RFT Tyres - the joys and damage photos - Council Payout!!!

The Hunter system uses light beams and is is the same system used by BMW for KDS. The only difference is that for KDS BMW add weights to the car to simulate passengers and luggage. That would mean my alignment is not 100% the same as with KDS, but since my car drives most of the time with only the driver and no luggage I don't think I am losing anything.

You are of course right that I could have opted for KDS and may well have been within my rights. I could have got 100% reimbursement for that, but then again I may have had to compromise on the tyres or had to wait longer for my money. I think at the end of the day I got fair treatment and all the money I was directly out of packet.

I am happy.

Andrew Rolland wrote: siwilson wrote: RESULT!I did do my best though to keep the costs down by doing the ruinning around myself and having a local Hunter alignment insted of BMW KDS. Maybe this helped? Feck no, you should be able to argue that you want a BMW dealer to fix your... oh that's right... BMW.  You could argue that it is a specialist method and given what's happened that's where you want it done.  Granted a BMW full KDS wheel alignment must be about £180, my local body shop did it for £65, they use lasers, BMW use cameras I believe.  As long as a proper full four wheel alignment was done you should be fine.  A front end wheel alignment only is not appropriate for an E39 nor an E60. I never thought of going to BMW for the wheel alignment.  My local body shop does all of the Ovlov main dealers in the Glasgow area wheel alignments.

Edited by siwilson

RESULT!

A cheque arrived today form Surrey County Council for the full amount to cover 1 new wheel, 2 new RFT tyres and the wheel alignment. I did need 2 tyres as the Michelins weren't to be had anywhere and as a result did not expect full payment for both. I did do my best though to keep the costs down by doing the ruinning around myself and having a local Hunter alignment insted of BMW KDS. Maybe this helped?

Word of advice to all that follow. Document everything, take plenty of pictures, be reasonable, don't get emotional and finally be persistant.

Si.

Great outcome.  It should be a no-brainer that these things are settled properly but unfortunately it can't be presumed these days.  Good to see things put right in this case. 

It highlights that good preparation for such a claim is important.

Yeah its only about £35 less than I forked out but I can live with that as part of wear and tear for the tyre.

Pot hole that I hit has yet to be repaired!  So it will happen again...to some other poor sod.

A wee update....

I heard back from the lawyers representing the cooncil. 

I told them there was no way that I was going to get the rim repaired as local gargae condemned it as to did the wheel and tyre specialist at my local BMW dealer. 

I reminded them that I was out of pocket to the tune of over £500.

I also pointed out (in a photograph showing my tyre tread depth gauge) at the reasonable amount of tread (4mm) left on the tyre.

They have told me that they take wear and tear into account and would I be willing to accept £482.18 as settlement.

Er yes! I am pleaseantly suprised that they agreed to that amount.

Just goes to show if you have some evidence, big damage and a good argument you can get your cash back.

Andrew

Should be a piece of cake to get an alloy wheel person to say 'it's b*ggered', cos it really is! 

The receipt for the original tyre is a smokescreen.  If they have a responsibility it is to return your car to a roadworthy condition - doesn't matter whether the previous tyre or the whole car was a gift from granny - they still broke it.  As long as you bought a like-for-like replacement of rim and tyre at retail cost they should reimburse you.

On the whole tho, it looks promising.  They are arguing the toss regarding costs, rather than arguing liability.


Edited by jetsetwilly2000

An update on my claim.

Received a letter from the solicitor acting on behalf of the council.

#1 Please provide a receipt for the tyre that was damaged, not a receipt for the replacement tyre.

#2 Please inform what attempts were made to have the alloy wheel repaired by a specialist.

#3 Please provide documented evidence from an alloy wheel specialist that the wheel was damaged beyond repair (or very similar words to the same effect)

#1 The tyre was on the car when I bought it on 30.03.08, so I do not have a receipt for the tyre as an individual part

#2 There was no way I am prepared to put a repaired alloy wheel back on my car if that was the extent of the damage.  Yes I am no expert in repairing wheels but I have what is called a responsibility for my own safety, my passengers safety and other road users when my car is on the road.

#3  Guess I'll need to go looking to see what a specialist can do for me.

Can anyone offer any help?

I can see their point especially regarding a receipt for the tyre, but I know that there is no way I would have felt happy with that rim being back on the car.

Andrew

siwilson

If the hole was already identified as to be re-paired, you will stand a much better chance of getting a payout.  Did you take photos of it?

Interestingly, I am going theough exactly the same process myself at the moment.

About a month ago I hit a pothole while out in my E60. A big bang and the tar felt like it had been launched. 100 yards down the road all seemed normal so I thought I had got away with it, but no. Next morning the tyre is totally flat and setting off all the warnings. On closer inspection the rim looked similar to the previous photo and the tyre had a huge bulge in the sidewall.

I am currently sitting at £250 for the new wheel, £390 for two new Bridgestones and £70 for a full (not BMW KDS) laser alignment. I had to go for two tyres as Michelin will not be making any until end of March and they speciflcally advise against mixing on an axle (not that I would want to anyway). I am persuing a claim against Surrrey county council and received a similar letter regarding their insurance company.

I can take the odd pothole as being part of life, but this was a crater that had already been marked for repair. It's criminal they decided to mark it with a thin white line instead of a cone or someting else a driver could actually see, especially at night. I was lucky I was in a car. A motorcyclist could well have been killed.

I'd say on the B roads on my route home, I currently pass in excess of 50-60 potholes (in the space of 8 miles!). There is one road I use which you can tell has been patched in many areas many times and because of the snow and ice of December/January it is now getting to the point where the potholes are joining up and there are loose stones everywhere. The really stupid thing is, it's a residential road and a main through road which helps avoid the motorway and even on a good day it's fairly busy. In the next month or so, if it doesn't get patched up it's going to be practically inpassable.

I was followed by the police down another road last night on the way home and I was weaving all over the road to avaid the cracks and holes in the road. I got a bit paranoid they may think I was drunk or something but when I checked them in my rear view mirror, they were weaving in the same pattern as I was!

I can understand that sudden road breakage on such a massive scale like this cannot be instantly fixed but surely they can send survey vehicles out to the main routes, mark the bad spots then report back and send out the 'fixers' If each patch takes them say 10 minutes, they could easily have a few of the roads round my way done in the space of a week.

Surely the claims will far outweigh the money they could spend avoiding them?

Mike