7 reasons to use a dashcam

Do you have a dashcam in your car? Have you ever considered getting one?

Did you know that a dashboard camera can help you if another driver rams into your vehicle which has the benefit of assisting with your car insurance claim.

With the price of dash cams start well under $100, they are an affordable peace of mind protection. While merely owning a dash cam may not lower your car insurance rates, the footage that the camera provides may turn out invaluable in certain situations.

Here are seven reasons why you may want a dash camera:

1. Have a record of your accident

Drivers often have completely different memories and descriptions of an accident. Video footage provides proof of who was responsible for an accident. Being falsely blamed can increase your premiums so having dashcam footage provides proof but can also expedite your claim.

2. Get out of a ticket

If you’re stopped for a traffic violation you didn’t commit, showing your your dash cam footage to the law enforcement officer before the ticket is written, might just get you out of it. If the officer won’t watch it, take the footage to court to contest it. 

Moving traffic violations will normally give you points on your state driving licence and raise your car insurance rates. Not receiving a ticket — or beating a ticket in court due to video proof of no wrongdoing – will keep you from a nasty insurance surcharge. 

3. Help fight insurance fraud

If you have a feeling the accident you were in, or just witnessed, may have been a “crash for cash,” turn over your dash cam footage to the insurance companies involved, or to the state insurance fraud unit, to investigate.  Catching a fraudster in a staged accident, can indirectly lower your rates.

When auto insurers unknowingly settle fraudulent claims, all motorists pay hundreds of dollars extra each year because companies divide the cost of claims among consumers.

4.  Make you a better driver

Using your dashcam to review footage to improve their play and you can review your daily driving footage to become a better driver. Reviewing how you drove in the last week can help you see ways to correct driving mistakes, such as braking too hard or switching lanes abruptly.

Being a better driver should lead to a good driving record, which should result obtaining (or keeping) a good driver discount.

5. Review your teenager’s driving skills

Drivers under the age of 25 have some of the highest car insurance rates. Insurers charge them higher rates because of their lack of experience behind the wheel and tendency to crash and cause claims. Anything you can do to keep your young driver from getting in an accident or from getting a ticket — either of which is bound to raise your already high rates into the stratosphere — is well worth the effort. 

6.  Have an eye on your unattended vehicle

Most dash cameras have an option that allows you to turn it on standby that permits the camera only to turn on if it feels motion in or around the car.  So, if someone breaks into your car or hits your parked car and takes off, you may be able to review the dash cam footage and find the individual responsible.

If you can’t find the person on your own, then you can hand the footage over to your insurance company to prove how the damage was done.

7. Capture unexpected events

You may not catch something as astonishing as meteors raining down like Russian dash cam owners captured a few years back; however, you may catch a deer darting out in the road causing your accident, a rock slide that damages your car or neighbour’s tree that falls on your car during a storm.

With that footage in hand, you can show your car insurance company what brought about your claim and may save yourself from a surcharge.