Over 300 potholes have been catalogued on a single stretch of the A-7 near Estepona. Estepona's mayor wrote formally to the Transport Minister, Óscar Puente, demanding urgent action. The minister's response: no project, no plan, and no dedicated budget for comprehensive rehabilitation. Routine maintenance only. (Confirmed February 2026, Ministerio de Transportes.)

The A-7 from Málaga to Estepona is the main coastal artery for daily life on the Costa del Sol. It belongs to the Spanish government. Under Spanish law, if their road damages your car, you can claim for the damage.

Spain's Ley 40/2015 — Law on the Legal System of the Public Sector — gives residents the right to compensation when public infrastructure causes direct, quantifiable damage. The term is responsabilidad patrimonial — patrimonial liability. It applies when a road defect, not driver error, causes the damage.

For the A-7, the responsible body is the Ministerio de Transportes y Movilidad Sostenible — Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility. The claim goes to them, not to your insurance company.

The process is free. No lawyer is required. The window is one year from the date of the damage.

Burst tyre from a pothole: €80-150 to replace. Bent or cracked wheel: €200-500. Damaged shock absorber: €300-800. Suspension work: €500-2,000 depending on the vehicle. Multiple components in one incident go on the same claim.

The government will look hard at the evidence. Weak documentation gets rejected. Documented claims get paid.

The police report comes first. Call the Guardia Civil — Civil Guard — on 062 from the scene. An atestado policial — official police report — confirming the pothole at that location is the foundation of any successful claim. Without it, the Ministry's default position is denial.

After the report:

Photographs of the pothole. Showing depth, width, and the absence of warning signs. Same day, if possible, before municipal crews fill it.

Photographs of the vehicle damage. Tyre, wheel, underbody, whatever was affected.

Repair receipts. The invoice from your mechanic establishes the value of the loss.

A police report without photos is a weaker claim. Photos without a police report are not much use at all. Both together, with repair receipts, give you a fundable submission.

Free claims templates for responsabilidad patrimonial — patrimonial liability cases are widely available from drivers' rights groups. No legal knowledge is required to complete one.

Submit directly through the Ministry of Transport's sede electrónica — electronic office at sede.transportes.gob.es. Search "reclamación responsabilidad patrimonial." Processing time is typically three to six months. The government is legally required to respond within that window.

If a pothole on the A-7 damaged your vehicle at any point since February 2025, the claim window is still open.

Most drivers on the Costa write off the repair bill and move on. That choice is yours. But it is a choice, not a requirement. The A-7 near Estepona will not be resurfaced this year. The government confirmed that explicitly. The potholes that exist today will still be there in April.

At the scene, calling the Guardia Civil:

"He sufrido daños en mi vehículo por un bache en la carretera. Necesito un atestado policial." — My vehicle was damaged by a pothole on the road. I need an official police report.

The A-7 is the most-driven road on the Costa del Sol, and the government has confirmed it has no plan to fix it. The same government is legally required to compensate you when its neglected road damages your vehicle, under a process that is free, takes 45 minutes to initiate, and looks back one year. Most drivers on the Costa don't know it exists. Now you do.

Enjoy the weekend — A. and the WaypointSur team with shock absorbers intact, for now

PS: If this has already happened to you in the last year, the filing portal is sede.transportes.gob.es. The one-year window runs from the date of damage.