Waka Kotahi paid out 22 compensation claims for vehicle damage from potholes and defects in state highways in the past three years.
That’s despite the transport agency receiving more than 2200 claims over a slightly longer period.
The AA says that seems “excessively low” and an automotive engineer who fought months for a payout and won in the Disputes Tribunal believes Waka Kotahi makes the process so difficult that many motorists just “give up”.
The Waka Kotahi data shows there were almost as many claims in the region in the first half of this year - 198 - than the combined total over the past three full years - 209 claims.
The Bay’s six-month tally this year surpassed even cyclone-ravaged Hawkes Bay’s 182 and notoriously potholed Northland’s 76.
Nationally, Waka Kotahi had more than 2200 claims across 2020, 2021, 2022 and the first six months of this year.
The agency was asked how many of those claims were paid out through its own complaints process. It provided figures for August 12, 2020 to August 12, 2023.
The payouts for the 22 successful compensation claims in that time totalled $46,282.14.
One of the payments was for more than $13,800, with the rest ranging from $195 to about $6600.
Another eight claims were lodged with the Disputes Tribunal in the 2022-2023 financial year, and one resulted in an award of $2,284.10. The agency said it did not hold records of claims from the previous two financial years.
A Waka Kotahi spokesperson also confirmed to NZME that in the past 12 months, two Disputes Tribunal cases for pothole damages in the Bay of Plenty were dismissed by the adjudicator and a third was withdrawn by the complainant before their hearing. There were no pending tribunal disputes in the region.
Asked how many of the successful claims were from the Bay of Plenty and to give the main reasons so many claims were unsuccessful, Waka Kotahi said the information would require an Official Information Act request, which would give it 20 working days to respond.
The spokesperson said damage complaints were assessed on a “case-by-case” basis by the agency and its contractor to see if any factors may trigger further action by either.
The agency actively monitored state highways and repaired defects as fast as possible but sometimes this could not happen immediately as, by their nature, potholes formed “very quickly” and were hard to predict.
“The state highway network is 11,000km in length and it is not possible to immediately identify and repair every pothole or defect.”
Its maintenance contractors had a regular inspection process. Over winter, they had “dedicated crews patrolling for potholes and other road faults, and proactively resolving these as they are found”.
Drivers were urged to contact their insurer first if their vehicle sustained damage. appropriate, their insurer would then contact Waka Kotahi.
Waka Kotahi previously reported it repaired more than 54,000 potholes nationwide in 2022.
Rotorua automotive engineer Scott Hearn was awarded $2284.10 compensation from Waka Kotahi for damages to his vehicle after he ran over a pothole on State Highway 1 in Karapiro back in August 2022.
Hearn took his case to the Disputes Tribunal after, from his perspective, months of struggling to get “straight answers” from the agency, he said.
Months of perseverance had paid off with compensation for two new tyres, a tyre rim, a tyre pressure sensor, and for the costs of fitting and wheel alignment.
“This is clearly not just a Bay of Plenty problem - it’s a nationwide issue.”
Given his payout “struggle”, he was not shocked by how few successful claims there had been.
In his view, Waka Kotahi was making it as “difficult as possible” for people to pursue compensation.
“Possibly that is why lots of people tend to give up. I’d like to point out that when we drove over the pothole, I was in a line of four or five cars, and a number of other vehicles probably sustained damage as well.
“It’s all very well for Waka Kotahi to say people should have insurance, but the rising cost of living makes that prohibitive for so many.”
AA Bay of Plenty District Council chairwoman and national convenor Stacey Spall said the Automobile Association’s top election call to central government was for an increase in the state highway network maintenance budget of at least $1.2 billion dollars over the next three years.
She said the AA also believed road maintenance should get the first call on fuel excise duty and revenue from road user charges.
Spall said repairing potholes and other road defects in a timely manner was vital for road users’ safety.
She said the number of successful claims seemed “excessively low” and the AA would also like to know why such a significant majority were unsuccessful.
“We do hope that when people make claims, Waha Kotahi is acting fairly.”
Spall encouraged people to report potholes and other road defects immediately when they saw them so it reduced the risk of damage to vehicles on our state highways and on local roads.
NZME revealed in June that more than 211,000 potholes were reported on state highways over the past five years - a quarter of that number last year.
In January, the agency said there had been more potholes “than we’ve ever seen” on state highways following months of wet weather.
Local councils are responsible for assessing compensation claims for damages on local roads.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 24 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.
More good news following the 4.8% jump from the previous event two weeks ago.