A driving expert has warned motorists how to avoid landing themselves with a hefty pothole repair bill.
The UK is currently in the midst of “pothole season”. Typically occuring between January and March, it sees water seeping into road cracks, freezing, expanding, and causing the surface to crumble.
Unfortunately for motorists potholes can be difficult to spot, especially during the cold winter months, and can cause major issues with your car, reports the Daily Star.
However, Graham Conway, Managing Director at Select Car Leasing, suggests that drivers can protect themselves by using apps like Waze.
He explained: “Apps like Waze, an alternative to software like Google Maps, don’t just help you navigate to a location, they also let you warn other road users about potential hazards ahead – including potholes. The community of ‘Wazers’ mark precisely where they’ve just encountered a pothole in the hope that others following behind might be able to avoid it.
“It’s the brilliant thing about an automotive hive mind – you get a real insight into what’s up ahead. The information is also bang up to date, with pothole reports that have not been ‘confirmed’ by other Wazers typically disappearing after 48 hours.
“If you’re driving along with the app open and you hear ‘Watch out! Pothole reported ahead!’ you can then modify your speed accordingly, and prepare to take evasive action when you eventually encounter the road crater. It’s not just Waze that provides this service, other infotainment systems from manufacturer’s like Mercedes-Benz and Skoda can also provide information about impending potholes.”
Graham added: “And I’d urge motorists to always have those apps or sat-nav systems open for every single journey – even if you know precisely where you’re going – so that you get an early pothole warning long before your front wheel is disappearing into one. It could potentially save you from spending hundreds of pounds at your local garage.”
Although the Government gave councils an additional £200 million to fix roads last year, they are still struggling to keep on top of new potholes. It’s often drivers who end up paying for damaged tyres, cracked wheels, broken suspension parts, misaligned wheels, broken exhausts and even smashed windows.
Last year a Skoda study found more than a quarter (27%) of the 2,000 British drivers asked had their car damaged by potholes. The most common problems were punctures (47%), followed by misaligned tracking (26%) and a cracked spring (22%).
The North East and South West of England were the regions with the most damage, while the East Midlands had the fewest vehicle repairs. The Asphalt Industry Alliance’s Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) found that 1.4 million potholes were filled between 2022 and 2023, down from 1.7 million in the previous period.
The ALARM report also highlighted a massive backlog of road repairs needed in England and Wales, which will cost around £14.02 billion to fix.
