Female motorists could be driving potential death traps caused by the so-called ‘pothole plague.’ So says Fix Auto UK, the country’s fastest growing vehicle body repair network.

Fix Auto recommends that motorists whose cars suffer a severe impact after driving through a pothole should have their wheels inspected by an expert – even if there is no visible damage.

The reason for this is that the structural damage may not be visible and, left undiagnosed, damaged wheels could ultimately put lives at risk. In a nutshell, if a wheel or a tyre looks cosmetically sound after hitting a major pothole, there may be an underlying structural problem with safety implications.

We asked Fix Auto’s Managing Director Ian Pugh to explain this to us and this is what he said:

“Whenever a piece of metal is struck at reasonable velocity, structural damage can occur. As an alloy wheel is made from metal and a tyre is reinforced by a steel cord, they are both susceptible to damage below the visible surface. Over time even a hairline crack caused by a pothole can deteriorate and be detrimental to the structure of a wheel. Unfortunately that could make it fail at high speed and the consequences do not bear thinking about.”

Ian oversees 65 franchises in the Fix Auto UK bodyshop network and they are all BSI-Kitemark accredited. As part of the Kitemark quality checking process, all alloy wheels that are refurbished must be inspected.

This doesn’t always happen elsewhere so this is not a sales plug for Kitemark repairers, this is an IMPORTANT BIT OF INSIDE INFORMATION ladies.

Ian’s understandable fear is that motorists who do not use credible repairers could drive off with their wheels looking cosmetically shiny, but they could be structurally compromised under the surface, because the repairer didn’t know how to check or what to look out for.

This SHOULD be a concern for all motorists so if your wheels have taken a turn for the worse recently after a significant pothole shock (we’re talking about a bone rattling experience; most of us have had at least one) PLEASE get your car’s wheels checked by a repairer you can trust.

NB: Remember that garages aren’t regulated. If you choose a bad one you mightn’t know until a part fails. In this instance your wheel. Don’t go there…

As such, the onus is on the motorist to get their car checked. Sadly few bother. So the decision must ultimately be yours. But to be on the safe side, we recommend you get any wheel concerns checked by a FOXY Lady Approved repairer. Not just because they are among the best there are across the UK (most are Kitemark licensees) but because they’ve also signed up to our female friendly ethical promise so women won’t be patronised or ripped off either.

FOXY

PS: Earlier this week I wrote about the serious problems Bernie had with a wheel on her courtesy car. We have no idea if this might have been due to a damaged alloy but she had children with her and was lucky not to be travelling faster – it could have been catastrophic.