{"id":2068,"date":"2014-10-09T20:59:59","date_gmt":"2014-10-09T20:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/?p=2068"},"modified":"2025-01-20T15:31:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T15:31:57","slug":"how-to-avoid-potholes-and-prevent-costly-repairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/auto\/driving-safety\/how-to-avoid-potholes-and-prevent-costly-repairs\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Avoid Potholes and Prevent Costly Repairs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Depending on where you live, potholes can sneak up on you on a moment\u2019s notice and seriously damage your car. They\u2019re virtually certain road hazards and the result of hitting one at high speed is rarely a pleasurable experience. They can knock your front wheel alignment out of whack and quickly ruin two perfectly good tires. Blowouts and bent wheels are also a possibility. Do more severe damage, such as bending or breaking some of your steering components and you could crash your car, causing you to make a call to your auto insurance company<\/a> to file a claim.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve all encountered them at one time or another. But, in some areas they\u2019re more common. Roads deteriorate with time, whether you\u2019re driving through a large city or small town. The fact is \u2013 snow, heavy rains, or natural disasters can greatly impact the conditions of these roads. While they are often repaired in timely fashion, you can still just be driving along and run over one. Potholes are not only potentially harmful to your car, they can be extremely dangerous.<\/p>\n

Insurance companies aren\u2019t thrilled with the idea of one of their policyholders running over a pothole either. It usually means they\u2019ll have to pay out for repairing the damage if the policy covers it. And, that can cause your auto insurance premium to go up should you have a few too many claims in a short period of time. So, avoiding potholes<\/a> sounds like a great plan, except we all know that isn\u2019t always possible.<\/p>\n

After all, you could be driving at night and don\u2019t see it until it\u2019s too late and you\u2019ve already hit it. Or, you might be behind another car that blocks your view. They swerve, you don\u2019t\u2026and, before you know it, you\u2019ve run over it. Best case scenario is that both you and your vehicle are all right following the incident. If not, your auto insurance company needs to know immediately. You don\u2019t want to take any unnecessary risks driving a car that may be unsafe to drive. Should you believe it can\u2019t be driven further, have it towed.<\/p>\n

While potholes can\u2019t always be avoided, there are a few precautions and helpful tips you can use to minimize the damage:<\/p>\n

Always keep your tires properly inflated
\n<\/strong>The reason for this is that it will minimize the impact from hitting the pothole, but more importantly, it provides a safety cushion to protect the tire\u2019s rim from damage and a possible blowout.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t follow the car ahead too closely
\n<\/strong>Leave yourself a wider gap between your vehicle and the vehicle ahead of you. By doing so, you give yourself a better opportunity to see the pothole and maneuver accordingly to avoid it.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t swerve wildly
\n<\/strong>Keep your vehicle under control. Of course, you want to avoid the pothole, if possible, but swerving wildly could cause you to lose control and have a collision.<\/p>\n

Slow down before you hit the pothole
\n<\/strong>If you see you can\u2019t avoid the pothole, try to slow down as much as you can. Don\u2019t brake as this can potentially cause more damage to your vehicle from the pothole than proceeding slowly over it.<\/p>\n

Hold onto the steering wheel firmly with both hands
\n<\/strong>Use both hands on the steering wheel when driving over a nasty pothole. This way you can keep your vehicle from suddenly pulling in a surprise direction or into another lane, causing an accident.<\/p>\n

Potholes may not always be avoidable, but you can avoid paying too much for your premiums by making sure you\u2019re getting the cheapest auto<\/a> insurance. Call Freeway Insurance at (800) 777-5620<\/strong> to speak with an experience agent to get a free quote. You can also get your\u00a0auto insurance quote<\/a>\u00a0online.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Depending on where you live, potholes can sneak up on you on a moment\u2019s notice and seriously damage your car. They\u2019re virtually certain road hazards and the result of hitting one at high speed is rarely a pleasurable experience. They can knock your front wheel alignment out of whack and quickly ruin two perfectly good […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1002628,"featured_media":5290,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[81],"importance":[],"type-content":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1002628"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2068"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8719,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068\/revisions\/8719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2068"},{"taxonomy":"importance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/importance?post=2068"},{"taxonomy":"type-content","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.freeway.com\/knowledge-center\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/type-content?post=2068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}