Cost of pothole damage soars to record £1.7bn as | Tech News

Motorists throughout the UK are going through a collective restore invoice of £1.7 billion due to the rising quantities of potholes throughout the nation’s crumbling highway community. According to the Kwik Fit Pothole Impact Tracker 2025, the average motorist shelled out £144 in car repairs due to damage brought on by potholes during 2024, with more than a million Brits paying more than £300. Dan Joyce, operations director at Kwik Fit, famous that the determine represents a sharp increase over the previous two years at a time by which the general value of motoring can also be rising.

He mentioned: “It’s concerning to see that the downward trend of the last two years has gone into reverse in the latest figures. Anything which adds unnecessary costs to motorists is especially unwelcome in the current economic climate but even the financial burden is outweighed by the risk to safety.”

Despite a pothole being stuffed in each 18 seconds, a report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance suggests that there’s a £17 billion backlog in highway repairs.

The organisation warned that more than half of the UK’s highway community has much less than 15 years of life left, with 94% of native authority freeway groups believing that there was no enchancment to damage over the previous 12 months.

The feeling is shared with many motorists, with Kwik Fit discovering that more than half of drivers suppose that roads of their space have worsened prior to now yr, and 62% admitting that they don’t consider they may improve within the close to future.

Dan warned that driving too rapidly over potholes may end up in all method of points, with many drivers funding repairs themselves.

He mentioned: “The main components which bear the bulk of the damage – tyres and wheels, suspension and steering – are interlinked. Even if a car is driveable after hitting a pothole, the impact may have compromised its handling, as can be seen by the fact that many drivers have had to have vital ADAS technology recalibrated.

“Not solely do potholes current an speedy risk on the time of influence, they’ll have a long run impact on its security on the highway.”

To keep away from placing their car at risk of being broken by potholes, Kwik Fit beneficial that drivers usually test the strain of their tyres.

By letting an excessive amount of air escape from the tyres, more of the rubber floor will come into contact with the highway – rising the chance of damage such as a puncture by travelling over a pothole.

Motorists have been additionally urged to cut back their velocity after they encounter a pothole on their travels and keep away from tailgating different highway customers to give themselves lots of time to react.