Car Damaged by a Pothole: Who Pays

If a pothole damaged your car, the cost of repair falls on the road administrator, not on you. The law requires the administrator to keep the road safe, and when it fails to do so and causes damage, it is civilly liable for it. The only real condition is that you can prove the damage was caused by the condition of the road.

Who is liable if a pothole damaged my car

The administrator of the road where the damage occurred is liable. It has a legal duty to maintain and signpost the road, and an unrepaired or unmarked pothole is a breach of that duty. The legal basis is tort liability under articles 1349 and 1357 of the Romanian Civil Code.

Who the administrator is depends on the type of road:

• -motorways and national roads: the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration (CNAIR);
• -county roads: the County Council, through its roads department;
• -streets and local roads: the city hall (local council);
• -roads under construction: the contractor that took over the section by contract.

Who administers each type of road

Before filing a claim, identify exactly who administers the road. A claim sent to the wrong institution is rejected without a review on the merits.

Road type	Who is liable	Examples
Motorway, national road	CNAIR	A1, A2, DN1
County road	County Council	roads between localities
Street, local road	City hall	town and village streets
Section under works	Contractor	stretches marked „road works"

What to do in the first hours after the damage

Proof is made on the spot. Whatever you fail to document in the first hours becomes almost impossible to prove later, because the pothole may be filled in the meantime.

The concrete steps, in order:

• -stop safely and photograph the pothole from several angles, with the car and a fixed landmark visible;
• -photograph the damage to the car and, if visible, the impact mark in the pothole;
• -note the date, time and exact location (street, kilometre, direction);
• -look for witnesses and record their contact details;
• -call the traffic police to draw up an official report;
• -keep any dashcam footage.

What compensation you can claim

You can recover the entire real damage, not just the visible repair. Civil liability covers the loss in full, provided you can prove it with documents.

In practice, claims cover:

• -the cost of repair (rims, tyres, suspension, steering, bodywork);
• -the technical vehicle assessment;
• -towing and, where applicable, a replacement car;
• -consequential losses, such as days the vehicle was out of use.

How compensation is obtained in practice

The correct procedure starts with a written claim to the road administrator, accompanied by evidence. Many administrators reject the first claim or ignore it, and the next step is then court action.

The usual stages:

• -a compensation claim to the administrator, with the evidence attached;
• -a technical assessment of the damage through an expert report;
• -if the answer is negative or absent, a tort liability action;
• -in court, the burden of proving the road was maintained falls on the administrator.

Common mistakes that lose your case

Most claims fail not because the right is missing, but because the proof is missing.

Avoid:

• -leaving the scene without photographs;
• -repairing the car before documenting it;
• -sending the claim to the wrong institution;
• -accepting a partial offer without consulting a lawyer.

Conclusion

A car damaged by a pothole is not your bad luck, but the road administrator's responsibility. The right to compensation is clear in law. The difference between a won case and a rejected one comes from the evidence gathered on the spot and the way the claim is built.

Proper legal representation makes the difference between a refusal by the administrator and compensation recovered in full.