Who’s responsible for damage from potholes?

“Fortunately a lot of them are fairly small,” says Rob Allen, Deputy Director of Lexington’s Division of Streets and Roads. “There’s always a monster you hear about that are the Moby Dick of potholes.”

They can swallow your car and take a bite out of your budget.

What if your car is damaged by a pothole this winter, who pays for the damage? In Lexington, for example, it depends on the road.

“Most municipalities have what’s called sovereign immunity where if you drive on the road, you are at risk,” Allen says. “A lot of folks think we’ll pay for damage.”

Lexington’s Division of Streets and Roads says they won’t.

Even though Lexington won’t pay for the damage, someone else could… But only if you are on a state or US highway, like Richmond or Tates Creek.

If you hit a pothole on one of those roads, you can ask the state’s board of claims to pay for the repairs.

The board looks at each request on a case-by-case basis. The forms and more detailsed information about what is required to submit a request is available at the Board of Claims website.

You can help yourself and other drivers by reporting potholes in Lexington by calling 311 or by downloading the LexCall app.

The city says they try to fix potholes tries to fix potholes as quickly as possible, often within 48 hours of a report.

If you make a claim with your insurance company, we found that many treat damage from a pothole as a single vehicle at-fault accident. That means you may have to pay your deductible and potentially see higher rates.