Insurance claims to rise due to bad weather

The motoring group, the AA, has recently said that vehicle insurance claims are set to soar as a result of damage caused by bad weather. During the winter months there are usually increases in vehicle insurance claims, as many people are involved in accidents due to the ice and snow on the roads. 

However, the AA says that further increases in insurance claims are set to result from the damage caused to the roads in the bad weather. Over recent weeks, where temperatures have fallen to their lowest in December for over a century, the roads in the UK have sustained severe damage, with many areas having to cope with huge potholes on the roads.

The potholes have come about due to water seeping under the road surface and then freezing, which then loosens the tarmac. This is then made worse by traffic driving over the loosened tarmac, which turns it into a pothole. These potholes have resulted in many drivers sustaining huge amounts of damage to their vehicles.

Often the damage sustained to vehicles involves the suspension, the bodywork, and the wheels, and one driver had to put in a claim for £14,000 after hitting a pothole, losing control of his car, and then crashing it. According to the AA drivers need to be very careful at present, as local authorities are still in the process of trying to repair the potholes.

The AA said: “It is really important that drivers keep a sharp eye out for potholes and keep their speed down, particularly on secondary roads, remembering that in wet weather deep potholes may be obscured by water. Cuts in road maintenance budgets of 20% mean that local authorities face very difficult choices on the roads they prioritise for repair. While they may fix the dangerous potholes, many are likely to go unrepaired.”

Tags: insurance claims, motoring group, group, AA drivers, maintenance budgets, Depressions, pothole, surface