Drivers Hit Bump In Road Trying To Get Refunds For Pothole Damage

(CBS) -- A driver who hit a pothole along the Indiana Toll Road has been facing bumps in the road, trying to get a refund for the damage to his car.

Jeffrey Byer and his wife, Bonnie, were driving back to Chicago on Palm Sunday through a construction zone when their car was damaged by a crater on the toll road.

"The car hit a terrible hole," Jeffrey Byer said. "There was a lot of grinding and bumping."

"I was on the side of the road, along with 20 or 30 other cars."

Turns out, Byer had two flat tires.

The Byers got towed to a nearby Walmart for $95. Then they waited several hours in the parking lot for the store to open. They paid $202.12 for two tires.

Right away, Byer tried to get his money back, filing a claim with the Indiana Toll Road, but ran into a roadblock.

Officials said Rieth-Riley, the contractor hired to do the work in the construction zone, was responsible for paying the damages.

Byer immediately filed another claim with Rieth-Riley and got another denial.

In a letter to Byer, the contractor wrote: "... the hole or dip you encountered was not a result of the work performed by Rieth-Riley. The existing condition of the road was the effect of the freeze/thaw cycle coupled with heavy traffic flow which resulted in deterioration ... adverse weather helped accelerate potholes erupting."

Rieth-Riley also said they patrol roads in their construction zones 24/7 and fill potholes as soon as possible, weather permitting. They didn't see any potholes needing immediate attention the night before the Byers' incident.

"I never got a refund for getting two flat tires," Jeffrey Byer said.

Byer ultimately blames the Indiana Toll Road for the poor road condition and all the damage to his car and others.

"The road should have been shut down. Period," he said. "Quite frankly, I think that road could have killed us."

There's another way to try to get a refund: File a claim with the Indiana attorney general.

However, that is a long shot.

Of nearly 900 damage claims from Northwest Indiana in the past three years, only 81 were paid.