A classic car owner’s guide to potholes

Classic car owners know there’s no feeling quite like getting your dream set of wheels, keeping it in great nick, and taking it out on the road.

Sure, vintage vehicles can be higher maintenance and need a bit more vigilance as a driver, but that’s a huge part of their charm and the fun of owning one.

However, one issue that nobody wants to have to deal with is potholes. They could strike a lethal blow to your classic car and they’re unfortunately becoming an even greater problem in the UK.

But what are potholes, how do they happen and what can you do to avoid them damaging your beloved classic? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at this annoying road problem, reveal how to report potholes, and show you how insurance for classic cars can help keep your vintage vehicle on the road.

What are potholes and how do they happen?

Potholes are the menace of drivers and cyclists everywhere. They are simply holes that form in the road, increasing in size and severity over time with the weather a key contributing factor.

Countries with a rainy climate will most likely have greater occurrences of potholes because water plays a key part in their formation. The process largely begins when water, such as rainfall, lands on the road’s surface.

Where normally you would want the water to either run off into a drain or dry out, sometimes it seeps into the road surface. Over time all roads, particularly busy ones, will succumb to wear and tear thanks to cars, buses, lorries, vans and so on driving across them each day. This leads to cracks that allow water to get through – initially tiny cracks that get bigger with time if not fixed.

The water then collects underneath the road and when temperatures drop, for example at nighttime, it freezes. It then expands and pushes against the road’s surface above it. The upward pressure on the roads inevitably contributes to the enlarging of the road’s cracks. Cars keep driving over, too, and the state of the road worsens.

When the sun returns and dries out the water underneath the road, the gaps where the water lay remain. Between the structural damage to the road’s surface, and the empty spaces left behind underneath, the road is no longer able to take the strain of traffic. So eventually it collapses, and a pothole is formed.

In countries with lots of rain and traffic, then, it’s easy to see why potholes become such a common problem. Authorities would be able to prevent potholes from happening or getting out of control by making sure roads stay watertight. With regular road checks, efficient draining processes and consistent resurfacing, a road is much less likely to develop a pothole.

What’s the situation with potholes in the UK?

Roads anywhere in the world are susceptible to potholes that can easily get out of hand and become a nationwide issue. For evidence of this, look no further than our very own roads in the United Kingdom. Potholes are a common problem right across Britain and have arguably got out of control. A report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) says that there are so many potholes in England in Wales that in 2020/21, one was repaired every 19 seconds.

Yet still, of all roads in England in 2020/21, only 55% could be deemed in ‘good’ condition. Around 29% were in ‘adequate’ condition, with up to 15 years of life left in them. Meanwhile, 16% of roads were actively in ‘poor’ condition, meaning they could be unfit for purpose within five years.

This means that in England, 45% of all roads could need to be resurfaced within the next 15 years. In Wales this rises to 50%.

Local authorities are responsible for road maintenance. However, budget cuts in recent years have made this much more challenging. The AIA says the annual budget for carriageway maintenance in England and Wales is short by nearly £753 million, which is the equivalent of each authority being £4.5 million under budget. Meanwhile, Cycling UK says that in Scotland, nearly three quarters of local authorities have less budget available to maintain roads than they did five years ago.

With pothole numbers on the rise and budgets to tackle them shrinking, the outlook for the UK’s roads is not promising – particularly for classic car owners whose older vehicles may be most at risk.

The risk to classic cars

There are various ways that a pothole can inflict damage on your vehicle. First, they can damage your wheels – after all, they will be coming into direct contact with them.

As you drive over a pothole, the edges can press into your tyre, which can lead to the rubber being slashed or sliced. The wheel rims could get badly scraped, or even be bent out of shape and make tyres loose as the airtight seal between the wheel and tyre is compromised. This could lead to a need for repairs or even wheels needing to be replaced and the costs can soon add up, especially for classic cars with the rarest wheels or parts.

Beyond the wheels, your classic car has many vulnerable spots. An unexpected thud from a pothole can be serious for the suspension. It could become misaligned for example, leading to issues with steering and handling. It might cause your car to pull to one direction, with the tyres wearing out unevenly over time.

With more extreme potholes, you could do damage to the exhaust or undercarriage, again racking up the garage bill. These issues are particularly prevalent for owners of sporty classic cars that are lower to the ground and so inherently closer to the road.

Meanwhile, in a worst-case scenario a pothole could make you lose control of the vehicle which puts you in all kinds of danger, including potentially a collision or being forced off the road. A crash puts your life at risk as well as the lives of other drivers or pedestrians, not to mention the serious or irreparable damage it can cause to your classic car.

Given the scale of the pothole problem in the UK, it’s a bad idea to take the risks for granted. Having insurance for a classic car in place is the best way to protect yourself from the financial fallout of an accident.

Tips to make your classic car more pothole friendly

While you can’t stop potholes from appearing in your area or on the route of your big road trip, you can take some steps to reduce the chances of them causing you problems.

Firstly is the choice of car itself. If you’re in the market for your first classic car, you might want to think about the features that would struggle with potholes. Vehicles with larger wheels are more at risk than those with small wheels, while low-to-the-ground sports cars will be more at risk than higher cars or vans.

However, if you already own one of these cars then don’t worry. There are lots of other things you can do to mitigate pothole troubles.

One thing you could do is reduce the size of your wheels. It’s important to do this without compromising the performance of the car, which shouldn’t be an issue if you only reduce the size of the wheel diameter by around an inch. Wheel changes should be done very carefully – check out our guide to classic car wheels for more tips.

Staying vigilant and constantly checking your vehicle will help you manage the impact of potholes and spot signs of damage. You might have smaller wheels that can handle rough roads better, but that is irrelevant if your tyres are not properly inflated. The right tyre pressures will help you avoid problems on the road, so make sure they’re always at the right level.

The tyres should also be checked for general quality and condition. Factors that will be important here include the tread depth and the age. A tyre might not blow out immediately when you go over a pothole, but it can pick up little scrapes or cuts that contribute towards a big problem down the line. Don’t take for granted that your car is fine – check it out each time you go over a pothole.

The same goes when it comes to your suspension. Keep an eye out for initial warning signs of deterioration or damage, no matter how small. That might be a periodic noise, such as a click or a squeak that has only been happening recently, or a slight difference in the feel of the car’s steering. If your suspicions are even slightly raised, trust your gut and take it to the mechanic for a look over.

If you drive the same routes regularly, it might be a good idea to make a log of the potholes you’re faced with, so that you know where they are and are able to drive more carefully at those points.

Alternatively, if you’re going on a road trip, be sure to check out Fill That Hole. Set up by Cycling UK, it’s a website where potholes and other hazards can be reported.

The website even has an interactive UK map that allows you to zoom in and click on flags that indicate hazards across the country.

You can search areas you plan to drive in and take note of any roads that should be approached with caution or avoided altogether.

Even with this kind of information available, you’ve had the best prevention tool all along – your own driving. By driving carefully and responsibly at all times – for example, avoiding driving through too many puddles that could hide a pothole – you’re more likely to see potholes coming and mitigate the impact on your car.

And if you are unfortunate enough to have a bad encounter with a pothole, you don’t want to be caught short with no protection. The right classic vehicle insurance will be tailored to the specific needs of each vintage vehicle owner.

Tips to help tackle potholes

When it comes to potholes, road users can help each other out by reporting them to the local authorities.

It can be easy to dismiss the idea of reporting potholes. You might think it’s pointless given how widespread the issue is and the fact that councils across the UK are already struggling to keep up with repairs. However, reporting potholes has more benefits than you think.

For one, it can make it more likely to be fixed if it was previously not on a council’s radar. A survey by Which? showed that of people who reported a pothole, 30% said it was fixed within two weeks.

Not only that, but if your car is damaged by a pothole that the responsible authority knew about and didn’t fix, you could be able to claim compensation for the cost of the repairs. If they can prove that they had no prior knowledge of the pothole, or that they took reasonable care to maintain it, they aren’t liable to help you with repair costs.

Reporting potholes is a fairly quick and easy process, even through official channels. You can report them via the UK Government website for England and Wales, with separate portals for Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Don’t let potholes dent your classic car dreams

The UK may have a considerable pothole problem, but that shouldn’t stop you from living out your lifelong dream of owning and enjoying an iconic classic car.

At Lancaster Insurance, we are classic enthusiasts just like you, so we really understand the significance of vintage vehicles to owners, as well as the importance of flexible classic car insurance solutions in a market where owners have such individual needs and challenges.

We have been arranging specialist classic car insurance for more than 35 years. We work closely with carefully chosen underwriters that complement our wealth of industry experience to offer some of the UK’s most tailored and comprehensive and classic car insurance schemes.

We are able to quote for virtually any classic car available. So why not get in touch for a quote today?

Policy benefits, features and discounts offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.