Gene

don't think it's limited to just your state

schulrog

isn't the city liable somehow for excessively deteriorated roads? i would think so.

Gene

yeah, but who ends up paying for it in the end anyway (both figuratively and perhaps literally)...:thumbsdown:

ObD

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Potholes are the main reason I run 17" diameter wheels in the winter. The 17's seem to survive the hardest knocks.

doug_999

Rumor has it, you can go after the city of Chicago and if you are lucky in about two years, you can get about 50% reimbursement.

My experience (not with the city of Chicago, but a suburb) was the same (they just offered 50% a lot faster). Turns out in Illinois, the cities have tort immunity from these types of claims. Basically, if they had no way of knowing about something and/or it was caused by weather, then they are in the clear.

Now, that said....say you hit a monster pothole and then call the cops. The city has to, within a reasonable timeframe, put up a barricade or something or fill the hole. If say two days later, the pothole is still there and someone else hits it, THEN THEY ARE LIABLE.

In my case, they are claiming I was the only one to hit it and that since I did not call the Police, I'm lucky to get 50%. I disagree since they REMOVED THE BARRICADE and their gravel patch job was not up to the task of cars driving over it. We will see what the courts say.

seventhirteen

Everyone should take a road trip to New Orleans and drive the roads there. There were shit when I was living there and are even worse after Katrina. They probably won't even sell you tire and wheel insurance if you live there.

MRV99

Pothole Update!!!!! BMW put my car up on the rack to inspect the damage from the pothole and found only the alignment to be off. The brought me back and showed me what they were doing and sure enough no issue. They said that the rim exploding was the reason for the lack of damage. If the rim would have not split in two they said it could have been very bad.

Another note. The adjuster was talking with me after the inspection and was giving me the low down on what they would pay for. Originally Statefarm wanted to pay for Aftermarket 124's but the adjuster said since I have winter/summer setup and I only have 32k on a March 04 production car. They said that I take really good care of the car and that I deserve to have everything replaced with OEM parts. Plus he said that if a OEM part took that abuse with no body injury and the car turned out fine, he felt that Aftermarket rims would not be as safe if the situation ever happened again. That sure put a smile on my face.


As for filing a claim with the city. Statefarm said that since I had pictures of the pothole before(that was fun) and picutures after it was filled. They told me that they would go after the city and should not have any issues. The adjuster said that usually the insurance companies get paid before the average joe making a claim because of the "companies professionalism" or maybe just they have the lawyers to get it done.

erin

M6 reps and not miros which i have now much better. Chicago sucks about filling potholes

tbal

Thats insane damage to 40 series tires! WOW, cant imagine what would've happend if you were rolling 25 series tires lol

JStraw

Here's the real reason why pot-holes form.

Potholes are the holes in the roadway that can be various shapes and sizes caused by the expansion and contraction of water after it has entered into the subsurface under the pavement from a crack in the surface. When water freezes, it expands. Think of when ice cubes are made. A tray full of water is put into the freezer, and when you take the tray out of the freezer later, you will notice the water has expanded. This same effect happens when water gets into the subsurface under the pavement. If it has a chance to freeze, it will take up more space under the pavement, and the pavement will expand, bend, or crack, which weakens the material. Then when ice melts, the pavement contracts and it leaves gaps or voids in the subsurface under the pavement, where water can get in again. If the water freezes and thaws over and over, the pavement may get very weak.

There is another thing that happens. As the weight of cars and trucks pass over the weak spot in the road, pieces of the roadway material weakened by the freezing and thawing effect get displaced or broken down from the weight, creating the pothole.

What happens when salt is brought into the picture? Water will freeze at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. When salt is used, it lowers the temperature that water will freeze. So therefore, this creates an artificial freeze-thaw cycle to occur. This happens more in the spring because of the melting that takes place and because the temperatures go between above freezing and below freezing very frequently and allows many freeze-thaw cycles to weaken the pavement.

We have had freeze-thaw cycles for a few times here in the Chicago area, which exacerbates this.