Weasel

iTrader: (2)

I ran into a pothole a few days ago that put a bubble in one of my tires and very nearly dented the rim. I've heard of people getting the city to pay for damages to their car and I was wondering if anyone here has done this successfully? I had to pay $250 for 2 new tires, mounting and balancing, and I'm not a happy camper. I did get Bridgestone RE950s (great so far) but I liked my Yokohamas and they had at least 15,000 miles left on them. I know right where the pothole is that did this... this is Florida, there's only one in a 10-mile radius.

CRMax

I'd be surprised it you got anywhere. You could probably try small claims, but I don't know where that would get you.

A few years ago I wanted to sue the city because they never got around to replacing a sign that showed where a divided concrete median started. Christmas night driving home after a 4" snow that hadn't been plowed yet I nailed the median at 45mph. Trashed the underbody of the maxima. I called about 10 different lawyers and not one said I had a chance. Of course the sign showed up in it's place the next day.

Dummy

friend ran over a manhole cover and broke his tranny casing, pushed his motor back 3in. and deployed the airbags braking his windsheild.... they told him he should have had such a low car.

MaxedBandit

Actually, a friend of mine had this happen to him a couple years ago also, I don't think the damage was as extensive though. He hit a raised manhole cover and broke his body kit, dented 2 of his rims, completely tore his strut out of the strut tower on one corner and he sued the City of Irvine. Without very much legal hassle and stuff, the city wrote him a check after he showed up to one (1) legal hearing for the amount that was totalled up after his estimate (I think it was about $4500). It can never hurt to try.

GuZo

iTrader: (6)

My friend had his tranny replaced because of a pothole..a big one I guess, the city paid for it, no questions asked.3000 or so in total.

My 4DSC

on a related topic...
i was successful suing a business for not repairing the pothole in their parking lot... small claims court... mediator resolved it...
i got $500 for a new rim/tire...

bullseye

Yes. I fought the "law" and the "law" won...

I was driving along at 35 mph with a carload of work associates. We were on our way back to work when I hit a portion of road that had been pushed up by frost, a heavy truck, or who knows what? It was on a downhill section of road, and the defect was not readily apparent until I hit it. I actually had to circle back and drive by the spot at 5 mph to even see the road surface defect. We could barely tell where it was, but when I hit it, it felt like I drove up a curb. One of my wheels were slightly bent, but despite several e-mails and phone conversations with countless faceless bureaucrats, no joy on a new wheel. I was told the city is not liable for road surface defects unless they are not repaired within 48 hours of being reported...

Kinda like a catch-22 situation.