Vehicle damaged by a pothole? The city could pay for it!

CALGARY – It’s the sound every driver dreads to hear – the bone crunching “˜thud’ as they hit a pothole they didn’t see.

Tire shops have had their hands full with pothole repairs this winter – dented rims and damaged suspensions can be an expensive repair for vehicle owners.

So for those unable to dodge every rut in the road, some may qualify to have the city pay for the damage a nasty pothole wreaks on a vehicle.

“I thought it was going to be harder,” says Barbara King. “I thought they would never respond to me.”

Last year, Barbara had to replace the tire and rim on her car after it was damaged by a pothole on Glenmore Trail. She filed a claim for $400 and was surprised when she later got a cheque in the mail.

“They paid me for the flat tire, a new tire, a new rim and a new hub cap.”

To submit a claim to the city, you must first call 311 and an adjuster from the city law department will contact you to investigate.

The city says each claim is judged on its own and there is no set formula to decide if it will accept responsibility.

“There’s a lot of factors that go into it,” says David Corbett, City of Calgary. “How the pothole is there, where the pothole is, where it was addressed, where notice was given and each of those questions when answered will take the investigation into a different direction.”

The city has had an average of 200 pothole claims each year for the past two years. In 2009, they paid out 11 claims – in 2010 they paid out 24.

Despite the low number of payouts, drivers can improve their chances of being reimbursed by the city by taking pictures or video of the pothole, the area around it, the damages to their vehicle and reporting the incident immediately.

Once the city decides to pay a claim the cost is not negotiated.

The city says the compensation is based on repair costs so you have to keep all of your receipts.