How to prevent your van from being damaged by potholes

Potholes are a nuisance for everyone, with research indicating that around one-third of all drivers have experienced vehicle damages because of them. That can be particularly annoying when that damage ends up being a business expense – if you’ve found one of our brilliant cheap van deals, you don’t want to end up losing those savings through the cost of repairing pothole damage. So, here are the 5 most effective ways to prevent this from happening, ensuring that your van can remain in mint condition for years to come.

Stay vigilant

Of course, staying aware and being vigilant when driving is a bit of a no brainer, but reading the road can be so important to keeping your van away from potholes. Potholes remain equally dangerous throughout the year, with the heat of the summer sun threatening road degradation and winter winds putting the road at risk of thaw. Driving through the night also makes it difficult to seek out potholes, so it’s advised that you keep a lookout for dark patches in the road. When it’s raining, puddles are usually a telltale sign of potholes, so it’s best to avoid driving over puddles too. It may seem like quite a simple tip but staying vigilant and alert can prove to be incredibly effective in preventing pothole damage.

Stay at a distance

In relation to the first tip, ensuring that there is ample space between your van and the vehicle in front of is also an effective way to preventing pothole damage. The vehicle in front plays an equally important role here as they’ll probably provide your first warning of an approaching pothole – either because they’ll manoeuvre around it, or because you’ll see them hit it. So, by keeping a distance from them, you’ll provide yourself with more time to read the road. By allowing for a gap in distance, you have a much greater opportunity to stay vigilant, meaning that potholes are less likely to take you by surprise.

Reduce your speed

Sometimes, a road is simply too littered with potholes to avoid them all whilst driving. Even if you’re keeping a distance and staying alert, potholes are simply inescapable. If this is the case, we advise that you take your foot off the accelerator and slow your van down. Driving over a pothole at full speed poses a much greater chance of damages than driving at a reduced speed, and therefore, if you see can see a pothole that you’ll have to drive over, try and keep your van at a slowed pace.

Don’t brake completely

Although we advised that you reduce your speed when going over a pothole, it is equally important to ensure that you don’t brake too sharply whilst going over one. Doing so could result in your car tilting forward, which would lead to a great amount of pressure being placed on the front suspension. This massively increases the chances of denting your van.

Stay at ’10 and 2’

Our final suggestion is to ensure that you’re holding your steering wheel correctly, especially when driving down a road with potholes. The ‘ten and two’ rule will prove incredibly useful in keeping control of your vehicle, especially when there are several bumps in the road. Failing to maintain the ‘ten and two’ position increases the likelihood that you’ll lose control of the vehicle and this puts you and your vehicle at a much higher risk of damages.

By following these 5 tips whilst driving, you’ll be able to minimise the amount of damage that potholes can do to your van – or even avoid them entirely. The most important rule of all is to stay vigilant because by doing this, it becomes much easier to avoid potholes and drive comfortably. Potholes can be a nuisance, but by keeping these 5 suggestions in mind, they should prove far less of a problem to you and your van.

Of course, if your vehicle is already showing more noticeable signs of wear and tear, and you’re thinking about getting a replacement, you’re in exactly the right place. We have a huge range of vans to choose from here at Van Discount, including commercial vehicles from the likes of Vauxhall, Nissan and Fiat. And best of all, we save buyers an average of 40% off a new van! With our in-house expertise and experience, we can even offer bespoke conversions for our customers. Call our van experts today on 01282 872 530 to see what we can do for you!