Potholes, claims and your car: surviving South African roads

If you drive in South Africa, you know the feeling: that gut-drop crunch as a wheel disappears into a crater you spotted half a second too late. You're not imagining that it's getting worse. The country now has an estimated 25 million potholes, and roughly two-thirds of them have opened up in just the last five years. In a single year, potholes did an estimated R650 million in damage to South African vehicles — and the bill keeps climbing.

A pothole can cost you a tyre, a rim, your wheel alignment, a control arm — and on a bad day, your safety. So let's talk about how to avoid the damage, what to do the instant it happens, and how to actually get your money back.

What pothole damage really costs

The average pothole-related insurance claim at Santam — the country's largest insurer — ran between R20,000 and R25,000. And that's an average. A blown tyre and a bent rim is the 'good' outcome; suspension and steering damage climbs well beyond it. The heaviest claims come out of Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Durban — but no road in the country is truly safe.

How to protect yourself before it happens

• Keep your following distance. You can't dodge what the car ahead is hiding from you.
• Slow down in the wet. Water hides a pothole's depth, and rain is exactly when new ones open up.
• Don't swerve blindly. Hitting a pothole square is often safer than swerving into the next lane.
• Mind your tyres. Correct tyre pressure is your suspension's first line of defence.
• Know your route. On the roads you drive every day, you already know where the bad ones lurk — respect them.

You've hit one. Now what?

First, get safe: pull over where you can, switch on your hazards, and check everyone's okay. Then build your evidence while it's fresh. Photograph everything — the pothole itself, your damaged car, the surrounding road, and something that fixes the location like a street sign or a GPS pin. Note the date, time and exact spot. This five minutes of phone work is what turns a long-shot claim into a winnable one.

Claiming from the municipality or SANRAL

In South Africa you can claim from whoever is responsible for that stretch of road: SANRAL for national routes, and the province or municipality for the rest. It's not hopeless — SANRAL paid out around R15 million to motorists for pothole damage between 2023 and 2025. But there's a catch: you generally have to prove negligence, and several authorities (the City of Cape Town among them) will only consider a claim if the pothole had already been reported before it wrecked your car. That's why reporting it — even after the fact — and keeping the reference number matters so much. Be realistic, though: these claims can be slow, and they're not guaranteed.

Claiming from your own insurance

For most people, the faster route is your own comprehensive cover. Pothole damage is usually treated like any other accident — you claim, pay your excess, and you're back on the road, typically far quicker than chasing a municipality. Two things to weigh up: your excess (if the repair costs less than your excess, it's not worth claiming) and your claims history. One thing to know for certain — third-party-only cover won't help here. It only covers damage you do to others, not your own car. This everyday, unavoidable risk is exactly what comprehensive car insurance is for.

Potholes are a fact of South African life, and they're not disappearing soon. You can't fix the roads — but you can drive defensively, document everything, and make sure your cover actually protects you when the tar gives way. If you're not sure whether your policy covers pothole damage, or whether your excess is set sensibly, that's a two-minute conversation. We're happy to check it for you.