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Nexus reports increase in pothole damage for business drivers
Date: 16 May 2018 | Author: Sean Keywood
Business drivers have reported a 40% increase in damage caused to vehicles by potholes since 2016, according to Nexus Vehicle Rental.
The firm says data from its business customers, held by its rental booking and management platform IRIS, also shows that in the first four months of this year it processed 1,488 wheel and tyre-related damage claims, which customers link to damaged roads.
This equates to 372 a month, compared with 178 a month for the whole of 2016 and 213 per month for the whole of 2017, meaning to a 40% increase in pothole related damage once Nexus's increasing number of customers is taken into account.
Nexus Vehicle Rental CEO David Brennan said: "Although it was a particularly harsh winter this year, if the number of pothole related incidents perpetuate at the current rate, we're expecting to process double the number of damage claims as last year, as our rising numbers of hired vehicles encounter damaged roads.
"Quite frankly this is unacceptable to us, our customers, suppliers and insurers.
"Our primary objective is to offer a seamless mobility service, and potholes are plaguing our roads through a combination of spending cuts and extreme weather.
"Although the Department for Transport Pothole Action Fund claims to pledge £296m to fixing the issue, we want to see guarantees that this is spent effectively to prevent our roads from deteriorating further, causing damaging to vehicles and disruption to journeys."
