# Manhole cover damage claim.



## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

On the way back into Aberdeen tonight driving along at 30MPH and next thing a huge bang and massive impact.

Both offside wheels went through the manhole cover with the front a bit harder.

At very slow speeds the steering wheel wants to wobble. Obviously a lot more than just a slight balancing problem.

The wheel must be buckled.

It is too late and dark to get under the car tonight. On saying that I don't even have a jack since the car is on runflats.

How would you deal with it?

How likely are the council to cover the damage?

It is sunk about 3" deep into the road with a perfectly square edge.

My wheels are 19" running runflats with only 35 and 30 aspect ratio tyres front and back. Obviously they won't take huge impacts but any low profile would struggle to survive.

For the Aberdeen members it is on Riverside Drive opposite the jail.


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## steview (Sep 23, 2010)

I know my local council have stopped paying out as it was costing them to much money yours could be different tho


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## Tank. (Dec 26, 2011)

wheres that? 947 at dyce?


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Need a ruler in the pic and go on motoring site like RAC aa for a advice it is alot harder than used to be need pics of damage and send all corispodance recorded and log all calls date and time and name don't let them off the roads are a disgrace up here


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Tank. said:


> wheres that? 947 at dyce?


Riverside Drive opposite the jail and about 200yds after Bon Accord Glazing heading into town.


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## sean20 (Jan 17, 2011)

Back a year or two ago my uncle was saying that he was getting alot of customers into his shop (alloy wheel shop) that was putting claims into the counsil for damage to theyr tyres/alloys/suspention.

Within a few days they wer back as the counsil was compensating them.

Aslong as youv got the photo like you have above and damage of your wheels tyres ect you should be fine. maybe take the car to your local tyre place get them to put the wheels on a machine to see how badly buckled they are and if they can write a report out for you 

Good luck


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## Tank. (Dec 26, 2011)

not familiar with that one, theres a few i hit in the truck and even feel them pretty bad,

shocking condition, as stated above will need pictures with a ruler to identify size of the hole


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

To be honest if you have OEM wheels I would be very surprised if they are buckled.
The impact could have lost a wheel weight depending on what weight or where it could easily cause a slow speed wobble. 

No disrespect but not owning a jack I don't think gives you the right to assume the wheel is buckled and be looking for compensation before even inspecting your tyre and wheel. You need to remove it (so go and buy a bloody jack) and look on the back of your wheel to look for any flat spots.


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## Captain Pugwash (Mar 23, 2011)

if your the first to report it then not a lot you can do ..as if they are not aware then they can't fix it. so they told me the last time I tried a claim ..so get someone else to report it first (even if they have not dmaged their car )

I would take another picture with a ruler to show the deapth and also from a few angles long shot up and down the street etc


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## bigslippy (Sep 19, 2010)

If that was a hole in the road they would be filling that , thats hellish:doublesho


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Riverside drive has been in a right mess since I moved to Aberdeen 3 years ago.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

xJay1337 said:


> To be honest if you have OEM wheels I would be very surprised if they are buckled.
> The impact could have lost a wheel weight depending on what weight or where it could easily cause a slow speed wobble.
> 
> No disrespect but not owning a jack I don't think gives you the right to assume the wheel is buckled and be looking for compensation before even inspecting your tyre and wheel. You need to remove it (so go and buy a bloody jack) and look on the back of your wheel to look for any flat spots.


Do you really think the impact will knock a weight off :lol:


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

Kerr said:


> Riverside drive has been in a right mess since I moved to Aberdeen 3 years ago.


What car do you have ?


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## Trip tdi (Sep 3, 2008)

I hit one in Asda car park hard last week, and my steering wheel is off balance as well, it's to the right and shakes when on the motorway, do I have the rights to claim, it did hit the rim hard on the pot hole, it was dark and could see the pot hole.


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

Shaun said:


> Do you really think the impact will knock a weight off :lol:


It's happened to me! Just takes a slightly iffy wheel weight, perhaps the sticky-side was failing, an impact knocks it off. Not unheard of.


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Kerr said:


> Riverside drive has been in a right mess since I moved to Aberdeen 3 years ago.


Yes and they don't care


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

xJay1337 said:


> To be honest if you have OEM wheels I would be very surprised if they are buckled.
> The impact could have lost a wheel weight depending on what weight or where it could easily cause a slow speed wobble.
> 
> No disrespect but not owning a jack I don't think gives you the right to assume the wheel is buckled and be looking for compensation before even inspecting your tyre and wheel. You need to remove it (so go and buy a bloody jack) and look on the back of your wheel to look for any flat spots.


Wheel imbalance wouldn't cause a wobble at 5mph.

You can feel the wobble and the wheel wanting to turn off square every revolution.

Either the wheel has buckled or the tyre has been damaged.

You don't get a jack with bmw cars with runflats. All my tools are at another address away from here.

I doubt many OEM wheels with very low profile tyres would walk away from that.

I've damaged alloys on less than that in the past.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Shaun said:


> What car do you have ?


BMW 335i coupe with 230 style 19" wheels that are made by BBS.


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## 182_Blue (Oct 25, 2005)

Kerr said:


> BMW 335i coupe with 230 style 19" wheels that are made by BBS.


BMW were on watchdog for having very easy to break or bend alloys a while back, I suspect a dent in the rim or maybe a lump in the tyre although run flats don't suffer as badly with lumps.


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## quattrogmbh (May 15, 2007)

I would expect the claim process is different for potholes vs a sunken drain cover.
This appears to be a storm water drain so would come under the responsibility of the local water board.
As already suggested, you need a ruler in the photo.
Have BMW inspect the wheel (assuming its a BMW :-
)


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## Derekh929 (Aug 28, 2011)

Shaun said:


> BMW were on watchdog for having very easy to break or bend alloys a while back, I suspect a dent in the rim or maybe a lump in the tyre although run flats don't suffer as badly with lumps.


Yes correct they refused to accept then some got replaced after big fuss cracked on inner rim


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Shaun said:


> BMW were on watchdog for having very easy to break or bend alloys a while back, I suspect a dent in the rim or maybe a lump in the tyre although run flats don't suffer as badly with lumps.


The 230 wheels aren't bad but any wheels with low profile tyre and more so runflats are always in danger.

It is the 225 style wheels that have a truely horrific record for cracking.

I can't say I've ever seen one of the bmw guys suffer a tyre failure.

Tomorrow is a late start for me so I will get my rule out to measure the depth and get the wheels checked out.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Derekh929 said:


> Yes correct they refused to accept then some got replaced after big fuss cracked on inner rim


They do runout checks and often replace them if the wheel isn't running out too far, which does highlight impact damage.


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## craigeh123 (Dec 26, 2011)

The councils round here refuse to payout now


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## Will_G (Jan 23, 2012)

http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/transport_streets/roads_pavements/roa_incident_claim.asp

Good luck with a claim


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Here is the photo from this morning. It measures 2 1/8 inch deep with pressing down on the drain. Looking af the picture I've taken it from the lip when I should have measured maximum depth.

Not easy to get time on an extremely busy road.

Went to a couple of tyre places today to get the damage assessed and quotes.

The front tyre has lost its shape due to the impact but surprisingly the wheels is ok.

The rear wheel does have slight damage though. Tyre needs replaced soon anyways.

One place quoted £170 for the wheel repair and gave me a quote to replace with normal tyres rather than runflats.

The second place quoted £320 for a replacement like for like Bridgestone runflats and the tracking to be done since the impact was severe enough to merit it.

Not much change from £500.

I'm not keen on alloy repairs but a new one would stand out on the car as I had them powder coated before and there would be a colour difference.


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## paris (Apr 27, 2006)

quattrogmbh said:


> I would expect the claim process is different for potholes vs a sunken drain cover.
> This appears to be a storm water drain so would come under the responsibility of the local water board.


This is true with my council, been complaining to them about a sunken storm drain for over a year and they say they'll pass on the info to the water board to fix.


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## xJay1337 (Jul 20, 2012)

So for around £300 if you source the tyre yourself you'll have it sorted?
That's nice.

I know a guy who had some BBS RS splits (they are worth over £2k) with tyres get two of them totally bent (barrell and rim) by a pothole.
He was down £950 to get the bits to repair them, not a penny.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

xJay1337 said:


> So for around £300 if you source the tyre yourself you'll have it sorted?
> That's nice.
> 
> I know a guy who had some BBS RS splits (they are worth over £2k) with tyres get two of them totally bent (barrell and rim) by a pothole.
> He was down £950 to get the bits to repair them, not a penny.


Their price for a new tyre was reasonable.

Even blackcircles are not that much cheaper.

The tracking needs checked and set and I can't do that. The alloy could do with being repaired and I'd prefer not to be trying that myself.

So about £500 to get the car back to how it was.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Speaking after a friend tried to claim for pothole damage from Aberdeen Council to got what looked like a standard form letter back saying they had looked at the pictures and spoke with their legal team/insurers and they deny they are liable for the damage. Something about them having no prior knowledge of the pothole. He did not take it any further.

I few years before that I remember a girl at work getting new alloys out of them without too much difficulty.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

This site may be of some help - http://www.potholes.co.uk/claims/step_by_step_guide

For Legal Liability, negligence usually has to occur, ie the Council must have been aware of the sunken manhole and neglected to act upon it. By the looks of things from the link above, they even have a statutory defence in place under section 58 of the Highways Act.

I don't really know what happens where a manhole is concerned. The council are responsible for the Highways, so even if they didn't carry out the work on the manhole, they may still have been negligent in not making sure the roads were safe. But negligence could lie with the drain contractors for not doing a proper job (it looks like it has been dug up and laid back down). I would suspect a fair bit of pillar to post will be happening if you do make a claim, but no harm in trying!


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

The entire stretch of road is just a mess. Loads of temporary repairs.

Here is the view from the side of the road. You can see the road being a bit of a mess all around and the repair/re patch works.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

I guess I can argue with the amount of repairs around the one area they are aware there is a problem.


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## PootleFlump (Jan 1, 2006)

Doesn't look too bad to me. Give the council services break they have alot of work to do.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

if they start denying compensation for legitimate damages, wheres the incentive to fix them? they can just drag their feet over all pothole fixing


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

PootleFlump said:


> Doesn't look too bad to me. Give the council services break they have alot of work to do.


what kind of excuse is that? they're getting paid to do a job. if the council is anything like the one i deal with, they keep upping charges for stuff and cutting back on staff, etc, wont be long until the council offices are run by computers


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

PootleFlump said:


> Doesn't look too bad to me. Give the council services break they have alot of work to do.


2 1/8-2 1/2 inches deep into a square face isn't too bad? You are having a laugh.

You obviously don't know Aberdeen council.


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## RisingPower (Sep 21, 2007)

Hmm, looking at that picture, could you have avoided it?

Crappy looking road though, but they're gordawful and crumbling here too.


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## rf860 (Jul 24, 2011)

Kerr. I think your price to repair you damaged alloy is very expensive. I had quite a bad buckled wheel and a local alloy wheel specialist remolded it for £35.

Here's a pic of mine from a similar indecent


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## Jammy J (May 5, 2012)

PootleFlump said:


> Doesn't look too bad to me. Give the council services break they have alot of work to do.


Well it is! Been caught out a few times on that bit, luckily no damage. Roads up here are terrible, bit of a joke really.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

RisingPower said:


> Hmm, looking at that picture, could you have avoided it?
> 
> Crappy looking road though, but they're gordawful and crumbling here too.


It was pitch black and the lighting isn't good either.

I just never saw it at all.


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

rf860 said:


> Kerr. I think your price to repair you damaged alloy is very expensive. I had quite a bad buckled wheel and a local alloy wheel specialist remolded it for £35.
> 
> Here's a pic of mine from a similar indecent


I did know it was too much but that's what they say it costs. It will probably be the BMW adjustment on pricing. 

According to the documents I've read about any council settling damage claims often bargain the price down.

I've provided what a local company says it costs and it will be up to the council to agree or not then force it down.


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## Pinky (Feb 15, 2008)

The roads everywhere are bloody awful especially in Dumfries and Galloway I am always going onto the council website and reporting holes and not one gets sorted , I am going to take photos and sent them to the chief exec and ask him what he is going to do about it and maybe will put them in the local paper as well ,
They are in the process of saving money like all councils and the roads dept is getting loads taken off it .
Its worse on the A75 Euro route and if you try and claim you have to prove that the ministers have been negligent and that's not easy , The Amey guy wot gets the e mails is fed up of me complaining ...


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

Still not fot this matter resolved. 

Scottish Water has passed the case on to their insurance company who tell me they are looking to settle the claim. 

Their insurance company is Gallagher and Bassett who are pretty slow to say the least. They don't respond to emails and take days to send letters to ask silly questions. 

They have told me that the will only settle based on wear and tear of the items. 

The only question asked to determine wear and tear is how old is the items. Not how much tread is left or what condition is the wheel. 

As I pointed out to the girl the tyre has about 6mm treas and would not need replaced in my ownership of the car. It will be sold before I use them. 

I will be left out of pocket if they settle for anything less than the cost of a replacement. 

I also said how can you determine the lifespan of a wheel? My wheel is completely unmarked with no kerbing at all and I've never had ti replace a wheel on a car before. 

I offered them photographs, videos or even allowing them to inspect the damage all of which they refused. 

Really slow and stupid proces. 

I pressed the girl to have a closure date and I'm told the end of the month. 

I'm already prepared for a low ball offer.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Once they accept liability you have them for everything.

Inform them wheels are not wear and tear items and needs to be paid in full. Your tyres have 75%/6mm left on them. You will accept a replacement tyre of the same make and age with a minimum of 6mm tread, and a garage to fit/balance it you will accept it.....which they wont be able to do and will give you a new one?


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## Kerr (Mar 27, 2012)

I got a cheque this morning for the full amount I claimed. 

Didn't see that coming.

Still to decide if I'm going to replace the runflat or go for new normal tyres all round.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Good result


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## bigslippy (Sep 19, 2010)

Nice one , well done:thumb:


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