it most likely doesn’t, they will stuff you around for many, many months.

Usual practice is that the government will pass you around from department to department for a while and will then ask you to put your claim in writing. Once you do this you will eventually receive a letter, either from TAMS or possibly the ACT Government Solicitor, rejecting your claim. If you want to take it further you will then have to commence proceedings in the ACT Magistrates Court against the government.

The ACT Government, generally speaking, will vigorously defend most claims against it. Most insurance companies will generally pay up fairly quickly if they think there client is at fault, or often will make a commercial decision in such small claims just to pay it, as it will cost them more in admin costs to fight it. However, the ACT Government seems to have an unwritten policy of fighting all claims.

I have been involved in matters, through work, where an ACT Government vehicle has run into a parked car. You would think that was a fairly straight forward matter and the the ACT Government would pay for the cost of repairs for the other vehicle, after the usual “get three quotes” business. Yes, they did pay up, but it took nearly 9 months to get the money from them, and they only paid when the innocent party commenced Court proceedings.

Summary – worth making a phone call or two to TAMS, but don’t expect anything.

mickey said :

smeeagain said :

mickey said :

I had a spare but it was pouring and the spare was low on air as well. To make matters worse, while waiting with my hazard lights on – the battery died 😀

Sounds to me like you need to undertake some basic maintenance on your vehicle, which includes regularly checking your spare tyre. The battery should last longer than that with the hazards on too.

I agree 😀
It was the mrs’ car, I guess that means I still have to check on it regularly.

…. i can’t believe how many women think cars will magically fix themselfs …

carnardly said :

If you had a real car, you might’ve just bounced on over a pothol rather than sinking into it.

🙂

my very real car would be eaten alive by a pot hole like that so shut yer trap

smeeagain said :

mickey said :

I had a spare but it was pouring and the spare was low on air as well. To make matters worse, while waiting with my hazard lights on – the battery died 😀

Sounds to me like you need to undertake some basic maintenance on your vehicle, which includes regularly checking your spare tyre. The battery should last longer than that with the hazards on too.

I agree 😀
It was the mrs’ car, I guess that means I still have to check on it regularly.

Tetranitrate said :

Jim Jones said :

Yes, I’ve driven down Northbourne, and all over Canberra on a very regular basis.

If you went to any rural or regional town and tried to tell them that the roads in Canberra were ‘downright shameful’ they’d probably punch you in the mouth.

oh dear, I guess I’m dealing with a real tough guy here. Please don’t punch me in the mouth, I’m ever so scared.

Jim Jones said :

People in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, etc. would just laugh at you.

Now you’re just getting ridiculous.

I didn’t say I would punch you in the mouth, I suggested that residents of rural and residential areas would like to do so (because roads are in a far worse state in these places than in Canberra).

I wouldn’t punch you in the mouth because (a) I don’t know who you are, (b) I don’t know where you are, (c) I don’t really care anyway and, finally, (d) I don’t have a habit of punching people in the mouth.

Residents of State capitals would laugh at you because the roads there are far worse than Canberra’s roads. Nothing ridiculous about it – the hyperbole about the shocking state of Canberra’s roads, on the other hand …

sylasgreen said :

That’s a weird NRMA membership mentioned there…

Standard roadside assist has 20km of towing in metro areas – which is within the distance to Braddon from that onramp you mention (according to google maps, anyway), unless they went on a bit of a tour…

If that’s the membership type you have, then I’d contact NRMA and see about resolving the towing charge. (you DO have a receipt for the towing, right?)

As to suing the government? You say they came and fixed the problem while you were waiting, which is within 2 hours. That seems….reasonable to me.

It’d be hard to argue that they’re at fault for extreme weather conditions causing a pothole.

There is no intention of ‘suing’ the government, I just want to claim for repair costs for the wheel. And obviously claim for towing from NRMA. I do have an invoice, I will be getting the receipt by email, hopefully in the next day or 2.

This has bugged me for years – we pay taxes in anticipation that these services – road, water, sewer etc. – are fit for use; as the OP attests, this road is evidently unfit for the purpose intended (safe, secure transit etc.?)!

Might there be a connection here with the rash of concrete scratching that’s been going on over recent years – presumably in response to pedestrians tripping and falling on exposed edges resulting in injury.

I’d be very interested in reading the legal advice (yeah sure, as if) that the ACT Gov. received that prompted the concrete work; one hopes it says something like ‘surfaces that cause damage or injury to citizens or property are to be made good and that such damage or injury is a ACT Gov. liability’.

Any legal boffs want to set things straight?

mickey said :

I had a spare but it was pouring and the spare was low on air as well. To make matters worse, while waiting with my hazard lights on – the battery died 😀

Sounds to me like you need to undertake some basic maintenance on your vehicle, which includes regularly checking your spare tyre. The battery should last longer than that with the hazards on too.

Jim Jones said :

Yes, I’ve driven down Northbourne, and all over Canberra on a very regular basis.

If you went to any rural or regional town and tried to tell them that the roads in Canberra were ‘downright shameful’ they’d probably punch you in the mouth.

oh dear, I guess I’m dealing with a real tough guy here. Please don’t punch me in the mouth, I’m ever so scared.

Jim Jones said :

People in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, etc. would just laugh at you.

Now you’re just getting ridiculous.

That’s a weird NRMA membership mentioned there…

Standard roadside assist has 20km of towing in metro areas – which is within the distance to Braddon from that onramp you mention (according to google maps, anyway), unless they went on a bit of a tour…

If that’s the membership type you have, then I’d contact NRMA and see about resolving the towing charge. (you DO have a receipt for the towing, right?)

As to suing the government? You say they came and fixed the problem while you were waiting, which is within 2 hours. That seems….reasonable to me. It’d be hard to argue that they’re at fault for extreme weather conditions causing a pothole.

If you had a real car, you might’ve just bounced on over a pothol rather than sinking into it. 🙂

I’d write a letter making a claim and see what happens. About all you have to lose is 10 minutes, a piece of paper, an envelope, a postage stamp and the time it takes to mail it.

Tetranitrate said :

Jim Jones said :

Insurance and/or suck it up.

“The state of the roads in the ACT is downright shameful”

Have you ever left the ACT and seen the state of roads elsewhere? I dare you to name another town that has roads in better conditions.

Up until the past 48 hours or so, Queanbeyan. Admittedly that’s probably not the case anymore.

I do wish I was joking but I’m not, have you actually driven down Northbourne lately?

Between the potholes and the rubbish chip-sealing on major roads (Adelaide avenue and the Parkway) that leaves bare, ‘shiny’ areas devoid of any grip I do wonder where the money all goes.

Yes, I’ve driven down Northbourne, and all over Canberra on a very regular basis.

If you went to any rural or regional town and tried to tell them that the roads in Canberra were ‘downright shameful’ they’d probably punch you in the mouth.

People in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide, etc. would just laugh at you.

About a year ago I put in a claim for damaging my car on a crater in Sutton Rd that had been there for a while. I have not heard back from them yet, however, I am sure they will respond one day. The only good result was that the hole was immediately repaired. Unfortunately there are plenty more potholes on that stretch of road, which makes driving in a little car at night pretty eventful.

One of most prominent markers of the decay of western society is the tendency to want to apportion blame to someone else when something bad happens to us.

The radio has been full of warnings over the last three days to slow down, drive to the conditions and watch out for potholes …oh and also for the poor bastards who were out in the rain trying to fix them.
TAMs can’t get to every pot hole within minutes of it appearing or getting bigger. Theses dudes were already risking their lives fixing the potholes whilst drivers ignored the belting rain and the reduced road work speed limits.

Maybe after your wallet is $550 lighter, the next time it buckets down you will be a little more careful.

I reckon your entitled to $1,000s possibly even into the 10s of thousands. I mean you Huyndai would almost be a write off and you could even lose your job having a day off like that.

After you’ve had a complete Pedders inspection, get yourself a doctors certificate claiming whiplash and stress, then it’s straight off to the lawyers. I wouln’t bother turning up to work over the next 6 months, just do it though the court system.

I mean seriously this rain is a 1 in a 100 year event, I am sure you’re entitled to something.

I don’t know if this is helpful or not…

A few years back I drove on Namatjira/Sulwood Drive when it had just been resurfaced, and just been heavily rained on. My car, and a bunch of others, were badly bitumen-stained. I emailed Canberra Connect/TAMS, and was referred straight away to the contractor’s depot for assessment, and then they gave me a card to take to a professional detailer.

I’m pretty sure it was the contractor footing the bill though, as they resurfaced a road under the wrong weather conditions, so like I said, not sure if this is helpful or not. But it can’t hurt to ask.

Jim Jones said :

Insurance and/or suck it up.

“The state of the roads in the ACT is downright shameful”

Have you ever left the ACT and seen the state of roads elsewhere? I dare you to name another town that has roads in better conditions.

Up until the past 48 hours or so, Queanbeyan. Admittedly that’s probably not the case anymore.

I do wish I was joking but I’m not, have you actually driven down Northbourne lately?

Between the potholes and the rubbish chip-sealing on major roads (Adelaide avenue and the Parkway) that leaves bare, ‘shiny’ areas devoid of any grip I do wonder where the money all goes.

pajs said :

mickey said :

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

haha thanks pajs. you either do not drive a vehicle or have not had a tryst with one of these pot holes as yet, and i sincerely hope you never do. 🙂

Actually, I drove that exact stretch twice yesterday, including hitting a pothole on the way home just before going under the bridge before coming up to the right turn onto Bindubi. It would never had ocurred to me, should I have gotten a flat from that pothole, that this was the government’s fault.

Surely you’ve spend enough time here to realise that anything bad is the gummint’s fault!?

Conversely, anything good comes as a result of working really hard and being a battler and being repeatedly beaten as a child (see ‘discipline’).

qbngeek said :

…or might take it in to pedders to get it checked thoroghly…

I lol’d.

Lazy I said :

$225 for a tow? that’s an insurance job if ever i’ve seen one.

I’m an NRMA roadside assist member and have had my old jalopy towed for no charge a year or two back. It was only a short distance, but I thought you got the first 20km for free with NRMA?

Tetranitrate said :

Go crawl back into whatever hole you came out of.

Maybe he’s a troll that crawled out of the pothole. Is the pothole under some kind of bridge?

mickey said :

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

haha thanks pajs. you either do not drive a vehicle or have not had a tryst with one of these pot holes as yet, and i sincerely hope you never do. 🙂

Actually, I drove that exact stretch twice yesterday, including hitting a pothole on the way home just before going under the bridge before coming up to the right turn onto Bindubi. It would never had ocurred to me, should I have gotten a flat from that pothole, that this was the government’s fault.

mickey said :

Hellno said :

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

That’s a bit harsh. I’m with Mickey and I’m sure it was not his driving to blame. I think it’s fair to assume you can drive along WHD without your car disappearing into a pothole. I’m interested to see what advice is offered. My car hit a massive pothole too this week. It was not visible due to being full of water and it being dark out. If I had been dring a Getz rather than a larger-wheeled vehicle maybe I would have been in Mickey’s situation.

It was so massive that it was a bit risky trying to change the spare and drive on, there could have been suspnsion damage. I am going to pick up the car shortly, will find out if there actually was any suspension damage, or might take it in to pedders to get it checked thoroghly.

The towie advised that since a pot hole damage is considered to be an ‘accident’, caused by an ACT road, there are good chances that ACT roads/ TAMS will reimburse you for repairs if your car is registered (3rd party insurance cover?), as there is a CTPI premium you pay at the time of registration.

CTPI is exactly what it sounds like, insurance for the third parties. Your CTPI will not cover your own car. You can try your comprehensive insurance if you have it but even that is a long shot.

In order to claim against a council/government you will need to prove that they were negligent or failed int he duty of care. You will most likely fail as tey wil claim that they have not had reasonable time to carry out repairs. In the cases I have seen, reasonable time is anywhere from 3 days to a week and can be longer if your accident occured during the weather event as they can claim it was not safe for workers to repair the damage until the rain stopped.

Insurance and/or suck it up.

“The state of the roads in the ACT is downright shameful”

Have you ever left the ACT and seen the state of roads elsewhere? I dare you to name another town that has roads in better conditions.

rbw said :

sorry OP, s*** happens. I’ve lost windscreens due to stones flying from roadworks. I had to pay for it, even though technically it was the Government’s fault. In your situation it would be impossible to find the Govt at fault for a just opened pothole in torrential rain. And given they turned up to fix it shortly after you hit it shows they were on the ball anyway.
.

Unless of course the pothole in question has been there for at least a month and the ACT government has been aware of it – in which case the ACT government is clearly negligent.

The rain’s probably made it worse, but I’ve been avoiding that particular hole every day for some time now.

While I sympathise, (I narrowly missed the same hole yesterday) I don’t like you chances of getting anything out of the ACT gov. Maybe if you can make a case that the hole was there for a long time, and had it been repair earlier the rain would not have made it worse, but all that sounds like a lot to prove in order to save five or six hundred dollars.

Might have been good if someone could have dropped a giant witches hat in the hole to warn people though…

This particular pot hole has been there for at least a month, It isn’t just the recent rain.
It has been reported(well at least I know I did).

The state of the roads in the ACT is downright shameful. Northbourne is an utter joke. You’d think you were driving around a third world country, not the capital of Australia.

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

Go crawl back into whatever hole you came out of.

Hellno said :

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

That’s a bit harsh. I’m with Mickey and I’m sure it was not his driving to blame. I think it’s fair to assume you can drive along WHD without your car disappearing into a pothole. I’m interested to see what advice is offered. My car hit a massive pothole too this week. It was not visible due to being full of water and it being dark out. If I had been dring a Getz rather than a larger-wheeled vehicle maybe I would have been in Mickey’s situation.

It was so massive that it was a bit risky trying to change the spare and drive on, there could have been suspnsion damage. I am going to pick up the car shortly, will find out if there actually was any suspension damage, or might take it in to pedders to get it checked thoroghly.

The towie advised that since a pot hole damage is considered to be an ‘accident’, caused by an ACT road, there are good chances that ACT roads/ TAMS will reimburse you for repairs if your car is registered (3rd party insurance cover?), as there is a CTPI premium you pay at the time of registration.

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

That’s a bit harsh. I’m with Mickey and I’m sure it was not his driving to blame. I think it’s fair to assume you can drive along WHD without your car disappearing into a pothole. I’m interested to see what advice is offered. My car hit a massive pothole too this week. It was not visible due to being full of water and it being dark out. If I had been dring a Getz rather than a larger-wheeled vehicle maybe I would have been in Mickey’s situation.

I had a spare but it was pouring and the spare was low on air as well. To make matters worse, while waiting with my hazard lights on – the battery died 😀

$225 for a tow? that’s an insurance job if ever i’ve seen one.

EvanJames said :

I think it’s time this famous pothole got its own name…

we have mully. so the pothole can be muddy

pajs said :

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.

haha thanks pajs. you either do not drive a vehicle or have not had a tryst with one of these pot holes as yet, and i sincerely hope you never do. 🙂

sorry OP, s*** happens. I’ve lost windscreens due to stones flying from roadworks. I had to pay for it, even though technically it was the Government’s fault. In your situation it would be impossible to find the Govt at fault for a just opened pothole in torrential rain. And given they turned up to fix it shortly after you hit it shows they were on the ball anyway.

Claim it on your car insurance. if you don’t have adequate cover, then bad luck.

also that pot hole although may have been made worse by the rain has been there for ages. Also pay the extra money in your NRMA membership to get free towing. I have had lots of towing from the NRMA and it’s been free (gearboxes falling out and head gaskets blowing not crashes)

I think it’s time this famous pothole got its own name…

Did you even try calling Canberra Connect before you posted this? because that would save you a lot of hassle people are gonna give you here…

Did you not have a spare?

I would suggest you might be pushing it uphill trying to make a claim against the Government for damages. If it was an existing pothole that they had been notified about then ‘maybe’, but to my knowledge that crater opened up yesterday morning and got very large very quickly leaving very little time for anyone to do anything about it. Unfortunately in your case I think it might be more a case of bad luck than bad management…. But if you don’t ask you don’t get so ask away if it makes you feel better. I agree, Canberra Connect or TAMS would be the best place to start..

My suggestion is you pay for the repair of your own car, caused by your own driving, and stop expecting to shift your private costs to ACT taxpayers.