Let’s say your car is damaged by a deep pot hole.

What are the chances of the state paying for it?

Apparently not much.

Phyllis and Cecil Elliott hit a deep pothole in the dark. Their car required $1,087.20 in repairs.

The SC Department of Transportation denied their claim, because it did not know about the pot hole before the incident, assistant chief counsel Amanda Turbeville Taylor wrote.

Taylor cited a state law in justifying the denial as DOT is “not liable for paying a claim unless it had notice of the defect prior to the incident and failed to make a repair in a reasonable time.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I heard,” Elliott said.

In its 2019 annual report, DOT claimed it patched about 514,000 potholes or an average of 11,173 potholes per county, but those numbers were estimates.

Lawmakers promised in raising the state gas tax 12 cents over 6 years that the money would be used to fix failing roads and bridges.

In 2019, DOT paid 569 claims totaling nearly $2.2 million in damages and about $747,000 in legal expenses through the state Insurance Reserve Fund.

DOT said it received 3,541 claims in 2019 and paid – outside the IRF – $650,880. It didn’t specify how many of those cases involved pot holes.

To file a damage claim you must submit a notarized form plus 2 repair estimates or a paid invoice to the DOT maintenance office in the county where the incident occurred.

Claims must be filed within a year of the incident.

By law, DOT or the IRF has 180 days to decide to pay or deny your claim.

“When I tell people they denied me, they can’t believe it,” Elliott said. “We’re losing, and we can’t win.”

We encourage readers whose damage claims were denied by DOT to contact rick@thenerve.org .