What do I do if a pothole damages my car in New Bedford?

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Potholes are a popular discussion topic in New Bedford. We recently showed a video of a car that suffered a ball joint break while driving on Purchase Street near Glaser Glass. It’s unknown if it was a pothole that caused the damage, but it did get the pothole discussion going.

What if you have your car damaged by a pothole in New Bedford? Is the City liable? Here is a question we received today:

“Just curious if you’ve heard how the city is (or isn’t) handling complaints about vehicle damage from bad road conditions.

I live by Buttonwood Park, and just popped my tire and damaged my rim from the massive potholes on Brownell.”

This a common question and here is the response we received from the Mayor’s Office:

“You can contact the Solicitor’s Office at 508-979-1460 and file a claim, depending on the circumstances.”

About Michael Silvia

Served 20 years in the United States Air Force. Owner of New Bedford Guide.

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2 comments

  1. I emailed the Mayor & head of infrastruture directly back in Jan this year about how bad the roads were. Living here all my life I’ve never seen these streets this bad. I got a reply, I kid you not, that they would sent out a street sweeper. Move forward to May my wife hit a pothole on our street and broke her passenger side strut. I had the car towed to the dealer and had to have both struts replaced. I sent the bill showing scope of work along with photos of the pothole where it happened. In July, I got a reponse from the city’s insurance company claiming the city was unaware of the road conditions, rejecting my wife’s claim for some compensation for the repairs because my wife was at least 1% at fault. She knew the condition of the road and continued to use it rather than finding an alternative route to my home. Are you kidding me, we’re tax payers, we’re suppossed to find alternative routes to & from our home. A month later in August they began tearing up the very two streets I
    complained about and are currently laying dirt in preperation of repaving them. The city will not pay for damages they are responsible for.

  2. This is indeed reprehensible. We pay taxes to insure that streets are adequately maintained and for other city services.

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