Learn How You Can Avoid Potholes In Puerto Rico

The condition of Puerto Rican roads in 2019

Puerto Rico’s roads are unfortunately notorious for being in disrepair. There are a bunch of potholes, seemingly random speed bumps, and cracks in the road. Part of this is due to all the hurricanes that have hit Puerto Rico over the years, hurricane Maria being the most recent example.

According to a survey last year by The Washington Post, ninety-three percent of Puerto Ricans felt that the roads needed repairs.

In fact, some Puerto Ricans have even gone as far as starting to repair the roads themselves by pouring concrete powder and water in the potholes. The government is trying their best to get to fixing the roads but with the current state of Puerto Rico’s economy, it isn’t in the cards at the moment.

If you are driving in Puerto Rico or are going to be driving in Puerto Rico in the near future, it would be in your best interest to learn how to avoid these potholes as best you can. Otherwise, you could end up paying hefty repair fees.
 

How potholes can damage your car

So, you know that driving over potholes can damage your car. But you might ask yourself:

How can potholes damage my car?

Hitting a pothole hard enough can damage your vehicle in a number of ways.

• Your alignment can be thrown off – If your alignment gets thrown off when you hit a pothole, you will need to get either a two wheel or four-wheel alignment depending on the severity of the damage. It will generally cost you between fifty and a hundred dollars for a two wheel alignment and twice that for a four wheel alignment.
• You could easily puncture a tire – Fixing a punctured tire won’t set you back too badly. However, it is inconvenient and, if it happens often enough, it can add up. The general cost to get a punctured tire fixed is usually between ten and twenty dollars. If your tire has been badly punctured or punctured multiple times you should consider buying another tire whether new or used.
• You can end up bending one of your rims – If you end up with bent rims after you hit a pothole, you could end up paying between a hundred and twenty-five hundred dollars or more. That range probably does not do you much help but that is because in order to be more accurate with an estimate, you need specific details.

  In general, if the damage isn’t too bad, getting your rims re-rounded will likely cost between a hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars per wheel. However, if the damage is worse and you need to replace the rims entirely it could easily cost over a thousand dollars per wheel.

How you can avoid potholes

There are several easy ways you can avoid more potholes or, at the very least, lessen the damage they do when you hit them.

• Understand potholes – When you understand potholes you will be able to know when and where to be on the lookout for them. Potholes occur when water gets into the cracks of the asphalt. Then, when temperatures drop, the water freezes and expands. When the temperature warms, the water melts, leaving parts of the asphalt separated from the rest. That is where your potholes occur.

  So, realize that when it warms up after significant road icing occurred, there will be the highest chance for potholes. This is when you should be on the lookout for new potholes, most likely in the early spring into the early summer.

• Drive slow and keep space between you and the car in front of you – Doing this will give you more time to react if you see a pothole. Remember, however, the damage from a pothole is small in comparison to the damage you can cause by veering into oncoming traffic just to avoid a pothole. So, do what you can, within reason, to avoid the pothole.
• Make sure that your tires are full – Making sure that your tires are full of air will give your car the maximum amount of protection from damage from potholes.
• Be suspicious of all puddles – Puddles are often in a pothole rather than a natural dip in the road. Avoid driving through puddles as much as you possibly can.
• If you are going to hit a pothole, just hit it – What we mean here is, do not break as you are about to hit a pothole or as you hit a pothole. This can end up causing even more damage to your vehicle.

Conclusion

No matter what you do, you are going to end up hitting some potholes while driving in Puerto Rico. There are just too many of them to avoid them altogether.

However, you can avoid as many as you can while minimizing the damage to your car when you can’t avoid them.

Either way, it will be easier to avoid potholes and cheaper to fix any damage resulting from them if you have you very own car available to you than if you are renting a car. If you want your car shipped to Puerto Rico, get in touch with us today.