Six ways to protect your car from damage as drivers face a £2,500 fine for attempting to avoid potholes

It can be tempting to swerve to avoid a pothole, but if you’re deemed to have made a dangerous manoeuvre to keep your car safe, it’s possible that you’ll be handed a £2,500 fine for your actions.

To make matters worse, if your attempt to avoid a pothole results in an accident, you’re likely to be held criminally liable for the damage caused, causing many drivers to feel as though they’re in a lose-lose situation whenever they drive on shoddy road surfaces.

Thankfully, the RAC’s Pothole Index found that the 22,703 pothole-related breakdowns recorded in 2024 were lower than in 2023, but with a likelihood of encountering trouble from a pothole 1.39 times stronger than in 2006, it’s clear UK motorists are still having to cope with worse road conditions than 20 years ago.

Damaging your car as a result of a pothole is far worse than an inconvenience, and with one in five cars written off after a pothole-related breakdown, the cost of an impact can be severe.

However, there are several measures you can take to protect your car from potholes, so let’s explore six key ways to level up your car’s safety against shoddy UK roads:

1. Pump-Up Your Tyres

Fully inflated tyres are important for plenty of reasons, but they can also be pivotal for providing a strong cushion between your vehicle and an impact with a damaged road.

If your tyres are underinflated, there’s a very real risk that the lack of protection against pothole damage could see the shock harm your vehicle’s suspension and chassis as a whole.

Check your tyre’s air pressure approximately each month. This can help you to add an extra element of protection against potholes and improve your car’s handling to help you avoid any holes in the road effectively.

2. Fix Your Windscreen

With a possible £2,500 fine facing motorists who are deemed to be driving dangerously, fixing any cracks in your windscreen can help to prevent any potential accidents that arise from an impact with a pothole.

Because potholes cause shocks to reverberate through your car, a bad collision with a hole in the road can cause cracks in your windscreen to grow. If this hinders your vision or ability to drive, you could be at risk of colliding with other vehicles or objects.

Getting your windscreen professionally replaced can make all the difference in protecting your car from any added complications in the aftermath of encountering a pothole.

3. Use Apps to Alert You to Potholes

The great thing about community-driven apps like Waze is that they can alert you to potholes that other drivers have reported in real time.

This means that you’re handed a warning about an upcoming pothole in the road ahead, with Waze providing an approximate distance to help you prepare a safer manoeuvre to avoid the hole.

Apps like these mean that you can stay vigilant in the face of potholes without running the risk of it stealing your attention from the rest of the road and those around you.

4. Avoid Hitting the Brakes

If you encounter a pothole and have nowhere to manoeuvre, it can be tempting to hit the brakes to lessen the impact, but this runs the risk of causing more damage to your car.

By slamming the brakes, you may put more strain and compression onto your car’s suspension, which could lead to misalignment, tyre and wheel damage, or exhaust scrapes. Not to mention, sharp braking on a busy road might risk causing a pile-up that leads to more damage to your vehicle.

5. Hold Your Steering Wheel at 10 and 2

Remember to hold your steering wheel firm if you encounter a pothole. If your stance is too lax, you could lose your grip and veer off course.

Maintain a 10 and 2 stance over the wheel to ensure as much control as possible and maintain a firm grip if you notice that an impact might be about to happen.

6. Maintain a Safe Distance

Whenever possible, maintain a sufficient gap between yourself and the car in front of you. This allows plenty of time to see and prepare to avoid a pothole on the road ahead.

Driving too close to the car in front of you can not only obstruct your vision of a pothole but could put your vehicle at risk if the driver ahead decides to brake sharply to minimise the impact.

Looking After Your Car

It’s difficult to avoid every pothole you encounter, but there are plenty of measures that you can take to make sure minimal damage is caused by poor-quality road surfaces.

By looking out for your steering wheel grip, keeping a safe distance, and making sure your tyres are inflated, your vehicle can be well-protected should you encounter a deep pothole.

It may be more common to damage your car with potholes today than in 2006, but you have plenty of options to avoid becoming another breakdown statistic today for peace of mind.