Can city pay for pothole damage to car?
 

Horror story in Milpitas:

It was a dark and stormy night as I was driving on 680 in the slow lane, passing the Calaveras exit. When ALL-OF-A-MUTHA-FREAKN-SUDDEN...WHAM!!! I hit a HUGE pothole!!! I was lucky my tire didn't pop, but for the 6 cars on the shoulder lane fixing their flats, not so lucky.

My question is will the City reimburse me for fixing my bent wheel? Has anyone in similar situations ever attempted to do this?

Thanks for any input!

usually if the city gets enough complaints they will fix the hole and the damage. Atleast that is how it is in Orlando.

i live in the bay area also and i got concord to buy me a new set of rims for my truck for the same reason. pothole bent the rims. go take a picture of the pothole before people try to complain and they fill it before anyone can file a claim. and make sure you can prove it was there on the date that it happened.

Thanks for the quick responses.

Kennymo, I can try to take photos but there's no way for me to prove I hit the pothole or that it was there (one week ago already).

Should I have made a police report? Did you?

my friend had that happen to him in the dublin area, caltrans paid for all four of his HRE's
so im pretty sure it's possible.

thanks for the heads up though...theyve been doing alot of road work around the calaveras down towards fremont area.

well since you havnt said anything to anyone yet you can say you hit it today and then get a picture of it the same day with the date on the picture or something. i didnt make a police report but i did talk to the highway patrol and he set me up with someone from the city. i dont remember what that persons title was though.

as long as its not already filled in. you can just take a picture and say you hit it whenever you want. they have no way of proving you didnt

Go on-line and seek out the Department of Public Works for Milpitas. There should some useful information there for you. Good luck. ;)

If you were on 680, Cal Trans has a form you can use. When I took my rim to get it fixed at Rite Way in Walnut Creek, he told me the form number and had a number to call. Take a bunch of pictures before they fill it in.

edit: Don't expect them to pay for it now. You'll have to pay upfront and be reimbursed in a few months.

Be prepared to speak with the City's attorney, if Milpitas' policy is the same as San Francisco county. Have either a repair estimate or replacement documentation in hand . . . And do not forget to ask for the cost of an alignment, as well.

680 is fwy = Cal Trans. City is not liable, not a city road. As said...take pictures of pothole. Many others with flats, bet they've filed claims already. Not hard to prove with other claims too in same location/date/time.

Duh . . . Missed that bit of info.

Same happened to me years go, I took pictures and filled out a form. It took 3 months for a refund check to arrive.

No worries. Wasn't referring to your post. More-so it was the title of thread then reading pothole on 680 ;)

I bent my oem from a massive pot hole on 87 a couple years back. I took pictures of the pot hole, mentioned the date/time/location, gave a brief summary, took pictures of the wheel, got an estimate from the dealership of the wheel + labor, filled out the city claim form and submitted it to the city. I got a check within 3 months.