MoDOT, City of Columbia pay pothole claims but process can be long
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Damage to your car from a pothole can potentially lead to either the city of Columbia or the Missouri Department of Transportation taking care of your bill.
If a resident of Columbia wants to make a claim, they must determine if the road they hit the pothole on is city-maintained or state-maintained. That can determined from this image here, with city streets in red and MoDOT streets in blue.
If you have received pothole damage on a Columbia city street then you can file a claim with the city's risk management division. In an email from city Risk Manager George Hampton, he said that they will assess whether the city received prior notification of any issues and will address them in a timely fashion. Each claim is different.
Hampton didn't get into more detail and wasn't available for an interview.
If you have damage from a MoDOT street, you can file a claim with an online form. MoDOT spokeswoman Marcia Johnson said once the required information on the form is received and verified by claims staff, you will be given a claim number within 10 days and then the process will go on from there.
Columbia resident Shawn Young hit a pothole traveling eastbound on Business Loop 70 near the railroad crossing, damaging his new truck.
Young said there was a lot of going back and forth to determine if the city or MoDOT was responsible because of the railroad tracks. Young says that the city will be helping him with his claim because they were the only ones who responded to him.
Young gathered estimates for the damage -- over $2,000 -- and was told by the city it could take days, weeks, or months before the damages would be covered. "I mean it seems like they're moving the process along, but it's something that I can't have my personal truck sitting for months," Young said.
Young says that the city did not give him very much instruction on what's next.
"They're not telling me anything," Young said. "It's just I'm just left clueless at this point. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if the city is going to take responsibility. And I don't even know if MoDOT is going to take responsibility. And I'm just trying to avoid paying my deductible because that can mess up my insurance."
Mechanic Tony Hoffman said hitting a pothole can damage the steering and the vehicle's suspension. Sometimes the driver doesn't know the damage is done until later.
"Worst-case scenario, you can damage something in the suspension, like the ball joint," Hoffman said. "Your control arm. Maybe a strut that would cause the alignment to go out. Maybe blow out a tire and cause someone to inadvertently have changed directions."
