EDMONTON – The City of Edmonton has already received 1,400 claims for pothole repair – that’s ten times the number of claims it handled last year.
The city says, so far this year, it’s received 1,400 claim applications – people seeking compensation for vehicle damage caused by potholes on Edmonton roads.
The total number of claims filed last year was 128.
“Pothole damage claims this year are just at the 1,400 mark,” explains Gary Dyck, spokesperson for the City of Edmonton, “it’s very high.”
“Record breaking,” he admits. “The nearest year was 2007; we had just about 1,100 claims that year.”
Dyck says pothole damage claims usually begin to taper off around the end of June, but he’s not sure that will happen this year.
“I don’t know because there’s just so many.”
The record number of claims doesn’t surprise those in the car repair industry.
“We’ve had a banner year for pothole claims. We see them on a daily basis,” says Graham Tanner, store manager at Tire Warehouse.
“We’ve probably replaced hundreds of tires,” he adds. “Vehicles don’t just have their tires damaged, they also have their suspension damaged, or sometimes they’ll have their front end damaged.”
“Even the rims are being damaged… the rim and the tire assembly, the whole thing is being damaged,” explains Tanner.
“Alignments are required on most of the vehicles we’re dealing with right now. So, the roads have really done a good job on a lot of the suspensions and tires this year for sure.”
The City of Edmonton accepts pothole damage claims for any kind of damage done to a vehicle by a pothole, including tires, alignment, and front end damage.
“If there is damage to your vehicle, and you believe the City of Edmonton is responsible for that damage, go to edmonton.ca – that’s the city’s website – and search … ‘pothole damage claims,’ and it’ll take you to a page that explains what you need to do,” says Dyck.
“Basically you’ve got 30 days from the time that you’ve encountered some damage to file the claim, and there’s a form that you fill out on that page.”
To file a pothole damage claim with the city, click here.
On average, only about 20 per cent of claims are approved.
“About 20 per cent of the claims on average over the past years have been accepted,” says Dyck. “About 80 per cent have been rejected.”
The City reviews each claim in accordance to the conditions set out in the Municipal Government Act.
“Each claim is examined to see if it meets the criteria. The province of Alberta – the Municipal Government Act – sets what the standards are for the claims we accept or reject.”
Tanner says the amount of damage potholes can do to a vehicle varies, but he’s seen cases where about $2,500 worth of damage is caused by rough city roads.
“I’ve never seen it as bad as this year,” he admits. “I’ve been doing it for 35 years all in all, and this is one of the worst years we’ve seen.”
Dyck agrees 2013 has been especially bumpy for Edmonton drivers.
“We have good years and bad years, but this year’s been beyond what I expected.”
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