Road maintenance causing damage to cars

[a-total-tool]

Hi all,

I am not 100% sure if this would belong in the pub or the bar. If needed, would a mod be kind to move it.

Anyhoo, I had my car parked on a street near work (in North Ryde). I returned to my car to see this

20120815153941 (1).jpg

That line was not there when I pulled up this morning. There is no signs etc indicating that any line marking or maintenance was to occurThere is over spray all over the front of my car (which is less than a month old). Should I attempt to remove it and how or should I be chasing the council to correct the damage that has happened by their road maintenance crews?

Any Input/opinion would be appreciated.

Also - could anyone living in the North Ryde/Macquarie Park area fire me a PM - I have a favour to ask

[Jim Goose]

Definately a council road? and not a carpark?

Take it to council to claim damages, with a quote for the over spray removal.

Write them a nice letter explaining what happened, attach a copy of the picture..... time date, location... take pictures of the surrounds and try and get the new line marking in the frame of the picture. They may have a form you need to fill out.

Hopefully if your lucky they will pay up.

I had a tyre and rim destroyed because a small fire hydrant valve cover come open as i drove over it. Took heaps of photos when it occured.
took a while but got my money (Townsville it was).

[a-total-tool]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Definately a council road? and not a carpark?

Take it to council to claim damages, with a quote for the over spray removal.

Write them a nice letter explaining what happened, attach a copy of the picture..... time date, location... take pictures of the surrounds and try and get the new line marking in the frame of the picture. They may have a form you need to fill out.

Hopefully if your lucky they will pay up.

I had a tyre and rim destroyed because a small fire hydrant valve cover come open as i drove over it. Took heaps of photos when it occured.
took a while but got my money (Townsville it was).

It was a public street. The council were marking the driveways so that they are not obscured.
That photo was one taken by my phone. At full res, you can see the line, the over spray around the line and on my car.

EDIT: http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/413...0815153941.jpg

[mik]

Jim goose sounds on the money i think, if you had a panel beater /spray painter quote to get the paint off it might be a good thing, it`s pretty hard to see damage in the photo .

[svo supporter]

Councils generally sub this sort of work out....However, getting onto the council should be your first port of call...

[stazza]

Damn that sucks man. I'm in the middle of a feud with my local Council (South of Perth/Mandurah). I was giving a friend a lift home one rainy evening and hit a pot-hole in my brand new FPV GS. Blew a tyre and buckled 2 rims.

The Council's insurance company sent me a letter informing me that they are not liable for damages (won't even reimburse me for my insurance excess), because they were not aware of the pot-hole prior to my car driving through it.

I took photos of the pot-hole and the damage too, and wrote up a report, also had a witness (the friend in my vehicle).

I don't understand how I should wear the cost just because they weren't made aware of the pot-hole. I paid a ****-load of tax this past year, plus we pay how freaking much for registration, stamp duty, luxury car tax etc...

Why do they have an insurance company if they can't honor a legitimate claim?

They said they can't monitor every piece of road every single day of the year, so they cannot guarantee that all roads are pot-hole free. So why do I have to pay full rates? When I purchase a product, I'm sure the manufacturer of that product cannot personally inspect every single item that is sold to the consumer - but if an item is faulty, a refund is given.

I know can't expect them to have an eye on every single road, every second of every day, but that's why they have insurance right? In case of situations like this, where an honest tax payer has their personal property damaged by a Council road that we pay for.

Makes me SO damn angry.

[Jim Goose]

My situation wasnt a pot hole, it was council who left the metal hydrant frame and cover in the middle of the road with no bitumen around it. Other hydrants in the street had new bitumen around it, but this one had a bitumen missing.

Sadly... 2 months later.. its still not fixed!
4 shovel fulls of bitumen and it would be fixed....

[stazza]

That's a joke. Seriously. Wonder how many people hit these things and never report it

[Cambo351]

I'd be ****ed. What sort of inconsiderate deadbeat would do that. Were there other lines painted on that street? i.e. other cars also with overspray on them? Did you get thier rego numbers? If there were a number of vehicles affected a court case would be an option!

OK it wasn't in Oz but a couple of years ago I bent a rim in a section of roadworks where a manhole was sitting proud of the stripped back asphalt. The local council here wouldn't do anything about it, so I took the hit out of my own pocket.

[Iggypoppin']

I hate that the councils won't cover damages when it is clearly their fault. I remember recently a section of road about 1.5m x 1m had collapsed and formed a pothole around a foot deep. I'm not joking, it was a very deep hole and difficult to move around if a car was parked nearby. This was on a side road but one used frequently due to two schools nearby plus being on a bus route.
I went into local council and the girl behind the desk said there isn't much they can do, as they need more complaints to honour a claim. I said no, I have not sustained any damage....I'm telling you, so that the council can FIX IT.
She looked a little confused, so I asked to speak to someone a bit more senior. Her superior guaranteed they'd get someone out there to look at it and sure enough, I encountered them a week later just shoveling bitumen on top of the hole. no excavation, or checking to see why the road had collapsed, just bandaid fixing it as usual. Adelaide is shocking for this kind of "roadworks". When Cat600 visited he told me the wheel and tyre mobs must be making a killing doing balances and wheel alignments. Unfortunately I agree.

[pottery beige]

rag.. thinners.. fixed....

[crymoarpls]

Originally Posted by Cambo351

I'd be ****ed. What sort of inconsiderate deadbeat would do that.

one who got paid to mark x number of lines or car parks that day? it is his or her job afterall.

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

I hate that the councils won't cover damages when it is clearly their fault. I remember recently a section of road about 1.5m x 1m had collapsed and formed a pothole around a foot deep. I'm not joking, it was a very deep hole and difficult to move around if a car was parked nearby. This was on a side road but one used frequently due to two schools nearby plus being on a bus route.
I went into local council and the girl behind the desk said there isn't much they can do, as they need more complaints to honour a claim. I said no, I have not sustained any damage....I'm telling you, so that the council can FIX IT.
She looked a little confused, so I asked to speak to someone a bit more senior. Her superior guaranteed they'd get someone out there to look at it and sure enough, I encountered them a week later just shoveling bitumen on top of the hole. no excavation, or checking to see why the road had collapsed, just bandaid fixing it as usual. Adelaide is shocking for this kind of "roadworks". When Cat600 visited he told me the wheel and tyre mobs must be making a killing doing balances and wheel alignments. Unfortunately I agree.

Not just Adelaide.
I'd say it's Australia wide. Our roads are of third world quality, you only have to look at how cheaply they're done from the start. Like you said maintenance is just bandaid.

[2011G6E]

I'm becoming a stone cold expert at touching up stone chips every single time we come back from a trip down to Rocky and back...picked up a beuaty on the middle of the bonnet the other day when a stone ricocheted from the bonnet into the windscreen.

Love them roadworks, and the habit of "fixing" potholes by some numptie chucking a couple of shovel fulls of bitumen stones into it and driving the work truck over it a few times...yep, that'll fix it...

Many years back (1987 to be precise) I got my '79 Cortina detailed and cleaned up for free when a road repair gang near Mackay resurfaced a section of road (near the "city gates" service station as you leave town) with a pile of loose gravel and sprayed gallons of bitumen over the top of it, then let traffic through. There was my Cortina, a Mercedes sedan, and a couple of other cars...we heard the spattering of crap on the side of our car and the others. To their credit, the council guys waved us down when we were half way through and stopped the small line of cars (I think there were about five cars) and told us to pull over and they'd try and clean it off. Didn't work real well and the Mercedes driver wasn't happy about a rag soaked in turps being wiped on his metallic gold paint. They told us to go to the council chambers in town and gave us some contact numbers from the foreman. Two of the people were from out of townand apparently were going to arrange it with thier home town council.
I got the car properly cleaned and polished for free (including blasting under the car)...score!

[Jim Goose]

Late last year (or was it early this yr?) on Kings Rd here Townsville, over 15cars were damaged when they drove over a section of road which just had tar on it (primed and ready for the bitumen to be laid). The tar hadnt dried properly and the idiot supervisor (a contractor) opened the road up.

Car after car had their tyres and inner guards FULL to the brim of tar....
As the stuff just lifted off the road and stuck to everyones tryes.
Took several hours for council and contractors to come back to inspect the line up of cars on the road which couldnt be driven anywhere safely.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by Cambo351

a section of roadworks where a manhole was sitting proud of the stripped back asphalt.

wow, sounds exactly like the story on dodgechargers.com, the manhole was sitting proud of the road surface and bent his headers.

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

I encountered them a week later just shoveling bitumen on top of the hole. no excavation, or checking to see why the road had collapsed, just bandaid fixing it as usual.

That's how those big sink holes form, like the one in northern sydney a year or two ago.

[Cambo351]

Bent his headers??? Jeez how low was the car?

[creative]

A timely thread!

I was thinking this on the way to work today at just how bad the roads are over here. I cringe everytime i go out in mine as the rattles and shakes are getting worse due to the condition of the roads.

The bandaid fix is rediculous! I laugh everytime i see them filling a hole, it rains and were back to square one! Even a new section of road near me is starting to ripple after 6 months!

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

I'm becoming a stone cold expert at touching up stone chips every single time we come back from a trip down to Rocky and back...picked up a beuaty on the middle of the bonnet the other day when a stone ricocheted from the bonnet into the windscreen.

Love them roadworks, and the habit of "fixing" potholes by some numptie chucking a couple of shovel fulls of bitumen stones into it and driving the work truck over it a few times...yep, that'll fix it...

Hah, I know what you mean. When I was up that way a few months ago I was appalled at the state of the roads, I don't know how you guys tolerate it, it would drive me nuts. I reckon they do a crap job on purpose so that they constantly have work. The Bruce Hwy, it's supposed to be Queensland's main highway and it's more like a goat track than a highway, what a joke.

[xisled]

Go to your insurance company lodge a claim, pay the excess and let them try to recover. Let the experts work for you. Your insurance company is the exact same thing as a $1000 an hour solicitor.

If the insurance company can recover the money they will and should refund the excess if they win.

If your insurance company cannot recover the money, you have no chance to get the money.

This way it will save you months and months of not having your car repaired. Plus claiming through council your self will take months. Get your car fixed in the mean time and let the professionals work it out for you.

[DBourne]

If you can be slugged for having an unroadworthy car, why can't we slug the council for having an uncarworthy road?

[mash again]

And they cant figure out why car sales are down and SUV 4wd ute sales are up, you need one to traverse the terrible roads we have. theres a small almost extinct tribe living in a spoon drain around the corner from me, almost need a bridge over the spoon drain.

[svo supporter]

Catch 22 re the roads....They do bandaid fixes and people whinge about them....They tear up big sections of roads and people whinge about being stuck in traffic....Even those big sections being repaired are obvious, because when you go from the old to the new back to the old, there is a bump in the surface.

How about we all give up our normal jobs and go tear up all the roads round Australia and fix them properly...That is, tear the whole lot up and replace the whole lot....Saves whinging and whining.

BTW, the ones I get in for a balance problem after they hit a hole, are the ones with late model cars, with the wheel offset which has no support on the inner edge....So, we should be complaining to the car manufacturers for making such crappy wheel offsets.

[GhiaEB]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Catch 22 re the roads....They do bandaid fixes and people whinge about them....They tear up big sections of roads and people whinge about being stuck in traffic....Even those big sections being repaired are obvious, because when you go from the old to the new back to the old, there is a bump in the surface.

Problem is they tear up perfectly good roads and relay them while bandaiding the roads in desperate need of relaying.

[irish2]

A light non abrasive polish and a few minutes of elbow grease will get it off very easily. I did that to some colourbond that had been tagged and took no time.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by GhiaEB

Problem is they tear up perfectly good roads and relay them while bandaiding the roads in desperate need of relaying.

They tear up all sorts of roads...Good or bad.

The real problem isn't the road condition...it's the stupid offset of the modern day wheel, combined with bugger all side wall of the tyres these days.

Before all this bugger all sidewall, rim offset stuff, the only time a rim got buckled was when you were silly with the car and lost it....Not because you hit a pothole, or because the road had been bandaided...

So this thread is portraying the wrong culprit for the problem..

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

They tear up all sorts of roads...Good or bad.

The real problem isn't the road condition...it's the stupid offset of the modern day wheel, combined with bugger all side wall of the tyres these days.

Before all this bugger all sidewall, rim offset stuff, the only time a rim got buckled was when you were silly with the car and lost it....Not because you hit a pothole, or because the road had been bandaided...

So this thread is portraying the wrong culprit for the problem..

Umm... cant say anyone on here stated they destroyed a rim other then me and the thread is about council paying up for damages they caused to cars.

I dont have low profile tyres.... mine was an AUII wagon... and it hit a metal hydrant lid at 50kmh which jumped up and bent the rim.

Not everyone has low profile tyres on their cars

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Jim Goose

Umm... cant say anyone on here stated they destroyed a rim other then me and the thread is about council paying up for damages they caused to cars.

I dont have low profile tyres.... mine was an AUII wagon... and it hit a metal hydrant lid at 50kmh which jumped up and bent the rim.

Not everyone has low profile tyres on their cars

Talk has been bounced round this thread about councils paying for damaged rims, due to pathetic roads....

Fair enough over the hydrant lid doing damage, but generally complaints relating to damaged rims due to road surfaces is what I am referring to.

[Mechan1k]

I tried getting council to pay for my damaged rim.

In NSW there is a loophole for them .... if they didn't know it was there prior to the incident ... they are not liable .... full stop.

I spoke to my insurance company about it ... and they said the same thing ... can't do a thing about it. I could have paid my excess to get it fixed .... but one rim is cheaper to get fixed than pay my excess.

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by pottery beige

rag.. thinners.. fixed....

Hahahahahaha ... I wouldn't try in the current Mazda models ... they have the poorest paint around ... going on their new environmentally-friendly paint system they currently use ... thinners and a rag would have it back to bare metal in one wipe .... hee hee.