08 November, 2024
One in five cars damaged by potholes has to be written off
- Biggest insurance claim paid was £53,000 for BMW 7 series wrecked on A-road
Data from leading insurer Allianz reveals that one in five (21%) insurance claims where a vehicle hit a pothole leads to the vehicle being declared an insurance write-off.
Since the start of 2023, Allianz has paid out more than £4.6m for 1,266 pothole claims. During this time, Allianz has paid 1,114 single-vehicle pothole claims – an accident where no other vehicle is involved - with 225 vehicles being deemed beyond economical repair and the average total loss claim costing £7,900.
In one incident in 2023, a BMW 7 series M-Sport hit a pothole on an A-road while travelling at 60mph. The impact caused so much damage that the car had to be written-off, with Allianz paying a claim totalling £53,000.
Caroline Johnson, claims director of motor insurance at Allianz UK, said:
“Our roads are blighted by potholes and it is astonishing to see the problems they cause. Many incidents result in damaged wheels, wrecked suspension, and misaligned bodywork. In one in five cases the damage is so severe and structural that it is not worth the cost of trying to repair the car. It’s a huge waste, and these costs feed back into the insurance premiums that many motorists are struggling to pay.
“Potholes are a growing menace, and we have seen a steady rise in both the frequency and cost of claims over the last few years. In early 2023 a typical claim cost just over £3,000, but that now stands at £4,000. It has become more expensive to repair cars for many reasons, including the cost of parts and specialist labour, so fixing any pothole-damaged car adds to the overall cost that insurers and ultimately consumers face.
“Our roads need better maintenance to reduce the number of potholes. The Government’s recent announcement of increased spending on repairing the nation’s roads is welcome and will hopefully go some way to helping to alleviate this problem.”
Claims to high-end prestige cars can be hugely expensive. This summer, a new Audi A3 Sportback 40 TFSI hit a pothole on a B-road at 15mph. The damage caused to the front nearside wheel and undercarriage was so extensive that the vehicle was classed as a total loss and the claim totalled £36,000.
In another case, a 2020 Mercedes GLC220 hit a pothole at 30mph and ran into a ditch, damaging the bonnet, bumper and windscreen. The car was deemed a total loss and the insurance claim totalled £25,000.
Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) calculates the total annual cost - caused by damage to vehicles, accidents and reduced speeds - of potholes in England amount to £14.4 billion a year.
Motorists can report potholes to their local authority via Fixmystreet or on National Highways for problems on motorways and A-roads.
About Allianz
The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with around 125 million* private and corporate customers in nearly 70 countries. Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 741 billion euros** on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage about 1.8 trillion euros** of third-party assets. Thanks to our systematic integration of ecological and social criteria in our business processes and investment decisions, we are among the leaders in the insurance industry in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. In 2023, over 157,000 employees achieved total business volume of 161.7 billion euros and an operating profit of 14.7 billion euros for the group.
* Including non-consolidated entities with Allianz customers.
**As of June 30, 2024.
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Sian Baker
Communications Consultant
Communications Consultant
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