Car Park Pothole: Whose Fault Is It in NZ?
- PotholeExpert
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
A driver pulls into your car park, hits a pothole, and bends a rim or blows a tyre. Or a visitor catches a foot in a broken patch of asphalt. The first question every property owner asks is the same one: am I liable for this?
It is a fair question, and the honest answer is "it depends" — but the factors that move the needle are clearer than most owners think. This guide walks through who carries the duty when a pothole sits on private land in New Zealand: the owner, the occupier, the body corporate, and the business running the site. None of it is legal advice, but it should help you see where you stand and why fixing the hole fast is almost always the cheapest option.
First, a quick distinction: your car park is not a public road
Most of the noise online about pothole claims is about public roads — who pays when you hit a hole on a state highway or a council street. That is a different world. State highways (the SH-numbered roads) are managed by NZTA Waka Kotahi; local streets sit with councils or, in Auckland, Auckland Transport. Claims against those authorities are hard to win: the driver has to prove the authority knew about the pothole and failed to fix it in a reasonable time, and the success rate is very low (NZTA has reported paying only around 1% of state-highway damage claims).
A pothole on your car park, driveway or forecourt is the opposite situation. You control the surface, so the legal questions point at you rather than at a road authority. That cuts both ways — it is your exposure, but it is also entirely within your power to remove.
Car damaged by a pothole — who is liable on private land?
If a pothole on private property damages someone's vehicle, that is property damage, and property damage can be pursued in negligence. (Personal injury is different — see below.) In plain terms, a person bringing a claim would need to show:
you owed them a duty to take reasonable care (an owner or occupier of a place the public uses can owe such a duty);
you fell short of that — for example, a known, obvious pothole left unrepaired and unmarked for a long time; and
that failure caused the damage to their vehicle.
So liability is not automatic. A fresh hole that appeared overnight is very different from a crater you have driven past for three months. The longer a defect sits, and the more obvious it is, the harder it is to argue you took reasonable care. This is exactly the "car damaged by pothole, who is liable" question that owners search for — and the answer turns on what you knew and what you did about it.
Most of these disputes are modest in dollar terms and end up in the Disputes Tribunal, the low-cost, lawyer-free civil forum. Its limit rose to $60,000 on 24 January 2026 (many older guides still say $30,000), and filing fees are tiered by claim size. A claimant typically points the claim at the property owner's public-liability insurer, or at the owner directly.
What about someone tripping and getting hurt?
Here New Zealand law works very differently from what people expect. If a visitor is injured by a pothole — a twisted ankle, a fall — they generally cannot sue you for that personal injury. ACC covers personal injury in New Zealand and bars most injury lawsuits. That is genuine relief for owners.
But do not mistake that for "no exposure." Your real risk from an injury isn't a damages claim — it is regulatory, under the Health and Safety at Work Act, which we cover next.
Health & Safety: a commercial car park is a "workplace"
This is the part many owners miss. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), a car park or forecourt used in connection with a business is a workplace. That makes the business running it a "PCBU" (a person conducting a business or undertaking), with a primary duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that other people — your customers and visitors — are not put at risk.
WorkSafe's good-practice guidance on managing site traffic is explicit that driving surfaces should be maintained and potholes repaired. A known pothole left to worsen is the kind of thing a regulator notices.
HSWA penalties are framed as maximums for the most serious failures — up to $500,000 for a duty failure, rising to as much as $1.5 million or $3 million for the most serious offences. Most matters resolve well below those caps, and they are very much a worst-case ceiling rather than a price tag on a pothole. The point is simply that this exposure is separate from ACC and does not disappear just because injury claims are barred.
Bodies corporate: the maintenance duty is a "must"
If your site is a unit-title development — apartments, a commercial strata, a shared complex — the shared driveway and car park are almost always common property. Under the Unit Titles Act 2010, the body corporate has a statutory duty to repair and maintain common property. It is not optional; the Act uses "must."
So when an owner asks "is the body corporate responsible for the car park pothole?", the usual answer for common property is yes — the maintenance duty sits with the body corporate, funded through the levies, not with an individual unit owner. Committees that defer surface repairs to save a budget cycle are deferring a duty, not avoiding it. Practically, that means organising the repair promptly and keeping a record of the decision.
The cost of a claim versus the cost of a repair
Step back and weigh it up. A serious pothole on a commercial site can put you on the wrong side of:
a vehicle-damage claim in the Disputes Tribunal (now up to $60,000 jurisdiction);
a Health & Safety duty as the PCBU, with WorkSafe expecting surfaces to be maintained; and
for bodies corporate, a statutory maintenance obligation you cannot contract out of.
Against all of that sits the actual cost of fixing the hole — usually a modest, fast, fixed-price repair. The maths is rarely close. The cheapest risk-management decision an owner makes is almost always to repair the surface before anything happens on it.
What to do the moment you spot a pothole
Make it safe now. Cone it, or barrier it off so vehicles and people steer clear. This both reduces risk and shows you acted.
Photograph it, dated, with something for scale. A record that you identified and responded to the hazard is worth a lot.
Get it repaired fast. A temporary safety patch buys time; a proper repair removes the problem. The shorter the gap between "known" and "fixed", the stronger your position.
This is where we come in. Rapidpatch fixes potholes and damaged surfaces for property owners, bodies corporate, motels, service stations and councils across Auckland — founded by Steve Parker, who has been in the asphalt trade since 2004. Send us photos and you'll have a fixed-price quote back, with a 48-hour repair commitment once you accept. You can get a free photo-quote in a couple of minutes.
Browse our pothole repair and car park repairs services to see how we handle commercial sites and shared driveways.
Frequently asked questions
A pothole on my car park damaged a customer's car. Am I automatically liable?
No, liability is never automatic in New Zealand. Vehicle damage on private land is a property-damage matter that can be pursued in negligence, but the person would need to show you owed a duty of reasonable care, fell short of it (for example, by leaving a known, obvious pothole unrepaired and unmarked for a long time), and that this caused the damage. A hole that appeared overnight is very different from one left for months. These disputes usually go to the Disputes Tribunal.
Is the body corporate responsible for a pothole in a shared car park or driveway?
Usually yes, where the car park or driveway is common property in a unit-title development. The Unit Titles Act 2010 places a statutory duty on the body corporate to repair and maintain common property, and the Act treats this as a "must," not an option. The duty sits with the body corporate (funded through levies), not an individual unit owner. For your specific arrangement, check your body corporate rules or seek advice.
Can someone sue me if they trip on a pothole on my property and get hurt?
Generally no — ACC covers personal injury in New Zealand and bars most injury lawsuits, so a visitor typically cannot sue you for the injury itself. However, that does not remove your exposure. If the site is a workplace under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, you have regulatory duties to keep people safe, and WorkSafe expects driving surfaces to be maintained and potholes repaired. That regulatory exposure is separate from ACC.
Does my Health & Safety duty apply to a car park?
If the car park or forecourt is used in connection with a business, it is generally a "workplace" under HSWA 2015, and the business running it is a PCBU with a primary duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that customers and visitors are not put at risk. WorkSafe's good-practice guidance specifically calls for maintaining driving surfaces and repairing potholes. Penalties are statutory maximums for the most serious failures, not a fixed cost for a pothole.
Is it cheaper to fix the pothole or risk a claim?
In almost every case, fixing it is cheaper. A serious pothole can expose you to a Disputes Tribunal claim for vehicle damage (jurisdiction now up to $60,000), Health & Safety duties as a PCBU, and — for bodies corporate — a statutory maintenance obligation. Against that sits a modest, fast, fixed-price repair. The shortest path between "known" and "fixed" is also the strongest legal position. Cone it, photograph it, and get it repaired.
Related guides
This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice. Liability depends on the facts of your situation, your policy wording, and current law. For advice on your circumstances, talk to your own insurer, a lawyer, the Citizens Advice Bureau, or — for a specific dispute — the Disputes Tribunal. For hazards on public roads, contact NZTA Waka Kotahi (state highways) or Auckland Transport (local roads). Always confirm current statute, fees and thresholds, as they change.
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