Car Pulls To Left/Pothole Damage

sonic.trip

A few weeks back I was driving on the old Sallins Road when another car was oncoming. The road is barely big enough for 2 cars so I obviously had to move over and the front left of the car dropped about a foot into the side of the road-there was no filling as it had been worn away by a tractor or something.

Continued driving for about 100M when I knew something wasn't right. The alloy wheel was bent which cost 80 euro. My 1 day old tyre which I got the previous day for the NCT was binned which cost 160 for 2 new left tyres.

I sent a picture into Kildare County Council. Of course, as expected nobody contacted me back after a week so I had to chase them up. I was told on the phone that the road wasn't been looked after "because all the lads are on a big job down the road"! The woman put me onto a lady with deals with insurance and basically said they wouldn't be taking any liability because they never done anything to that before. So basically they would only pay out if they've fixed something on the road and you damage your car on that particular spot again. I was obviously pissed off at this for a while but got over it.

Now my car keeps pulling over to the left. I dropped it down to get the wheels aligned on Friday. They done that in the garage and said my tracking rod was bent on the front left where I done damage. I left it in overnight to get it done Saturday, thinking this would fix the problem. Now my car is still pulling to the left and I think this impact has damaged the steering. When I have both hands on the wheel and driving dead straight my steering wheel is off to one side.

Does anyone know if I have any comeback at all from the council as this has cost me 340euro and counting. Also, do any mechanics know if this sounds like a steering problem?

colm_mcm

Check the gap between the wheel and the mudflap, and compare with the drivers side. I bent a wishbone in a similar episode

As for comeback, seems you went off the road surface?

CianRyan

I'd keep at them.
Annoy them for long enough and they'll eventually give in.

slimjimmc

Not maintaining the road is usually not grounds for liability, if they had done work on that patch then you could have grounds to say their work was substandard. In short you've little to no chance of compensation for the damage. There's also a responsibility on you as driver to make sure where you take your car is safe and on such a narrow road you should have been able to stop before driving into the hole.

Sounds like the garage didn't adjust your tracking properly or at all after replacing the track rod. Take it back to them and tell them re-adjust the tracking until the steering wheel is straight (don't just remove the steering wheel and reset it)

Our man in Havana

A council will rely on a defence of non feasance to defeat any pothole claims.

sonic.trip

Thanks for all the input. The main thing is getting the car sorted first, I will have to bring it back to the garage and see what they say about the car still pulling over to the left. Doesn't look like I've any comeback then. So annoying as there is other parts of the road in bits presently and I've emailed them several times about it, gotten the local councilor to chase it up and he said it was been ooked after, 2 weeks later it's still there. Not what you want when its starting to get colder!