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Pricing out Potholes: The cost of repairing pothole damage

Posted at 5:40 AM, May 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-07 19:26:32-04

After hitting a pothole, Glenn Berrios-Schroeder paid nearly $700 to get his front left tire replaced and rim repaired on his Nissan at North Avenue Automotive in Milwaukee.

He said he was driving in the 5500 block of Teutonia when it happened.

“It was just a very loud bang,” Berrios-Schroeder said. “I didn't even get a block and I could see this side lowering as I was driving."

With so many sizes of potholes, and with so many makes and models of cars, mechanics are hesitant to put an exact price on pothole repair. They would give us a range.

TODAY'S TMJ4 contacted a dealership, a neighborhood auto shop and an auto chain. They all came in around the same price range: $200-$1,000.

The top pothole repairs at all three? Tires, wheels and suspension parts.

Arguably, it's good business for auto shops, but giving out repair estimates, owners will tell you, is never fun.

“They don't always like what I have to say,” Peter Bilgo with Riverside Automotive in Milwaukee said.

Bilgo said the most expensive pothole repair he’s ever seen at his shop was for a Mercedes Benz.

“That had a $700 wheel and tire was about a $1200 repair,” Bilgo said. “In Wisconsin, every year is bad as far as the potholes, but this was a particular winter.”