The weird winter weather has prompted another round of fresh potholes around the city of Montreal, prompting its mechanical pothole filler out of hibernation and keeping garages busy.
Manager at Merson Automotive Celso Louro said they've definitely seen an uptick in customers with car damage related to potholes, adding that pothole season appears no longer to be reserved for the spring thaw but is now a year-round affair.
"We've actually seen a lot of customers come in with damaged tires, cuts on the sidewalls, bubbles due to the potholes," said Louro.
Louro said one particular customer had recent bad luck with potholes after buying new tires last month.
"He replaced one the 20th of December, then replaced another one two days ago, and he's back with a third tire. I really feel bad for him and the city should do something about that," said Louro.
The city of Montreal's mechanical pothole filler will be on duty this weekend as of tonight on major streets. Workers will begin manually filling potholes on other roads starting next week. Transport Quebec said its pothole operations are ongoing depending on where they are and what patrollers and its cameras see on the road.
Charly Benoit, technical advisor with Merson, said customers can end up paying anywhere from hundreds of dollars to as much as $1500 depending on the damage. He showed the dented rim of a damaged tire from a car that hit a pothole yesterday. The driver of that car came across the pothole on the Sources ramp to the 40 eastbound.
"It was huge," said the client, who declined to give her name, describing the hole as "a kitchen sink" in the road.
"My colleague was sitting next to me, she thought a car hit us."
She said pothole season appeared to be particularly bad so far but is resigned to her fate.
"There's potholes everywhere, it's Montreal, so..."