23-year-old mechanic rakes in $2,200 a night off single NYC pothole
A Brooklyn pothole has become a nighttime goldmine for a 23-year-old mechanic, who reportedly earns at least $2,200 a night fixing tires damaged by the city’s notoriously poor road repairs.
Javier Yat told reporters that he sets up near Exit 9A on the Belt Parkway with a van stocked with replacement tires, changing so many wheels that he often runs out before his shift ends. “I usually carry around 10 tires, but at this location, I need a runner to shuttle more from the shop during the night,” he said.
By day, Yat works at a local auto shop performing four or five tire replacements, but his real earnings come at night. He begins around 12:30 a.m., heading to a massive pothole that he discovered about a year and a half ago after a customer called him in an emergency.
“I’d estimate the pothole is roughly 60 square inches and 12 inches deep,” Yat explained. He said the combination of darkness, low traffic, and wet or cold weather makes the pothole particularly dangerous, leaving drivers more likely to blow tires.
Yat charges between $150 and $300 per tire, replacing 15 to 20 tires on a typical night. The profits are reinvested in more tires to keep up with demand. The mechanic, originally from Guatemala, said he started this side hustle simply because he recognized a business opportunity.
City crews have attempted temporary repairs over recent months, but the fixes rarely last through the next cold snap or winter storm.
Despite this ongoing problem, city officials insist staffing is not an issue. Department of Transportation First Deputy Commissioner Margaret Forgione told City Council members during a budget hearing that “we have adequate staffing to address these conditions” and denied any shortage of workers.
Her boss, DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn, was less definitive. He said pothole repair is a dynamic process affected by weather, noting that crews cannot fix roads when snow covers them or the ground is frozen. “Potholes are really a symptom of larger issues,” Flynn added, emphasizing the importance of addressing underlying road conditions.
The DOT cited a weekend blitz in which 90 crews repaired 7,000 potholes. Yet complaints to the city have surged, with a 33% increase in the first two months of 2026 compared to the same period last year.
Mechanics across the city are noticing the spillover. Joe Acini, a veteran worker at a Mobil station in Queens, said Yat’s business keeps his shop busier than ever. “We’ve been replacing 20 more tires per month since winter began,” Acini said, reporting 66 tire jobs in December, 71 in January, and 64 in February. He recounted one extreme case where a Dodge Dart driver paid $1,400 to replace a single wheel after a pothole caused severe damage.
Potholes form when water seeps through cracks in the pavement and freezes, expanding and lifting the road surface. The rock salt used to melt ice further accelerates the process.
The city’s pothole problem has already led to fatalities. Earlier this month, a 46-year-old man died in Ozone Park, Queens, after his stand-up scooter struck a pothole.
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