Motor insurers absorbed a sharp rise in pothole-related claims in the first half of 2026, and the RAC is now warning that this summer's exceptional heat has created the conditions for a further deterioration before winter arrives.
Prolonged UV exposure and heat oxidise the bitumen binder that holds asphalt together, making road surfaces brittle and prone to cracking. Once cracks form, traffic and rainfall accelerate the damage into full potholes. Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said the effect is similar to the way sunlight dries and cracks old rubber, adding: "This is the last thing our already fragile roads needed."
The deterioration is landing against a claims environment that was already under pressure. Average pothole claim payouts rose 41% year on year, from £3,814 in the first half of 2025 to £5,380 between January and May, according to Tesco Insurance data. Claims volume over the same period ran 25% above the equivalent figure for 2025, despite covering one fewer month.
A third of UK drivers (34%) said they had already experienced vehicle damage from poor road surfaces, up from 29% in 2025, according to the RAC 2026 Report on Motoring, which surveyed 2,238 drivers between late February and early March 2026. With severity already outpacing frequency, the claims trajectory heading into autumn points in one direction.
The insurance dimension extends beyond the motor book. Emma Fuller, partner at DAC Beachcroft and member of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) motor sector focus team, said the liability chain on pothole-related damage is rarely straightforward. "Drivers are expected to take reasonable care and adapt their driving to road conditions, while local authorities have a duty to maintain the public highway," she said. "Whether a local authority is liable will often depend on what it knew, or ought reasonably to have known, about a defect and the adequacy of its inspection and maintenance regime."
That inspection and maintenance standard is the critical variable. Under the Section 58 defence in the Highways Act 1980, a local authority can avoid liability by demonstrating it had a reasonable system of inspection and repair in place, rather than that roads were actually in good condition. The consequence is that pothole damage in some of the worst-maintained areas of the country is least likely to generate a successful council liability claim, pushing costs back onto comprehensive motor policies and, where relevant, fleet books.
The government has committed £1.6 billion in council highway budgets for 2025–26 and £7.3 billion for road improvement through to the end of the decade. Fuller notes, however, that there is typically a lag between damage occurring and repair works being completed. That gap is what the summer's accelerated surface degradation will widen further before the funding produces results on the ground.
Local authorities in England and Wales already face a record £18.62 billion carriageway repair backlog, according to the Asphalt Industry Alliance's (AIA) Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey, published in March. Almost one in six local roads has less than five years' structural life remaining, the survey found, and roads are resurfaced on average once every 97 years. The funding committed falls well short of closing that gap in the near term, meaning the volume and severity pressures on motor books are unlikely to ease before further deterioration materialises.
