End result– all of us are safe. My Chevy Cruze needs some fixes.
Stats – 2017 Chevy Cruze (Lease ending in March 2019)
Current mileage ~ 11K (of 20K limit)
Tires – MICHELIN® PRIMACY™ MXM4® P225/40R18 88V
This afternoon my spouse was driving our Chevy Cruze in busy street of central NJ within speed limit, which is 30 MPH.
Unexpected pothole on the street caused a sudden impact causing both passenger side tires cracked open (literally cracked open) Tire photos attached.
Thankfully damage was only limited to the car. GM roadside and towed the car to nearest Chevy dealer. Meanwhile, I also called Michelin and explained what happened.
Considering it’s a brand-new car at only 11K miles, I didn’t anticipate tires to give up so easily in normal driving scenario. (potholes are very common in NJ)
Dealer came back with an estimate of $1500 saying 2 tires and labor ($450), 2 alloys wheels and core ($900) + alignment ($100) + Taxes. This seems to be ridiculously high for a car which will be returned in just a few months.
Michelin offered $40% discount in tire cost (Michelin discount $160), making above cost 1500-160= 1340. I also tried searching on https://www.bestusedtires.com, but the costing is same considering 40% discount from Michelin.
What should be my recourse? What would you have done differently?
Thanks for your time.
What damage was done to the wheels? You may be able to have those repaired. And I would certainly not oay $450 for 2 tires. Hell, you can get all 4 cheapo tires for less, most likely.
I don’t have much advice on the repairs themselves, but…
Determine whether the road is city/township/borough, county, or state maintained. If the pothole is that significant and it caused major damage you should be able to submit a claim to the maintaining entity for the damage. You’ll have to provide a narrative, some pictures of the pothole, and pictures of the damage. May or may not succeed, but worth a try!
I’ve had some success with this in the past and found it shockingly easy to navigate.
Thanks for your suggestion. Will definitely try that out post getting the car fixed.
Local tire shop that I visited suggested similar approach… will look into this.
Yes, what @28firefighter said, but take pothole and location pictures ASAP or they will tell you potholes didn’t exist or they could not locate them. Happened to me with NYC after I hit pothole on Staten Island. Their snowplows left them after a snow storm.
Sometime back the Chevy dealer called and said they aren’t authorized service center for Michelin and cant process the direct discount of 40%. I will have to pay and then get a check from Michelin.
Spoke with Michelin and they accepted to offer the check after doing the work and submitting the invoice.
Meanwhile, i tried searching for Primacy MXM4 P225/40R18 88V on Facebook marketplace, CL, eBay, one of the local salvage yard and still no luck.
Do I must get the Primacy MXM4 series or I can get any equivalent tire which will fit the size?
Tire brand doesn’t matter. As long as the size matches and the speed rating meets or exceeds OEM, you’ll be fine. Keep the same branded tires on front and same branded tires on rear if you’re only replacing 2. In other words, don’t put a Michelin and a Goodyear on the front at the same time.
If you do decide to go used, keep in mind your tires need 4/32 of tread life remaining at the end of the lease without excessive wear charges. Buy something with enough meat left to get you to the end.
Sort of off topic but I live in Michigan and we have the worse potholes in the country. In my latest lease I opted for tire and wheel coverage which was an additional $600 for the 39 mos of my lease. Just seeing how much a repair would be makes me think it was a good investment.
it’s an expensive insurance policy and discussed before. Everyone has their opinions on it. Personally, I’ve turned down the insurance on every car I’ve leased in the last 20 years. Let’s say I leased 10 cars @ 600/pop. That’s 6,000 I invested into this insurance that I never would’ve used. I’m way ahead.
Sucks when things like this happen, agree…but look at the bigger picture. How often does this happen to you? If often, get the insurance, if nothing else for peace of mind. If not, pocket the money/put that 600 in a rainy day fund and pay cash when it does.
I had a similar experience in Hudson county NJ in front of the USPS distribution center in Kearny, NJ. I took pictures of the damage and location. Filed a claim with the county and it was denied by their insurer because there was no negligence.
I drove through a pothole in Oakland during a heavy rainstorm in my previous S60 R-Design and it put a big bend in the left front alloy wheel and deflated the tire. It was recommended to replace a tire put through that much trauma along with the wheel. I contacted the City of Oakland and they were equipped and prepared to pay for it. It turns out the left rear tire had a large bubble in it as well, so I replaced that tire. All in around $1,260. I just submitted the claim, but it should go smoothly.
On cars with low profile tires like my S60 R-Design, areas with potholes are a minefield. CA is a horrible state for road maintenance. I turned in the S60 with a pull ahead and lease a V90 Cross Country and got the deluxe tire/wheel package (at cost as an employee). Although the tires aren’t as low profile as the S60, it seemed worthwhile. A few weeks after getting the V90, I picked up a piece of metal the size of a golf ball, so I’m at break even already with the cost of the tire/wheel policy.
It depends on what you’re driving and what the roads are like where you live how likely you might need that kind of coverage. I can even imagine an insurance company possibly wanting to charge such a claim against the collision portion of the insurance, raising the rates, vs the comprehensive portion. Years ago my ex drove her MINI over a piece of metal on the freeway doing substantial damage and the insurance charged it against the collision policy saying she could have seen the object. I wonder if they’d take the same stance with a pothole.
Not sure if the “curbing” is from the pot hole or previous damage but you will be on the hook to fix that either way. A mobile wheel repair guy will cost you about a $100 a rim. You can get them refurbished all day long from sellers on ebay for just a bit more including shipping.
In an immediate fix type situation with your tires, you are really just stuck. Sounds like you already paid to work out a deal with Michelin. Very nice of them to do that. Would not have even thought to go that route.
Wow that pot hole must have been insane to do that. I’ve only had to deal with a pot hole destroying a tire once but that was in Ithaca. What road in NJ did this?
