The first day of a new working week after New Year is notorious as the worst day of the whole year for vehicle breakdowns due to thousands of cars having been left idle over the holiday period, leading to older, weaker batteries slowly draining to zero and failing. It’s expected to be especially problematic this year given the recent cold weather which will test the chemical reaction of car batteries to the limit.

On the first Monday of 2025 a quarter (24%) of all RAC breakdowns were due to flat batteries. Battery issues have long been the number one cause of RAC breakdowns with patrols attending hundreds of thousands every year.

RAC mobile servicing and repairs team leader Nick Mullender said: “A flat battery at the start of the new year is more than enough to drain away the last of the Christmas spirit. If you’re one of the millions of drivers taking to the roads on Monday, make sure you’ve given your car a really good run in the days beforehand, even if it’s just to fill up with fuel.

“This advice is particularly relevant for families with two or more vehicles who only use one over the festive period, or anyone returning from a holiday abroad where their car has been left parked up. The combination of a long break where vehicles aren’t used and the recent cold weather is a perfect recipe for the ‘flat battery blues.’

“There’s no exception either when it comes to the type of car you drive. Electric vehicles face the same risk as internal combustion engines because they also depend on 12-volt batteries for starting. To avoid problems, motorists should take them for occasional drives and keep the high-voltage battery charged above 20% during winter.”

A Freedom of Information request to 207 councils across England, Scotland and Wales representing nearly a quarter of a million (246,510) miles of local roads – showed that of the 177 that responded, Derbyshire County Council reported the sharpest rise in claims, increasing from 224 in 2021 to 3,307 (up 3,083) in 2024.** Glasgow City Council took second place, where claims more than doubled from 1,140 in 2021 to 2,794 in 2024 (up 1,654), with Oxfordshire County Council third with claims jumping from 488 in 2021 to 1,941 in 2024 (up 1,453).

While the comparison to 2021 is concerning, the number of claims has thankfully come down slightly year-on-year. The local authorities that responded to the RAC’s request for data received a total of 56,655 claims in 2023, meaning compensation requests have dropped by six per cent to 2024’s number (53,015).

Only a quarter of claims settled in the space of a year

Although the data indicates a substantial increase in claims over a three-year period, 173 councils settled only a quarter (26%) in 2024, paying 13,832 of the 53,015 submitted by drivers.*** The RAC estimates this amounts to around £3,564,824 being paid out by councils in just a single year, at an average of £390 per claim. But this is less than the £590 average repair bill drivers of family cars can expect if their vehicle suffers any damage more serious than a puncture after hitting a pothole.****

Of all the councils that paid out to drivers in 2024, Merton Borough Council paid the highest average sum per claim – £2,267 for each of the five claims it paid, leading to an estimated total of £11,335 paid to drivers in claims.***** Meanwhile it’s estimated that Derbyshire paid out the highest amount of total compensation – based on an average of £257 for each of the 2,355 claims it paid out, the council is thought to have spent around £605,235 compensating drivers for pothole-related vehicle damage in 2024.

In Scotland, the authority that paid the most per claim was Glasgow with an average of £253 paid for each of the 611 claims it paid, leading to an estimated £154,724 paid out to drivers in total. In Wales, Wrexham paid the most at £2,026 for each of its 38 claims, amounting to an estimated £76,991 in total.

Earlier this year, almost four-in-10 drivers (39%) surveyed by the RAC said they’d struggle to pay an unexpected repair bill of up to £500 – less than the cost of repairing a vehicle due to pothole damage.******

45% of councils refused more than nine-in-10 pothole claims in 2024

Across England, Scotland and Wales, the data suggests drivers have a slim chance of making a successful claim for pothole compensation. Of the 172 councils that shared data for the pothole compensation claims they paid in 2024, 45% (77) refused more than nine-in-10 (90%) of the claims they received.

Based on the FOI data shared with the RAC, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Medway and Carmarthenshire and Telford all turned down 99% of claims received in 2024, equating to 534; 146; 142, 113 and 76 requests refused.

Bridgend was the only council to pay out 100% of a much smaller number of compensation claims last year at 52 claims.

Claims per mile of road

When it comes to the number of claims per mile of road, Glasgow City received 2,794 last year – more than double the size of its 1,203-mile network.

Four local authorities – Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Edinburgh and Bury Metropolitan –received the equivalent of one pothole claim for every single mile of their road network.

Meanwhile Surrey – which topped the list for the highest number of claims per mile in 2023 – had a pothole claim for every two miles of its 3,415-mile network, at 1,513 claims in total. ​

RAC head of policy Simon Williams said:

“The massive three-year rise in pothole compensation claims made by drivers shows what a huge task it is returning the roads to a respectable standard. But it’s far from an even picture across the country, with just a handful of councils receiving the lion’s share of claims from beleaguered motorists. ​

“Drivers are still suffering the consequences of years of neglect to Britain’s local road network. But even if you submit a compensation claim the odds aren’t good, with around 40,000 requests for reimbursement turned down in 2024 alone.

“And with some councils not responding to our request for data, there’s every chance that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the claims that have been settled. But positively, councils received slightly fewer pothole compensation claims in 2024 than they did they year before.

“We’re now hopeful the dial will really begin to shift as highways authorities in England were this year given a record £1.6bn by the Government for road maintenance. And for the first time they’ve been required to show how much vital preventative maintenance they’ll be carrying out to stop potholes forming in the first place.

“On top of this, the Government has now announced multi-year settlements which will give councils the certainty they need to plan and deliver better maintenance programmes. This can only be a good thing.

“So, while the figures we’ve analysed are a cause for concern, we hope pothole compensation claims will begin to decline as local authorities increase the amount of preventative surface dressing work on their roads.”

Worryingly for drivers, unleaded has risen by 3.2p from 140.2p on 29 January to 143.4p on 18 February and diesel has shot up from 148p to 152p in the same period, adding around £2 to filling up a family car.

RAC Fuel Watch data shows petrol had been on a welcome downward trend over the last three months, falling by 17p from 157p to below 140p in mid-January – the first time it had been below this mark since mid-October 2021.

While the price of diesel had also reduced by 15p from 163p in early October to just below 148p in late January, it was cheaper for much of last summer.

The pump price increases have been brought about by a jump in the price of oil which has been trading above $80 a barrel for most of the last four weeks, having been well below that for the previous seven.

RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said:

“News that fuel prices have bottomed out and are now on the rise again is bad news for drivers, and possibly the economy and future inflation rates, too.

“While we’re not expecting prices to shoot up dramatically, it appears that oil is trading up, which in the absence of a stronger pound, means wholesale fuel costs more for retailers to buy in. The result is higher prices at the pump and more expense for the every-day driver.

“The Red Sea attacks by Houthi rebels, which are forcing tankers to avoid the Suez Canal and instead go round South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, are clearly playing their part, but so have global refinery maintenance closures, the start of America’s driving season and UK retailers buying more fuel stocks ahead of the Budget to protect against a possible fuel duty hike by the Chancellor.

“Despite these factors, we ought not to see forecourt prices go up too much more from where they are today, but a lot depends on how much margin the biggest retailers decide to take.

“Positively for drivers, supermarket margins are lower than they were in January, but they are still significantly higher than they were prior to the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“If a ‘new normal’ supermarket margin were to settle around 7p, drivers would get a fairer deal. Last year, RAC data shows they benefitted from an average mark-up of 10p on every litre of fuel sold as opposed to just under 6p in 2019.”

Motorists looking to save money at the pumps should start using the fuel finder feature in the free myRAC app as it can help shave off as much as 6p a litre**. The app can be downloaded for free from the App Store or Google Play.

Up to nine searches a day can be made over a two, five or 10-mile radius, with each giving the five cheapest prices.

The web page has more information about the average price of petrol and diesel at the big four supermarkets and at motorway services. It also features graphs showing average prices since 2000 and a daily financial breakdown of the cost of a litre of petrol and diesel.