September 1st, 2026Potholes Puncturing Pockets

Pothole-related search terms have risen most over the past 12 months across regional Victoria including "pothole compensation Victoria", "report pothole", "pothole claim", "road damage claim" But the sudden uptick was in “comprehensive car insurance” in relation to the pothole search which surged around February 22 when a massive tropical moisture system crossed the border that day and subsequent heavy weather went into early March. Severe weather updates from the Bureau of Meteorology warned of heavy downpours. This system eventually dumped historic, record-breaking rain across northern and central Victoria (e.g. over 180 mm in places like Ouyen and Sea Lake)

This content was created in partnership with Google Trends.

Google Trends has highlighted what people are searching for when it comes to the pothole problem plaguing regional Victoria, painting a picture of a state increasingly frustrated with the state of its roads.

Pothole-related search terms have risen most over the past 12 months across regional Victoria including “pothole compensation Victoria”, “report pothole”, “pothole claim”, “road damage claim”

But the sudden uptick was in “comprehensive car insurance” in relation to the pothole search which surged around February 22 when a massive tropical moisture system crossed the border that day and subsequent heavy weather went into early March. Severe weather updates from the Bureau of Meteorology warned of heavy downpours. This system eventually dumped historic, record-breaking rain across northern and central Victoria (e.g. over 180 mm in places like Ouyen and Sea Lake)

Hepburn Shire has tipped $2.73 million into road reconstruction, resealing and gravel re-sheeting in recent years, on top of roughly $3 million more in general repair works, including a $500,000 patching contract awarded off the back of a dedicated pavement defect audit. Next door, the City of Ballarat committed $3.4 million to repairing its municipal road network after a wet winter and has since launched what it is calling its largest road maintenance blitz yet, targeting more than 340,000 square metres of damaged road across the municipality.

The state government has now moved to double its pothole repair target, pledging to fix 500,000 potholes by the end of January next year, up from an earlier commitment of 250,000, at a cost of $352 million on top of the $1.04 billion already budgeted for road maintenance this financial year.

But for many regional drivers, search interest isn’t idle curiosity. It’s the first step in trying to claw back money after a costly encounter with a pothole. Of 1809 compensation claims lodged with the Department of Transport and Planning over the past two financial years, just 23 were paid out, a success rate of roughly two per cent. To even qualify, a driver’s damage bill has to clear a threshold of $1681 for the 2026/27 financial year.

Jamie Adams from Daylesford Tyre and Auto is happy to talk about where and how often these pothole punctures are permeating. “They’re just everywhere, they keep opening up,” Jamie said. “Since August 10 we’ve had 48 pothole strikes. Ballan-Daylesford Road’s been a hotspot, we had 28 in one week alone. It’s about 70 per cent tyre, 30 per cent wheels,” he said. “The wheels have got to be repaired or replaced.”

“One the worst jobs was when we had a Tesla towed in with two tyres and two rims gone, about an $1800 exercise,” Jamie said. “But the worst one was an AMG Mercedes SUV last week. Tyres and rims, about $5,300. The tyres alone are $950 each.”

In terms of pothole size Jamie says: “There’s one out near the Daylesford Cemetery that takes up the whole lane, it’s probably 15 metres long – they’re not potholes, they’re mini mineshafts.”

According to Jamie VicRoads bumped up the claim threshold from $800 to $1681 a few years back.

“But you’ve got to prove it, and they won’t look at a claim under that. You can burn an hour on hold to the pothole hotline just to be told that.” That threshold represents the dollar figure which when you reach it you can claim any monies after that – but you have to pay the first $1681 and frontload the rest of the bill yourself and argue it out with Vic Roads to get into the aforementioned two per cent drawer.

What about the customers attitudes and the spare-tyre problem? “They’re always pissed off when they come in,” Jamie said. “Half the cars these days don’t even carry a spare, so if someone needs to get back to Melbourne, they’re stuck getting towed.”

Mechanics in other areas across regional Victoria report a surge in pothole-related work, with more wheel alignments, shock absorber replacements, worn ball joints and control arm repairs coming through the workshop door than in previous years, as the state’s ageing road network struggles to keep pace with a wet winter and rising traffic volumes.

Victorian Roads Minister Paul Hamer has acknowledged road conditions are “not good enough” and confirmed a review is underway into the compensation scheme, though he has stopped short of promising changes to the damage threshold that determines whether a claim is even considered.

With more than a billion dollars now earmarked for road maintenance across the state, and search interest in pothole compensation showing little sign of easing, the question for regional Victoria isn’t whether the potholes will keep coming. It’s whether the search bar will get them fixed any faster than the complaint line does.

This content is part of a paid partnership with Google to promote Google Trends. It uses Google Trends data to explore search interest in potholes and road maintenance across regional Victoria. Google Trends data is aggregated and anonymous. Search interest is measured on a relative scale and does not represent total search volume.