If there were no construction signs posted or visible to you (the City only has to make a reasonble effort to notify the drivers and pedestiran), you can file a claim against the City.

If I were you, I would take pictures of the street and the manhole during the time this incident ocurred, i.e. night time with available lights. Document anything that might help you build your case and couple of estimates to fix your damage. Submit these documents with the City Clerks office on an "official claim" form and see what happens.

The City will either deny your claim or they will accept it and pay for the damages. More reasonable the claim is more likely it will get accepted.

At least, that's how it is here in Los Angeles...NY might be little different but the fundamentals should be the same. Hope this helps...

 

Thanks! I will definitely give it a shot...At $350 a tire(installed), I would rather let the city pay for it. The least they could have done was put a sign up...or maybe set up some slalom cones on the manhole covers so we could have some fun...

 

Depending on the wear / mileage, you may have to replace TWO tires. It is not generally advisable to replace just one tire of a front or rear pair. The pairs wear in concert and if you replace just one, you will possibly have permanent adverse handling characteristics since they will never match each other again.

 

Had the front passenger side tire replaced at total install cost of $380....With about 10k miles on the car and about half of that done on my winter wheel/tire setup, the tire matched up decently to the other front tire. Took some pics of the manhole cover(s) and am going to submit a claim to the county attorney's office and see what happens.. I must say that even with a gash(1 inch+) in the sidewall of that front tire, it still drove well. If I took my hands off the wheel, it would barely pull the car to the side. Just comforting to know that it is decently safe condsidering my wife uses the car to drive our young daughter around...Although there are a lot of complaints with these tires, on the positive side, they do offer some peace of mind..

 

Did you also check the wheel and the suspension? After a hit like that, I suggest that you should.

I absolutely agree that you submit a claim!! The road contractors/county should a some insurance for cases like this!

I also agree on the RF's, it gives you some feeling of security, but the tire tech (and auto) still has to develop a while.