New data from the RAC has revealed a sharp increase in pothole-related breakdowns across the UK, reaching an 'unseasonable high' during the second quarter of 2025.
The breakdown service attended 6,575 call-outs for issues such as damaged shock absorbers, broken suspension springs and distorted wheels between April and June, marking a 9% rise compared to the same period last year.
These figures are the highest for the second quarter since 2023, excluding the winter months when damage to road surfaces typically peaks. Over the past 12 months, the RAC has assisted with 24,763 pothole-related incidents, an average of 68 per day.
The RAC suggests that a colder than usual winter at the start of the year contributed to the problem, as freezing water seeping into cracks in road surfaces created more potholes.
Broken suspension springs accounted for the most significant number of call-outs, rising by 23% in the last quarter compared to the previous year.
RAC head of policy Simon Williams said the figures highlight the need for authorities to focus on preventative road maintenance. While councils received record funding for road repairs in April, the benefits are not yet being seen by drivers. The RAC believes that 'prevention over patching' is the most effective long-term strategy to address the issue.
Williams said: “Although English councils received a record amount of funding for roads at the start of the new financial year in April, it’s too early to notice the benefit of increased maintenance programmes."
He continued: “We can clearly see the cold winter weather at the start of the year has left its mark and caused an ‘unseasonable high’ in breakdown volumes during a quarter when we’d typically expect a reprieve."
“With second-quarter RAC call-outs 9% higher than the same period last year, we hope English councils have been putting their allocated funding pots to good work in the summer surface dressing season which runs from April to September. We hope drivers will soon start to see the results of both the preventative maintenance and resurfacing works they have done. We’re urging all highways authorities to think ‘prevention over patching’ when it comes to their maintenance work," Williams added.
He concluded: "After filling the most severe potholes as permanently as possible, preventative treatments like surface dressing are by far the most effective because they stop potholes appearing in future. Now councils have long-term certainty of funding, they can plan surfacing dressing works, along with resurfacing roads that are beyond repair.”
The RAC's findings are supported by separate data that shows one in five motorists have had to pay for new suspension parts, with this figure rising to nearly a third for cars between three and 10 years old.
