Britain's roads are in their worst state in a generation. After a brutal winter of repeated freeze-thaw cycles, torrential rain, and stretched council budgets, the pothole backlog has hit record levels. The RAC attended 29,377 pothole-related breakdowns in 2025 — a 21% increase on the previous year — and 2026 is on track to be even worse. For UK drivers, the crumbling road network isn't just an inconvenience. It's costing them an estimated £730 million a year in vehicle damage.
How bad is it?
The numbers paint a grim picture. According to the Asphalt Industry Alliance's annual survey, it would take over a decade to clear the current backlog of road repairs in England and Wales — even if every council worked flat-out with unlimited funding. In reality, most are doing the opposite: cutting highway maintenance budgets to plug gaps elsewhere.
A single pothole repair costs a council an average of £55. That sounds cheap — until you realise that local authorities in England alone filled approximately 2 million potholes last year, and millions more went unrepaired. It's a game of whack-a-mole played with shrinking budgets on deteriorating roads.
Why this winter has been so destructive
Potholes form when water seeps into cracks in the road surface, freezes, expands, and then thaws — breaking the tarmac apart from inside. The more freeze-thaw cycles in a winter, the more damage. And the winter of 2025–26 has delivered them in abundance.
- Repeated freeze-thaw cycles — the UK experienced an unusually volatile winter, with temperatures swinging between mild spells and sharp frosts throughout January and February. Each cycle widens existing cracks and creates new ones
- Heavy rainfall — persistent rain saturates the road base layer, weakening the foundation beneath the surface. When heavy vehicles drive over waterlogged roads, the surface collapses
- Ageing infrastructure — many UK roads haven't been properly resurfaced in over a decade. Patch repairs buy time but don't address the underlying deterioration. Eventually, the patches themselves start breaking apart
- Budget cuts — council highway maintenance spending has fallen in real terms every year since 2010. Many authorities now operate on a "worst first" basis, only fixing potholes that meet a danger threshold and ignoring everything else
What pothole damage actually costs you
Hitting a pothole at speed can cause serious damage to your car — and the repair bills add up fast. Here are the most common types of pothole damage and what they typically cost:
The average pothole damage claim is around £300, but many drivers don't bother claiming — either because their excess is too high, or because they don't realise the damage was caused by a pothole until their tyres wear unevenly months later. The true cost to UK drivers is almost certainly higher than the headline figure suggests.
The worst areas in the UK
Pothole severity varies enormously by region. Generally, areas with higher rainfall, colder winters, and lower council budgets fare worst. The North of England, Wales, and parts of Scotland consistently top the league table of complaints:
London's roads aren't exactly smooth, but they benefit from higher per-mile spending thanks to Transport for London and the capital's outsized budget. Outside the capital, many councils are spending less than £3 per metre of road per year on maintenance — a fraction of what's needed to prevent deterioration.
The £16.3 billion question
The Asphalt Industry Alliance estimates it would cost £16.3 billion to bring all local roads in England and Wales up to a reasonable standard. That's roughly what the UK spends on foreign aid in a year. The government has pledged increased road funding, but most of it is earmarked for strategic highways and major routes — not the local roads where most potholes form. Until that changes, the backlog will only grow.
Can you claim for pothole damage?
Yes — but it's not easy. You have two options:
1. Claim against the council
If a pothole on a council-maintained road damages your car, you can submit a claim to the local authority responsible. To succeed, you generally need to prove:
- The pothole was on a road the council is responsible for maintaining
- The council knew or should have known about the defect (e.g. it had been reported previously)
- They failed to repair it within a reasonable timeframe
- The pothole directly caused your damage
In practice, most councils reject claims by arguing they had a "reasonable" inspection and repair schedule in place — a defence under Section 58 of the Highways Act 1980. Success rates are low: only around 30–40% of claims result in any payout, and the process can take months.
2. Claim on your car insurance
If your comprehensive policy covers accidental damage, you can claim for pothole damage through your insurer. This is faster and more reliable than claiming against the council — but it comes at a cost. You'll pay your excess (typically £200–500), and the claim may affect your no-claims discount. For damage under £500, it's often not worth claiming.
How to protect your car
You can't avoid every pothole, but you can reduce your risk and limit the damage:
- Keep your tyres properly inflated — underinflated tyres are far more vulnerable to pothole damage. The sidewall can't absorb the impact properly, increasing the risk of a blowout. Check pressures at least monthly
- Watch for puddles — a puddle on a road often hides a pothole. If you can't see the bottom, slow down or steer around it. Many of the worst pothole impacts happen when drivers hit water-filled craters at speed
- Leave space from the car ahead — if the car in front swerves or brakes suddenly, you need time to react. Tailgating on potholed roads dramatically increases your risk
- Slow down on damaged roads — impact force increases exponentially with speed. Hitting a pothole at 40mph does roughly four times the damage of hitting it at 20mph
- Avoid hard braking over a pothole — if you can't avoid it, release the brake just before impact. Braking tilts the car forward and loads the front suspension, making the impact worse. Hitting it with the suspension unloaded reduces the force transferred to the wheel
- Report potholes — use your council's reporting tool or the national FixMyStreet website. Reporting creates a record, which strengthens any future claim and puts the council on notice to fix it
Potholes and fuel economy
Here's something most drivers don't consider: poor road surfaces also hurt your fuel economy. Damaged roads increase rolling resistance, forcing your engine to work harder to maintain speed. Research by the RAC Foundation found that poorly maintained roads can increase fuel consumption by up to 10% compared to smooth surfaces.
Misaligned wheels caused by pothole damage make things worse — dragging the car slightly to one side increases tyre friction and can reduce fuel efficiency by 3–5%. If you've noticed your car pulling to one side or your fuel economy dropping for no obvious reason, a pothole impact may be the cause. Getting your tracking checked (around £50–80) could pay for itself in fuel savings within a few months.
The bottom line
The UK's pothole crisis isn't getting better — it's getting worse. Decades of underinvestment, combined with increasingly harsh winters and heavier traffic, have left local roads in a state that would be unacceptable in most European countries. Until funding catches up with reality, drivers will continue bearing the cost through damaged tyres, buckled wheels, and higher repair bills.
You can't control the state of the roads, but you can control how much you pay for fuel. The difference between the cheapest and most expensive station in your area is often 10p per litre or more — that's £5+ per fill-up. Check your local area on Fuelwise to make sure you're not adding unnecessary costs on top of the ones the roads are already causing.