Potholes Are Plentiful After Winter Storms: So Who Pays For Damage To Your Car?

BRIGHTON (CBS) – After some brutal snowstorms, pesky potholes are popping up at what seems like every turn.

"You can't miss that pothole. A block or two before that there's this whole buckling in the street," Dianne Jennings told us from her home in Brighton.

Jennings popped her front tire after hitting a massive pothole along Commonwealth Avenue heading towards Boston College. The city put an orange cone in the hole to notify drivers, but the Brighton woman told WBZ-TV it was a scary experience.

"Just when I thought I better move – bang! It was a really loud noise," Jennings said.

Public works crews believe the winter weather is to blame. The roads freezing, then thawing, coupled with the puddles that form are creating the perfect conditions for potholes.

"Three or four customers showed up with blown-up tires. I was surprised," said Foreign Auto Clinic owner Jose Monge.

They've been busy making repairs that could cost drivers upwards of $800.

"That's the wheel damage there. The front one was completely damaged," Monge said of one driver's car.

Boston Public Works tweeted photos of crews out patching up the roadways, but not before Ally MacLean hit a pothole making food deliveries Sunday evening.

"It's the second one in 4-5 months. I had another car I had to get fixed because of a pothole," they said. "It's super stressful, there's no other way to do it. You also more importantly don't want to hit another car that's around you so you're sort of always like your head is on a swivel."

Some drivers are trying to be understanding, but have this message for the city.

"It's going to happen when we have weather like this, but there's no monitoring of the conditions," Jennings told WBZ-TV. "We have to find out when we damage our cars."

And who pays for the damage to your car from a pothole?

Cities and towns are responsible and will reimburse you up to $5,000. But there is a catch -- the pothole must have been reported to the city prior to the accident.

Meanwhile, the state does not pay for the damage sustained on the highway, but they will reimburse for any injuries up to $4,000.