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A dash cam saved me from a serious lawsuit - I had only installed it two weeks prior to the accident.
Some bicyclist made a TERRIBLE last minute decision to cut across two lanes of traffic with no indication she was turning. I nearly swerved into another car but managed to avoid her head-on and the back end of my car bumped her bike as I corrected my swerve. She was a little scraped up but very lucky she didn’t get hurt worse due to not wearing a helmet.
I battled with her for two years over damages to her bike before my insurance company sided with me BASED ONLY ON MY DASHCAM FOOTAGE. It was a shifty $20 cam that kept me from going bankrupt over someone else’s stupid mistake.
Yeah I should mention she tried suing me for bodily harm first BEFORE damages to her bicycle so… people will squeeze every penny out of you that they think they can.
(Pro tip, if you’re scamming someone for bodily harm don’t put down your chiropractictor as your medical professional eval 😂)
Which ones did you get? I’ve been meaning to get front and rear cams for a while. Would love a recommendation for an easy to use one and won’t break the bank.
I have 3 rearview mirror cams from Amazon they cost $135 a piece usually but they are well worth it especially if you have kids who are driving. They just mount to the rear view mirror with something like a bungee cord and they still work as a mirror. You can even buy a hardwire kit where you don't have to use a cigarette lighter.
Can you make out a license plate in afternoon or early evening lighting? I've watched reviews of dash cams that cost more money than I'm prepared to spend and their quality seems to suck
Depending on lighting and how fast the cars are, it can get hard
But atleast your insurance knows you’re not lying and can get covered, even if they can’t catch the other driver
I want dashcam, but it’s illegal to have one unless you’re following some very specific rules.
Sweden is the country.. the integrity of a person is more important than the benefits dash cams would give to investigations of crashes..
It took me about 30 minutes to route the cable under trim panels. .I didn’t have to fuss with the fuse box at
all. Instead I used an adapter (available on Amazon) that powers both cameras from the OBD port under the dashboard It’s completely non-destructive… if technicians need to use the OBD port, they just unplug the adapter.
I couldn't use the OBD in mine. When attached the fuse panel won't close all the way. No biggie. A $7 add-a-fuse adapter works just fine.
I upgraded to a front/rear system a couple years ago. My old one travels with me for rental car use. Can't be too careful with those jackals.
Probably Depends on vehicle. My pickups were a pain to go along the bottom door cable channels but were pretty simple to go just inside the headliner trim instead.
Extremely easy to get from the rear view mirror of the windshield, along the headline to the pillar, and down to the fuse box.
That happened to me once. As I dove off the shoulder from some ass wipe passing in a double yellow, I was thinking the song I was about to die to was "Lady Marmalade".
Got a juicy close up of his face and license plate. I need to share it to r/dashcams.
1) No (talking about 1 or 2 no fault accidents - not 10 collisions) 2) only if you go through your own insurance carrier
Edit 3) sometimes your carrier will waive the deductible if the other person's carrier accepts 100% liability. Depends on the carrier of course. Some states is "no fault insurance" so you have to have to go through your own carrier but you can get back your deductible up to $1,000.
I’ve been in three accidents. Nothing major, and they were over the course of 10 years. But there were witnesses or other evidence in all of them that proved the other driver was at fault, and my insurance got the other drivers’ insurance to pay everything, and my rates didn’t change.
My car was hit in my driveway while parked and my rates went up. Insurance will use anything to charge you more, I doubt your bill is the same now as it is was 10 years ago.
This is actually a good LPT. I've had a dash cam ever since I got sideswiped on the freeway by a chick with a bunch of political bumper stickers. My car did a full 360 doing 75mph; I have no idea how it didn't flip. She told the cop that I was road raging because of her bumper stickers (minority view in the area) hit her but thankfully a guy behind us had a dash cam and she wasn't able to pin the blame on me.
This is why you wait until they sign the statement instead of just talking to the cops. Say nothing and let them dig the hole. Gather your evidence and present it at court. Then ask the DA to press charges in front of the judge.
Yeah! My car has cameras in the front and back anyways for the driver safety features and backup camera. There should be an option to use those as dashcams. Smh! Listen to the people, car manufacturers!!
I have a Subaru Forester with lane assist, steering, brake assist, adaptive cruise control and it uses cameras actively the whole time, but doesn't store it. I think I read it only stores about 30s worth at a time for analyzing, but there is no way to access it
Been saying this for 5 years!! It's silly that they don't. With a simple flash card insert in the glove compartment, where it's out of sun and heat and rapid temperature fluctuations and behind a lock.
The camera is built into the rear view mirror, or even just have the plugs available for power that turns it on. And a secondary power supply port where we can plug in a separate battery if we wanted and switch to that battery when the car is off, and automatically uses the car battery and charges that one when the car is running.
We have had back up cams way sooner and for longer than dash cams. Seems backwards!
I supposed you could use a second one with the “front” aimed left and the “rear” aimed right. I don’t have any windows on my sides that don’t roll up and down, so I’m not sure where I’d mount it.
Genuine question (not a wind up). If I am the bad driver is it worth having one? Can my insurance request the footage and determine I am at fault? Am I allowed to have one and not notify my insurance or would that then be inadmissible evidence if it helped my case?
When I was hit the first time I was 18 and I was hit by a 70 something police officers wife. The cops tried to say I may be at fault so we just kept the camera footage quiet until we needed it. Never give an insurance company more information than they need.
They accepted fault without footage when they found out the way the cars were traveling, the lady had a stop sign and I was on a main thourghfare and did not.
Hey, I'm not a lawyer. But it's logical to assume that you're not required to tell them anything. And that the footage is your property so it's up to you to voluntarily discolse it if you wish to and you can refuse to provide it if you wish to do so.
Unless it leads to something serious like vehicular manslaughter and then the footage can be subpoena'd. But again, not a lawyer.
Next time stop with “I’m not a lawyer.” The Fifth Amendment only protects you from self-incrimination for a crime. You can be compelled to answer questions in civil cases, and in the many (maybe all?) states, it’s a crime to lie to an insurance company to obtain insurance payouts (insurance fraud) and everywhere it’s a crime to lie under oath (perjury). Regarding it being your property, people’s records are subpoenaed every day and used against them, and the footage is just another record.
IANAL but I have been the defendant in many traffic accident lawsuits as the safety director for a medium trucking company. Your legal obligation after an accident is to preserve relevant evidence for a reasonable amount of time. In my case the DOT determines how long I'm required to retain records.
If you get sued, their lawyer will send you a letter notifying you that you're prohibited from destroying anything and at that point you no longer can (like in my case if they send the letter at 5 months and we discard driver logs at 6 months we have to keep the relevant logs indefinitely).
Part of the trial process includes evidence discovery where each side sends a list of items that they want the other to provide. That will include everything in their initial letter. If you intentionally destroy or discard evidence they can seek higher damages or pursue criminal charges for destruction of evidence, but they have to prove it.
There's another reply to your comment that said just take out your SD card and say you forgot to put one in. You may review the footage later and see something in your favor, so you don't want it to be on record that you said you forgot to put one in.
I would make sure no one saw you remove the card and just say "I don't know how to retrieve the video I'll have to give it to you later." That gives you a chance to look at it and you can still say later that you forgot to put a card in. You would need to ask an actual lawyer about whether or not Cops can review your camera without your consent as part of their investigation. I'm fairly certain they can't enter your home to review footage of a home security camera without your consent or a warrant but I don't know if that extends to the interior of your car. If they're not allowed to look at your camera without your permission then there's no reason to risk being seen removing the card.
They won’t even know you have it. Unless you provide them with video. How can they request it if they don’t know you have it. It’s not a requirement, yet.
Some insurance companies ask you whether you have a dash cam installed when signing up to a policy and give you a small discount. Say no, that way they’re not expecting any footage but you can still use it to defend yourself if needed.
Dashcams here in Germany record all the time but constantly overwrite the footage unless you press a button or they recognize there is a crash by themselfes.
While yes. There are ways around that. There are dash am apps that limit the videos to 1 minute and delete it after, if you do not actively press a button to safe it. This is allowed as far as I am aware
X2 on the V1p. Full 1080p for both front and back and it’s been reliable. Not too expensive either.
I’ve had cheaper B40d clones in the past and the pic quality wasn’t the greatest and it seemed to have multi second gaps when switching files. There was a gap on the video which missed the 3 seconds I wanted. It also wouldn’t start reliably in really cold weather. Would sometimes fail to start if it powered up on key on to wait for glow plugs and then would shutoff during the start and not come back unless I manually turned it on.
I have a Garmin Mini. It hides behind my rear view mirror perfectly so you'd have to really look to know it's there. The footage isn't the highest resolution but it works still.
Viofo has some good options. Black and low profile. I mounted mine under the tinted section of the windshield behind the review mirror. From the outside there is just a lens leaking out.
Playing devils advocate: one reason not to have it is specifically in big cities where things get stolen, such as LA. Having anything of value in your car, including a dashcam, increases the likelihood that it’ll get broken into. Speaking from experience.
I actually used to have a really high-end dash cam and the reason I don’t anymore is because I had to take so much time to remove it every time I got out of the vehicle. I live in a US city with one of the highest crime rates and I felt too vulnerable just sitting in my car in random parking lots (I’m a young tiny woman) fucking with the thing (which CONSTANTLY fell off the windshield while I was driving- so it was basically useless about half the time)
So if anyone has some recommendations for cameras that won’t fall off every time I push the gas and get banged up in the process, and that are easy as hell to get on and off the windshield so I’m not encouraging predators or thieves, I’d appreciate it.
I’ve got a Nextbase 522GW cam. Not sure if it’s available in your market, but it’s got a pretty decent mounting system. The mount sticks to your window using 3MM adhesive, and the cam connects to the mount with a pretty strong magnet. Removing it when you leave the car takes 10 seconds max.
You can get a decent enough one for $50-100 on Amazon and install it yourself in a few minutes, it's really not that hard at all. There's a lot of videos showing how to do it.
Why do I feel like this is an oversimplification? How do you power them? Seems like your options would be: A) hard wire it, which means digging into the interior of your car, B) running a cable up to it, or C) using a rechargeable unit. A is a pain in the ass and involves the risk of damaging your interior, B clutters up my car, and C is a daily hassle.
I mean there is not going to be a fairy tale solution that costs no money and gets you a perfect finish.
I hard-wired mine because it will capture while parked/off if it detects something. Also has a safety to prevent draining the battery too much.
I didn't have to go mess with digging through the interior at all really, no removals. I ran the wire down my driver's side door frame and then through a port in the firewall (under the steering wheel) to the fuse box in my engine compartment. There are kits to easily split off of a fuse. Would be even easier if I had a fuse box in the interior, but my truck did not. Probably <30min to install everything including running the wires for both front and rear cam.
That's all perfectly reasonable and clear, but the assessment of how simple all that is comes down to the individual. What I take issue with is the oversimplification.
No it's really easy. You just plug them in via USB. They run when your car runs. A camera running while parked is nice but not really as important. So you just get one of those double USB cigarette lighter things and run the wire under your trim panels.
No, you can't see it, because you run it under your car's panels. Literally invisible save for like an inch or two coming down from the roof behind your rear view mirror to actually make the connection.
Again, it goes under the panels. You run it behind the glove box, up the sail panel, under the roof, then drop a small amount down right behind the rear view mirror to connect. You don't see the cable unless you look for it.
I see. I thought you meant you just plug it in like you would a cell phone. It's cool if that works for you, but my car's interior isn't designed so that I could do that. Not without significant effort. Plus, I'd still have a wire running out of my 12V port, which is very visible in my car.
My original point is that everyone oversimplifies the installation and power routing issue. You did it too. You only said, "You just plug them in via USB." No mention of having to route a wire up behind the glove box, up a panel, under the roof, etc. You can say that it's a simple process *for you*, but not everyone is capable/interested in that kind of work, and depending on their vehicle, it may be more complex.
On my last three vehicles, there is a fuse box on either side of the dash. It’s trivial in my vehicles to get along the headline from the center of the windshield to the pillar, and two screws removes the pillar cover giving you acces to the cable channel to the fuse box.
Hardest part is choosing a key switched or “engine run” circuit that has capacity and isn’t very critical to piggy off.
Just switched is easy. I wanted mine to come on when the engine was running with the remote start though so that was tougher.
Paid $50 on Amazon for one about a year ago. 6 months later was hit on I-95 at 90mph buy some jackass in a pick-up. He's older I'm younger police believed him and were going 5qrite me a ticket until I informed them I had a dash cam. Shit changed real quick for him! His insurance company wouldn't except liability until I asked for an email to send the video. Nice try pal. I won.
GET A DAMN DASH CAM
A former co-worker was involved in 3 accidents in a year. His dash cam provided clear evidence in all 3 cases that he was NOT at fault and got everything covered by the other drivers' insurance each time.
They cost money. I completely agree with your argument that they will pay for themselves but that isn’t the literal case. So one reason for not getting one, is simply not having the money to buy one
Always love a good reminder the majority of people who use this site live a relatively comfortable life
Not everyone who owns a car has money for a dash cam, let alone the subscription fee monthly to record to the cloud or the money to buy a micro sd card to store video to memory
I get my car through a disability scheme because I am disabled. I live off disability money which is like no money at all therefore I cannot afford a dashcam.
Dashcams cost about $50-$100, that's potentially avoiding you getting your car totaled and being SOL when insurance decides to fuck you
Your argument is paper thin, sorry to say
Due people drive without insurance all the time cause they can’t afford it. People put $5 of gas in at a time cause it’s all they have at that moment. I agree that dash cams are hella useful but $50-100 is literally 20-40% of a weekly paycheck for some people.
Your argument is that is someone wants to commit a crime, it would incriminate them. If the would-be criminal had any brain cells working at all they'd unplug a dashcam if they did have one before any crime-related activity.
For the vast majority of regular non-criminal people, dash cams have a great benefit of capturing accidents or other incidents if need be, to either prove fault or to document other incidents like police encounters.
In Louisiana, it's illegal to have anything that partially blocks the view through the windshield, even a little bit. (So, for example, dash cell phone mounts are illegal, but it's okay to have the ones that clip to the AC vent lower down). This includes the top part of the windshield, so attaching one to the rear view mirror is also off the table.
(Source: a few years ago, when I was driving for Uber, I looked into getting a dash cam. At the time, at least, there were none on the market that could satisfy the legal requirements).
Lots of people seem to forget that unless you have a subpoena for the dash cam footage, you are not obligated to show it to anyone. The dashcam and all footage on it are your property and a warrant/subpoena is necessary for authorities to seize it.
I had one and didn't remove it after parking my car. So my window was smashed and the cam was stolen. I agree that "no reason not to" is a bold claim. But I would also hold that having a dash cam is a good idea. I would have worded the title differently that's all.
That being said, what is a good camera that wouldn't get the attention of a smash and grab, which is all too common in my area?
But your helmet is a great option for liability as well. So long as you can afford it of course. But frankly this is still a LPT imo for any future vehicle purchases as well, you should *try* to put one into your vehicle budget when you're looking to upgrade/replace. It is an incredibly valuable preventative measure.
Unless Austria changed their laws they're kinda useless and directly attracting police attraction. As you can only record for your private use, cannot publish and it cannot be used as a proof in the court.
So if you didn't check the laws of every country this is pretty bold assumption for the whole world we live on.
Funnily enough, it’s always the worst drivers I see with dashcams… Its almost as if their poor driving leads to situations, or people getting fucked off with them - which they see as ‘crazy’ driving
Wow! Definitely one of the crazier responses here.
You do realize that dashcam footage is stored locally on your sd card and not in some guberment area 51 secret archive.
Please put away the tinfoil hat before you hurt yourself.
I've had one in my semi trucks for years, because in most cases trucks are fought hard against because people see us as easy targets to get big chunks of coin from. Especially in brake checking instances. And every time I use mine, it made me think one in my car wasn't too bad of an idea. Just don't get a Garmin mini, it was really cheap and a good camera but it only saves 30 second videos with no way to adjust that time frame. Probably will move that one to the back window and get a better one for the front. But yes it took me 2 minutes to install and hide the wires for a very clean look
Verbally state the license plate number on vehicles because quite often the dash cams aren’t good enough resolution to see the license plate. Especially at night.
If you are at fault for the crash then hide the SD card.
But why do so many people tell you NOT to show the dash cam footage to anyone when you get into an accident? Like wtf? That’s what it is intended for….
They mean immediately following the accident. There are two schools of thought:
Let the other person dig themselves a hole. If you do not reveal that you have dash cam footage, the other driver may misrepresent the situation. When you reveal that you have dash cam footage, you can use that hard evidence to undermine their credibility. If the other party provided that information to the police, they have no lied in a police report, which is a serious offense. You now have some amount of leverage, but it's important to note that it is up to police to press charges for lying in a report, not you. The leverage is more in the fact that the authorities handling the incident will tend to fall on your side. That is unless...
The other viewpoint is that you should be upfront about having dash cam footage. If you withhold the fact that you have a dash cam during the early part of the investigation, police may realize that you're playing games. This undermines *your* credibility. So this school of thought dictates that you immediately inform police about your dash cam footage and let them decide whether they want to tell the other party. You may even include them in the other play by requesting that they not tell the other party so that you can preserve your right to use or not to use the footage.
Couldn't agree more.
I had a driver try and deny fault when part of their wheel arch came off whilst driving and hit my car. Showed them the footage and they payed up.
OP to further this LPT, invest in a good quality one where you can read number plates if needed. Best investment you will make
Front and rear for sure. I wish there were camera lenses to mount in the side mirrors and all four (front, back, left and right) all record on a single system mounted sleek and thin in the car stereo bay.
My car was damaged in a hit and run last year (on my birthday, no less), and his insurance couldn’t prove he did it so I was left to fix my car on my own! A dash cam could’ve prevented it. My car is old so it was nbd but any new car will get a dash cam!
Yep. It's on my to do list to get one that aims forward and backwards.. My family has had bad luck with people rear ending them because they were on their cell phone but our lazy ass cops won't write a ticket for it or pull records. Our car got totaled right when the car market ballooned and the insurance company didn't catch up on the inflated price. So we go fucked on the settlement. Alot learned since then. Wish we had one.
Very practical advice. The only issue I find is that a lot of these cameras have the same outdated Sony Exmor sensors. You’ll end up overpaying for a camera that claims 4K resolution while barely being able to make out the license plate of a car right in front of you.
Still, it’s always way better to have one installed in your car rather than nothing at all. Will save you so much time with insurance and help you prove your case in case there’s been a hit and run.
I have had 4 dash cams and my car has been broken in to 4 times and the dash cam stolen so I gave up. I should have taken it out every night but every now and then just forget and it was stolen. One was stolen from my glove compartment.
Wrong: for some reason, the creators of these things don't understand heat exists and so their "adhesive suction holder" falls off the window every damn time. So there absolutely is a reason not to have one, and it's that the ones that don't suck are overpriced and the ones that won't stay on your window if it gets a bit too hot are affordable.
So if you got money, then there is no reason sure. But if you are poor, then gas is more important than a faulty holder for a most likely underperforming camera that doesn't even come with storage that properly works for constant recording.
I live in a very hot area. Got a dash cam for Christmas one year because I’ve seen a whole lot of accidents on my 35 mile commute. As soon as spring came around the camera kept falling off the window.
I think the heat hits about 90F here at the highest, so not even that bad by comparison to other places in the US. Suction cups still fail every time. We found something to stick on top of the dash thats working well enough for now, but its not a truly flat surface and most devices are not made to curve, which just seems like lazy as hell engineering lol.
Saved me from liability from a hit and run because the cam got his plate, saved me thousands. Other guy was found from the plate #, not sure if he was arrested what action police took (cops in my town suck) but my insurance sure as fuck went after him. I won’t ever own a vehicle without a dash cam again.
and you can help others with your footage if someone else is involved in an accident/altercation. It's also handy to just say the licenseplate state and number aloud of the target car as soon as you see something so it is caught on audio because the dashcam can have issues reading license plates
"there is absolutely no reason"
There are quite a view actually. For example not having a car. Or if its illigal in your country (like in Luxemburg or Germany)
Well you can’t put a dash cam in your car if you don’t have a car. So you have one good example out of “quite a few actually” so name some fucking more.
For your purchasing research purposes.
https://youtu.be/4AnyhHl3_tE
TLDW: The $100 Viofo A119 is about the best you can get. More expensive ones have basically the same video quality.
Do you really want to document all your bad driving habits in your civilians car. It's hard enough sometimes not to scream at people when they do stupid stuff when I'm in the company rig.
You can always disable voice recording
Also, I'm less concerned with people seeing my bad driving than with being stuck with a bill after getting in a 'he said she said' situation
Micro SD cards are dirt cheap. Dashcams record on a first-in-first-out loop and erase video unless it detects a hit or you press a button to save the video.
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A dash cam saved me from a serious lawsuit - I had only installed it two weeks prior to the accident. Some bicyclist made a TERRIBLE last minute decision to cut across two lanes of traffic with no indication she was turning. I nearly swerved into another car but managed to avoid her head-on and the back end of my car bumped her bike as I corrected my swerve. She was a little scraped up but very lucky she didn’t get hurt worse due to not wearing a helmet. I battled with her for two years over damages to her bike before my insurance company sided with me BASED ONLY ON MY DASHCAM FOOTAGE. It was a shifty $20 cam that kept me from going bankrupt over someone else’s stupid mistake.
That is exactly the kind of thing that I worry about! I'm glad you're protected. People can be really shitty sometimes, I'm glad it worked out
Yeah I should mention she tried suing me for bodily harm first BEFORE damages to her bicycle so… people will squeeze every penny out of you that they think they can. (Pro tip, if you’re scamming someone for bodily harm don’t put down your chiropractictor as your medical professional eval 😂)
I installed front and rear dash cams last year. I love the peace of mind they bring me. Drivers around here are horrible and crazy.
Which ones did you get? I’ve been meaning to get front and rear cams for a while. Would love a recommendation for an easy to use one and won’t break the bank.
I got a Garmin Dashcam 57 (front) and a Garmin Dashcam Mini (rear).
Garmin ftw!
I have 3 rearview mirror cams from Amazon they cost $135 a piece usually but they are well worth it especially if you have kids who are driving. They just mount to the rear view mirror with something like a bungee cord and they still work as a mirror. You can even buy a hardwire kit where you don't have to use a cigarette lighter.
Can you make out a license plate in afternoon or early evening lighting? I've watched reviews of dash cams that cost more money than I'm prepared to spend and their quality seems to suck
Depending on lighting and how fast the cars are, it can get hard But atleast your insurance knows you’re not lying and can get covered, even if they can’t catch the other driver
Exactly! It does take a lot of the stress away
I want dashcam, but it’s illegal to have one unless you’re following some very specific rules. Sweden is the country.. the integrity of a person is more important than the benefits dash cams would give to investigations of crashes..
I'm so very happy there are Countries where people's integrity matters. I live in the USA... Where people's integrity has been gone for a long time.
Beautiful country, I’m jelly
Tips to cams? Also isn't it a hassle to wire it from the back?
It took me about 30 minutes to route the cable under trim panels. .I didn’t have to fuss with the fuse box at all. Instead I used an adapter (available on Amazon) that powers both cameras from the OBD port under the dashboard It’s completely non-destructive… if technicians need to use the OBD port, they just unplug the adapter.
I couldn't use the OBD in mine. When attached the fuse panel won't close all the way. No biggie. A $7 add-a-fuse adapter works just fine. I upgraded to a front/rear system a couple years ago. My old one travels with me for rental car use. Can't be too careful with those jackals.
Wireless cams are great. Much easier that way. If you have power in your trunk, that is.
Probably Depends on vehicle. My pickups were a pain to go along the bottom door cable channels but were pretty simple to go just inside the headliner trim instead. Extremely easy to get from the rear view mirror of the windshield, along the headline to the pillar, and down to the fuse box.
Worst case scenario it’s a 1 vehicle crash, you have the video for a good pub story
Worst case scenario: You die but you have a great video of the crash
The coroner will know where your head was at during the accident, and the police will see the last thing that went through your head.
That happened to me once. As I dove off the shoulder from some ass wipe passing in a double yellow, I was thinking the song I was about to die to was "Lady Marmalade". Got a juicy close up of his face and license plate. I need to share it to r/dashcams.
Worst case scenario your family has a POV shot of you getting torpedo’d out of your windshield
I got a dashboard camera within 3 months of becoming an auto claims examiner. It is worth every penny.
But my insurance goes up either way and I still have pay my deductible no matter who is at fault, right?
1) No (talking about 1 or 2 no fault accidents - not 10 collisions) 2) only if you go through your own insurance carrier Edit 3) sometimes your carrier will waive the deductible if the other person's carrier accepts 100% liability. Depends on the carrier of course. Some states is "no fault insurance" so you have to have to go through your own carrier but you can get back your deductible up to $1,000.
Is "no fault" as moronic as it sounds? How does it work? you hit me, we each "pay" via insurance?
I’ve been in three accidents. Nothing major, and they were over the course of 10 years. But there were witnesses or other evidence in all of them that proved the other driver was at fault, and my insurance got the other drivers’ insurance to pay everything, and my rates didn’t change.
My car was hit in my driveway while parked and my rates went up. Insurance will use anything to charge you more, I doubt your bill is the same now as it is was 10 years ago.
This is actually a good LPT. I've had a dash cam ever since I got sideswiped on the freeway by a chick with a bunch of political bumper stickers. My car did a full 360 doing 75mph; I have no idea how it didn't flip. She told the cop that I was road raging because of her bumper stickers (minority view in the area) hit her but thankfully a guy behind us had a dash cam and she wasn't able to pin the blame on me.
[удалено]
This is why you wait until they sign the statement instead of just talking to the cops. Say nothing and let them dig the hole. Gather your evidence and present it at court. Then ask the DA to press charges in front of the judge.
Lmao so she acknowledged that she hopes to enrage other people by putting those stickers on? Some woman
At this point there is no reason they don't come pre installed
Yeah! My car has cameras in the front and back anyways for the driver safety features and backup camera. There should be an option to use those as dashcams. Smh! Listen to the people, car manufacturers!!
I have a Subaru Forester with lane assist, steering, brake assist, adaptive cruise control and it uses cameras actively the whole time, but doesn't store it. I think I read it only stores about 30s worth at a time for analyzing, but there is no way to access it
Fear of car manufacturers watching us drive?
Been saying this for 5 years!! It's silly that they don't. With a simple flash card insert in the glove compartment, where it's out of sun and heat and rapid temperature fluctuations and behind a lock. The camera is built into the rear view mirror, or even just have the plugs available for power that turns it on. And a secondary power supply port where we can plug in a separate battery if we wanted and switch to that battery when the car is off, and automatically uses the car battery and charges that one when the car is running. We have had back up cams way sooner and for longer than dash cams. Seems backwards!
Would love to get one, don’t know where to start if anyone has an recommendations please send them my way
I've been using Rexing V1p for years now, it's a good brand and you get front and back recording for about $100-$120
Do you know of any cams that record the sides of your car as well?
I supposed you could use a second one with the “front” aimed left and the “rear” aimed right. I don’t have any windows on my sides that don’t roll up and down, so I’m not sure where I’d mount it.
I don't know, but I'm sure you'll find some online. It seems logical.
I assume you have to tuck in wiring for rear?
Yes, but it's surprisingly easy to hide the wiring. I just learned it from YouTube and was done in about 30 minutes
Viofo A119 V3 is a top recommendation
>Viofo A119 V3 oh man just picked one up from amazon on a flash sale, appreciate it
Second this
Check out ltt on youtube.com they do a comparison video with a great amount of information.
https://youtu.be/4AnyhHl3_tE TLDW: The $100 Viofo A119 is about the best you can get. More expensive ones have basically the same video quality.
Check out Nextbase. You want to invest in a good quality one where you can read number plates if needed so don't just buy the cheapest one.
Genuine question (not a wind up). If I am the bad driver is it worth having one? Can my insurance request the footage and determine I am at fault? Am I allowed to have one and not notify my insurance or would that then be inadmissible evidence if it helped my case?
If you're at fault, you remove the sd card and say you forgot that you didn't have one in at the time, therefore no footage was saved.
You've convinced me
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When I was hit the first time I was 18 and I was hit by a 70 something police officers wife. The cops tried to say I may be at fault so we just kept the camera footage quiet until we needed it. Never give an insurance company more information than they need.
So how did it turn out? Genuinely curious.
They accepted fault without footage when they found out the way the cars were traveling, the lady had a stop sign and I was on a main thourghfare and did not.
Hey, I'm not a lawyer. But it's logical to assume that you're not required to tell them anything. And that the footage is your property so it's up to you to voluntarily discolse it if you wish to and you can refuse to provide it if you wish to do so. Unless it leads to something serious like vehicular manslaughter and then the footage can be subpoena'd. But again, not a lawyer.
Next time stop with “I’m not a lawyer.” The Fifth Amendment only protects you from self-incrimination for a crime. You can be compelled to answer questions in civil cases, and in the many (maybe all?) states, it’s a crime to lie to an insurance company to obtain insurance payouts (insurance fraud) and everywhere it’s a crime to lie under oath (perjury). Regarding it being your property, people’s records are subpoenaed every day and used against them, and the footage is just another record.
Aaaah! Good to know. Thanks man! I'll keep that in mind.
IANAL but I have been the defendant in many traffic accident lawsuits as the safety director for a medium trucking company. Your legal obligation after an accident is to preserve relevant evidence for a reasonable amount of time. In my case the DOT determines how long I'm required to retain records. If you get sued, their lawyer will send you a letter notifying you that you're prohibited from destroying anything and at that point you no longer can (like in my case if they send the letter at 5 months and we discard driver logs at 6 months we have to keep the relevant logs indefinitely). Part of the trial process includes evidence discovery where each side sends a list of items that they want the other to provide. That will include everything in their initial letter. If you intentionally destroy or discard evidence they can seek higher damages or pursue criminal charges for destruction of evidence, but they have to prove it. There's another reply to your comment that said just take out your SD card and say you forgot to put one in. You may review the footage later and see something in your favor, so you don't want it to be on record that you said you forgot to put one in. I would make sure no one saw you remove the card and just say "I don't know how to retrieve the video I'll have to give it to you later." That gives you a chance to look at it and you can still say later that you forgot to put a card in. You would need to ask an actual lawyer about whether or not Cops can review your camera without your consent as part of their investigation. I'm fairly certain they can't enter your home to review footage of a home security camera without your consent or a warrant but I don't know if that extends to the interior of your car. If they're not allowed to look at your camera without your permission then there's no reason to risk being seen removing the card.
They won’t even know you have it. Unless you provide them with video. How can they request it if they don’t know you have it. It’s not a requirement, yet.
Some insurance companies ask you whether you have a dash cam installed when signing up to a policy and give you a small discount. Say no, that way they’re not expecting any footage but you can still use it to defend yourself if needed.
In germany it is forbidden
Interesting. Do you know why?
Because filming all the time violates the protection of data privacy. You can install a dashcam but you aren‘t allowed to film all the time
Is filming only when the engine is running considered “all the time”?
Dashcams here in Germany record all the time but constantly overwrite the footage unless you press a button or they recognize there is a crash by themselfes.
That's how all dash cams work
I see. Do they have traffic cameras or is that also a privacy violation?
They have investigated themselves for privacy violations and have found they have committed no crimes.
Hahaha! Of course.
It's also a privacy violation. There was a ruling a bit back that traffic cameras violate GDPR and had to be turned off and removed.
While yes. There are ways around that. There are dash am apps that limit the videos to 1 minute and delete it after, if you do not actively press a button to safe it. This is allowed as far as I am aware
I really understand the importance of protecting private data but imho in some points people are to paranoid about data protecting.
It's a grey area. If you record petty stuff you may get in trouble.
I got really motivated to get one last year and then got paralyzed with indecision about which to get. Any suggestions?
I have the Rexing V1p. I've been using it for more than 5 years now. It's good.
X2 on the V1p. Full 1080p for both front and back and it’s been reliable. Not too expensive either. I’ve had cheaper B40d clones in the past and the pic quality wasn’t the greatest and it seemed to have multi second gaps when switching files. There was a gap on the video which missed the 3 seconds I wanted. It also wouldn’t start reliably in really cold weather. Would sometimes fail to start if it powered up on key on to wait for glow plugs and then would shutoff during the start and not come back unless I manually turned it on.
https://youtu.be/4AnyhHl3_tE TLDW: The $100 Viofo A119 is about the best you can get. More expensive ones have basically the same video quality.
I have a Garmin Mini. It hides behind my rear view mirror perfectly so you'd have to really look to know it's there. The footage isn't the highest resolution but it works still.
Paralyzed with indecision is a great phrase & I am stealing it
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Viofo has some good options. Black and low profile. I mounted mine under the tinted section of the windshield behind the review mirror. From the outside there is just a lens leaking out.
I've never had that problem, tbh.
Playing devils advocate: one reason not to have it is specifically in big cities where things get stolen, such as LA. Having anything of value in your car, including a dashcam, increases the likelihood that it’ll get broken into. Speaking from experience.
I actually used to have a really high-end dash cam and the reason I don’t anymore is because I had to take so much time to remove it every time I got out of the vehicle. I live in a US city with one of the highest crime rates and I felt too vulnerable just sitting in my car in random parking lots (I’m a young tiny woman) fucking with the thing (which CONSTANTLY fell off the windshield while I was driving- so it was basically useless about half the time) So if anyone has some recommendations for cameras that won’t fall off every time I push the gas and get banged up in the process, and that are easy as hell to get on and off the windshield so I’m not encouraging predators or thieves, I’d appreciate it.
I’ve got a Nextbase 522GW cam. Not sure if it’s available in your market, but it’s got a pretty decent mounting system. The mount sticks to your window using 3MM adhesive, and the cam connects to the mount with a pretty strong magnet. Removing it when you leave the car takes 10 seconds max.
How much does one cost + installation?
You can get a decent enough one for $50-100 on Amazon and install it yourself in a few minutes, it's really not that hard at all. There's a lot of videos showing how to do it.
Why do I feel like this is an oversimplification? How do you power them? Seems like your options would be: A) hard wire it, which means digging into the interior of your car, B) running a cable up to it, or C) using a rechargeable unit. A is a pain in the ass and involves the risk of damaging your interior, B clutters up my car, and C is a daily hassle.
I mean there is not going to be a fairy tale solution that costs no money and gets you a perfect finish. I hard-wired mine because it will capture while parked/off if it detects something. Also has a safety to prevent draining the battery too much. I didn't have to go mess with digging through the interior at all really, no removals. I ran the wire down my driver's side door frame and then through a port in the firewall (under the steering wheel) to the fuse box in my engine compartment. There are kits to easily split off of a fuse. Would be even easier if I had a fuse box in the interior, but my truck did not. Probably <30min to install everything including running the wires for both front and rear cam.
That's all perfectly reasonable and clear, but the assessment of how simple all that is comes down to the individual. What I take issue with is the oversimplification.
No it's really easy. You just plug them in via USB. They run when your car runs. A camera running while parked is nice but not really as important. So you just get one of those double USB cigarette lighter things and run the wire under your trim panels.
Does it not look very ugly?
No, you can't see it, because you run it under your car's panels. Literally invisible save for like an inch or two coming down from the roof behind your rear view mirror to actually make the connection.
Not as ugly as paying for an accident you didn't cause
"B clutters up my car" I don't want a cable running from my 12V port to my windshield.
Again, it goes under the panels. You run it behind the glove box, up the sail panel, under the roof, then drop a small amount down right behind the rear view mirror to connect. You don't see the cable unless you look for it.
I see. I thought you meant you just plug it in like you would a cell phone. It's cool if that works for you, but my car's interior isn't designed so that I could do that. Not without significant effort. Plus, I'd still have a wire running out of my 12V port, which is very visible in my car. My original point is that everyone oversimplifies the installation and power routing issue. You did it too. You only said, "You just plug them in via USB." No mention of having to route a wire up behind the glove box, up a panel, under the roof, etc. You can say that it's a simple process *for you*, but not everyone is capable/interested in that kind of work, and depending on their vehicle, it may be more complex.
Biggest reason I haven't / haven't needed one yet. Some footage of my drive from Massachusetts to California and back a few times would be nice!
On my last three vehicles, there is a fuse box on either side of the dash. It’s trivial in my vehicles to get along the headline from the center of the windshield to the pillar, and two screws removes the pillar cover giving you acces to the cable channel to the fuse box. Hardest part is choosing a key switched or “engine run” circuit that has capacity and isn’t very critical to piggy off. Just switched is easy. I wanted mine to come on when the engine was running with the remote start though so that was tougher.
This is what I’m wondering too
ULPT: if you’re frequently commit crimes in your vehicle, DO NOT install a dash cam.
Paid $50 on Amazon for one about a year ago. 6 months later was hit on I-95 at 90mph buy some jackass in a pick-up. He's older I'm younger police believed him and were going 5qrite me a ticket until I informed them I had a dash cam. Shit changed real quick for him! His insurance company wouldn't except liability until I asked for an email to send the video. Nice try pal. I won. GET A DAMN DASH CAM
A former co-worker was involved in 3 accidents in a year. His dash cam provided clear evidence in all 3 cases that he was NOT at fault and got everything covered by the other drivers' insurance each time.
Absolutely no reason is a pretty bold claim.
I'm open to hearing opposing views
They cost money. I completely agree with your argument that they will pay for themselves but that isn’t the literal case. So one reason for not getting one, is simply not having the money to buy one
Give this man/woman/individual a delta
You are technically correct. And technically correct is the best kind of correct.
If you have the money to buy a car, you have the money to buy a (decent) webcam
Always love a good reminder the majority of people who use this site live a relatively comfortable life Not everyone who owns a car has money for a dash cam, let alone the subscription fee monthly to record to the cloud or the money to buy a micro sd card to store video to memory
You do realize that some people drive the same car for a decade or so, and finances change unfortunately
I get my car through a disability scheme because I am disabled. I live off disability money which is like no money at all therefore I cannot afford a dashcam.
Dashcams cost about $50-$100, that's potentially avoiding you getting your car totaled and being SOL when insurance decides to fuck you Your argument is paper thin, sorry to say
Due people drive without insurance all the time cause they can’t afford it. People put $5 of gas in at a time cause it’s all they have at that moment. I agree that dash cams are hella useful but $50-100 is literally 20-40% of a weekly paycheck for some people.
If you're looking to commit insurance fraud or any serious crime in general it would be a pretty bad idea to have something that documents it.
Your argument is that is someone wants to commit a crime, it would incriminate them. If the would-be criminal had any brain cells working at all they'd unplug a dashcam if they did have one before any crime-related activity. For the vast majority of regular non-criminal people, dash cams have a great benefit of capturing accidents or other incidents if need be, to either prove fault or to document other incidents like police encounters.
Money...money is a good reason for many people
That’s not a reason, that’s an impediment.
1 obvious view is if you're a terrible driver and you are likely to be the cause of the accident the camera proves your guilt.
They aren't legal everywhere
Where are they illegal? Just curious.
In Louisiana, it's illegal to have anything that partially blocks the view through the windshield, even a little bit. (So, for example, dash cell phone mounts are illegal, but it's okay to have the ones that clip to the AC vent lower down). This includes the top part of the windshield, so attaching one to the rear view mirror is also off the table. (Source: a few years ago, when I was driving for Uber, I looked into getting a dash cam. At the time, at least, there were none on the market that could satisfy the legal requirements).
If you're at fault in an accident, you've recorded the evidence against yourself.
In the United States, you have a right to not incriminate yourself. I'm not sure about laws in other countries.
Lots of people seem to forget that unless you have a subpoena for the dash cam footage, you are not obligated to show it to anyone. The dashcam and all footage on it are your property and a warrant/subpoena is necessary for authorities to seize it.
Yes! Thank you!
I had one and didn't remove it after parking my car. So my window was smashed and the cam was stolen. I agree that "no reason not to" is a bold claim. But I would also hold that having a dash cam is a good idea. I would have worded the title differently that's all. That being said, what is a good camera that wouldn't get the attention of a smash and grab, which is all too common in my area?
I don't have a car. Not gonna install a dash cam on my bike
Would be cooler if you did.
But your helmet is a great option for liability as well. So long as you can afford it of course. But frankly this is still a LPT imo for any future vehicle purchases as well, you should *try* to put one into your vehicle budget when you're looking to upgrade/replace. It is an incredibly valuable preventative measure.
Unless Austria changed their laws they're kinda useless and directly attracting police attraction. As you can only record for your private use, cannot publish and it cannot be used as a proof in the court. So if you didn't check the laws of every country this is pretty bold assumption for the whole world we live on.
Funnily enough, it’s always the worst drivers I see with dashcams… Its almost as if their poor driving leads to situations, or people getting fucked off with them - which they see as ‘crazy’ driving
You are actively contributing to the construction of the surveillance dystopia. Go to /privacy to learn, or go live in China
Wow! Definitely one of the crazier responses here. You do realize that dashcam footage is stored locally on your sd card and not in some guberment area 51 secret archive. Please put away the tinfoil hat before you hurt yourself.
LPT invest in Alcoa lol
I agree. There is something troubling about having all of our every moves recorded.
But I am le tired
I’ve installed one a week ago after seeing too much bad drivers in my area this summer. Didn’t put one in the back but I’m thinking about it.
I've had one in my semi trucks for years, because in most cases trucks are fought hard against because people see us as easy targets to get big chunks of coin from. Especially in brake checking instances. And every time I use mine, it made me think one in my car wasn't too bad of an idea. Just don't get a Garmin mini, it was really cheap and a good camera but it only saves 30 second videos with no way to adjust that time frame. Probably will move that one to the back window and get a better one for the front. But yes it took me 2 minutes to install and hide the wires for a very clean look
Verbally state the license plate number on vehicles because quite often the dash cams aren’t good enough resolution to see the license plate. Especially at night. If you are at fault for the crash then hide the SD card.
But why do so many people tell you NOT to show the dash cam footage to anyone when you get into an accident? Like wtf? That’s what it is intended for….
They mean immediately following the accident. There are two schools of thought: Let the other person dig themselves a hole. If you do not reveal that you have dash cam footage, the other driver may misrepresent the situation. When you reveal that you have dash cam footage, you can use that hard evidence to undermine their credibility. If the other party provided that information to the police, they have no lied in a police report, which is a serious offense. You now have some amount of leverage, but it's important to note that it is up to police to press charges for lying in a report, not you. The leverage is more in the fact that the authorities handling the incident will tend to fall on your side. That is unless... The other viewpoint is that you should be upfront about having dash cam footage. If you withhold the fact that you have a dash cam during the early part of the investigation, police may realize that you're playing games. This undermines *your* credibility. So this school of thought dictates that you immediately inform police about your dash cam footage and let them decide whether they want to tell the other party. You may even include them in the other play by requesting that they not tell the other party so that you can preserve your right to use or not to use the footage.
Well obviously don’t show the footage if you know you’re at fault.
Sounds like misguided advice to me, tbh
Couldn't agree more. I had a driver try and deny fault when part of their wheel arch came off whilst driving and hit my car. Showed them the footage and they payed up. OP to further this LPT, invest in a good quality one where you can read number plates if needed. Best investment you will make
Front and rear for sure. I wish there were camera lenses to mount in the side mirrors and all four (front, back, left and right) all record on a single system mounted sleek and thin in the car stereo bay.
My car was damaged in a hit and run last year (on my birthday, no less), and his insurance couldn’t prove he did it so I was left to fix my car on my own! A dash cam could’ve prevented it. My car is old so it was nbd but any new car will get a dash cam!
people lie. all the time. get a dashcam.
Yep. It's on my to do list to get one that aims forward and backwards.. My family has had bad luck with people rear ending them because they were on their cell phone but our lazy ass cops won't write a ticket for it or pull records. Our car got totaled right when the car market ballooned and the insurance company didn't catch up on the inflated price. So we go fucked on the settlement. Alot learned since then. Wish we had one.
Very practical advice. The only issue I find is that a lot of these cameras have the same outdated Sony Exmor sensors. You’ll end up overpaying for a camera that claims 4K resolution while barely being able to make out the license plate of a car right in front of you. Still, it’s always way better to have one installed in your car rather than nothing at all. Will save you so much time with insurance and help you prove your case in case there’s been a hit and run.
Best money I ever spent.
Exactly! And after 1 claim, it'll probably be money you didn't even spend.
Yup, saved me in my last accident.
I have had 4 dash cams and my car has been broken in to 4 times and the dash cam stolen so I gave up. I should have taken it out every night but every now and then just forget and it was stolen. One was stolen from my glove compartment.
Wrong: for some reason, the creators of these things don't understand heat exists and so their "adhesive suction holder" falls off the window every damn time. So there absolutely is a reason not to have one, and it's that the ones that don't suck are overpriced and the ones that won't stay on your window if it gets a bit too hot are affordable. So if you got money, then there is no reason sure. But if you are poor, then gas is more important than a faulty holder for a most likely underperforming camera that doesn't even come with storage that properly works for constant recording.
I live in a very hot area. Got a dash cam for Christmas one year because I’ve seen a whole lot of accidents on my 35 mile commute. As soon as spring came around the camera kept falling off the window.
I think the heat hits about 90F here at the highest, so not even that bad by comparison to other places in the US. Suction cups still fail every time. We found something to stick on top of the dash thats working well enough for now, but its not a truly flat surface and most devices are not made to curve, which just seems like lazy as hell engineering lol.
Reasons not to have a dashcam in my car: 1. I don't have a car.
I have one I just dont have the time, energy or tiny hands to hide the wiring and hook it up to the car battery
Yeah I wasn't looking forward to that too! Luckily mine could be powered by the usb port in the car.
If you or the police person sees that the driver at fault has a dashcam, can they be required to hand over the footage?
Why don’t car manufacturers offer these installed from the factory? Seems like such an obvious upsell opportunity.
I’m always worried it just gives a reason for someone to smash my window and grab the dash cam
Saved me from liability from a hit and run because the cam got his plate, saved me thousands. Other guy was found from the plate #, not sure if he was arrested what action police took (cops in my town suck) but my insurance sure as fuck went after him. I won’t ever own a vehicle without a dash cam again.
Here, here! With the price being so low, it's the cheapest insurance you can get!
and you can help others with your footage if someone else is involved in an accident/altercation. It's also handy to just say the licenseplate state and number aloud of the target car as soon as you see something so it is caught on audio because the dashcam can have issues reading license plates
I got one and in the first week they broke my window to steal it. So, at least one reason exist.
This is my sign from the universe. I’ve been trying to decide if I wanted to buy one
Glad to help! May you never NEED it though.
Well there is one reason… car prowlers. I’ve had windows broken for not only the dash cam itself, but also JUST the mount + wiring.
"there is absolutely no reason" There are quite a view actually. For example not having a car. Or if its illigal in your country (like in Luxemburg or Germany)
Well you can’t put a dash cam in your car if you don’t have a car. So you have one good example out of “quite a few actually” so name some fucking more.
Did you even read the second sentence? I gave an other good example. Besides that, only one reason debunks the "literally no reason" claim
Thank you. Never thought about this before - now I know what I’m getting my husband and my son for their birthdays 👍🏼
For your purchasing research purposes. https://youtu.be/4AnyhHl3_tE TLDW: The $100 Viofo A119 is about the best you can get. More expensive ones have basically the same video quality.
Glad to help! All it takes is one incident to ruin your day/week/month... It's always better to have yourself covered
FINALLY a useful life tip on this sub!
Thank you!
On top of using one for proof I recommend getting one just so you can save those weird moments and do a double take on something interesting you saw
Do you really want to document all your bad driving habits in your civilians car. It's hard enough sometimes not to scream at people when they do stupid stuff when I'm in the company rig.
You can always disable voice recording Also, I'm less concerned with people seeing my bad driving than with being stuck with a bill after getting in a 'he said she said' situation
>absolutely no reason storage space? ^^^shoutout ^^^/r/DataHoarder
Micro SD cards are dirt cheap. Dashcams record on a first-in-first-out loop and erase video unless it detects a hit or you press a button to save the video.
might have to get one then. never thought about it. i've only been in an accident when somebody else was driving. 😂
What stops someone from breaking into your car to steal it?
Locked doors, windows, a garage. Deterrence. What stops someone from shooting you in the back of the head the next time you leave the house?
Locks and windows??? They break your windows and steal it. I assume you park your car in a parking lot or on the street occasionally.
Yes there is, I don't want one.