Dashcam worth the effort? Giving Evidence to damage caused?

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lNomNoml

1374 posts

Uber Geek

# 206049 7-Dec-2016 21:53

I'm about the spend about $700 on a dashcam for my new suzuki swift. It cost me a bit, maybe not as much as most people but I would like to get a dashcam in the event that someone damages it and I have evidence showing who did it.

I get really worried someone is going to pull up next to my car and ding it and walk off, it seems to be the norm here but I would prefer if I knew who did it and were held accountable for it.

My question is, am I able to give the video recording as evidence or would I be wasting my time and nothing would be done about it?

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790 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1684309 7-Dec-2016 22:05

One person supports this post

What are the odds of the dashcam actually capturing the damage, unless it's front on and filming all the time. The annoying damage is people opening their car door into you at the supermarket. $700 probably covers a few insurance excess claims.

lNomNoml

1374 posts

Uber Geek

# 1684310 7-Dec-2016 22:11

mudguard: What are the odds of the dashcam actually capturing the damage, unless it's front on and filming all the time. The annoying damage is people opening their car door into you at the supermarket. $700 probably covers a few insurance excess claims.

I'm hoping that the microphone would pick it up and catch their number plate as they park up next to me, it is the BlackVue DR650S-2CH which has a rear 1280x720 camera and a front 1920x1080 one.

Journeyman

625 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1684368 8-Dec-2016 01:09

Are you planning on having this camera running all the time, even when you are parked?

tanivula

611 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1684385 8-Dec-2016 07:48

Dashcams generally only work if there is power to it, ie the car is running. Unless this one is different?

MikeAqua

5385 posts

Uber Geek

# 1684409 8-Dec-2016 08:43

The thing about dashcams .... they capture your errors as well.

Mike

Fred99

8791 posts

Uber Geek

# 1684416 8-Dec-2016 08:51

2 people support this post

MikeAqua:

The thing about dashcams .... they capture your errors as well.

Yeah but that's okay - you're still allowed to upload the video to youtube, facebook etc, and make a huge song and dance to shame the driver.

I can't remember the figure - and lots of stuff on the internet is made up anyway, but IIRC something like 85% of drivers consider themselves to have above average skill.

You'd certainly want above average skills to drive a McLaren I think. And a dashcam.

lNomNoml

1374 posts

Uber Geek

# 1684895 8-Dec-2016 20:20

Journeyman:

Are you planning on having this camera running all the time, even when you are parked?

tanivula:

Dashcams generally only work if there is power to it, ie the car is running. Unless this one is different?

It has motion sensing for parking mode. hence why it's so expensive

MikeAqua:

The thing about dashcams .... they capture your errors as well.

I don't make errors, I make improvements

lNomNoml

1374 posts

Uber Geek

# 1684896 8-Dec-2016 20:22

So I understand that no one on Geekzone has had a recording from a Dashcam and used it as evidence and actually gotten anything out of it other than to make fun of the other driver on social media?

I've bitten the bullet and bought the Dashcam, $700 for a dual camera, parking mode, GPS enabled, WiFi enabled one with 128GB of storage, in the end I feel better having it considering how much I drive and how 97% of the time people are speeding around me.

Wheelz

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

# 1685162 9-Dec-2016 10:57

5 people support this post

The police used my dashcam evidence for a crash that actually happened to the car in front of mine. The constable said it halved the amount of work that is normally done to establish fault and whether any charges needed to be laid.

Have also used it for an insurance claim where the other driver tried to blame me but the video evidence backed up my details.

And yes, has also been fun to upload videos of stupid drivers too.

Worth every cent!

KiwiME

148 posts

Master Geek

# 1685972 11-Dec-2016 10:26

One person supports this post

Seems really expensive, perhaps you can do a product review in a few months?

I set up in-car video back in 2000 using a 12V VCR, four NTSC cameras covering nearly 360 degrees and a quad video splitter. Terrible resolution but it sure made me a better driver.

lNomNoml

1374 posts

Uber Geek

# 1685980 11-Dec-2016 11:11

One person supports this post

KiwiME:

Seems really expensive, perhaps you can do a product review in a few months?

I set up in-car video back in 2000 using a 12V VCR, four NTSC cameras covering nearly 360 degrees and a quad video splitter. Terrible resolution but it sure made me a better driver.

I don't mind doing a review, however it's a very common camera and there's hundreds of reviews out there. :)

mudguard

790 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1685998 11-Dec-2016 12:57

One person supports this post

lNomNoml:I get really worried someone is going to pull up next to my car and ding it and walk off, it seems to be the norm here but I would prefer if I knew who did it and were held accountable for it.

The kind of damage in these incidents is likely to be quite minor, it's not like someone is going to sideswipe you going flat out. You set up this hardware, someone scraps your bumper, you claim on insurance and give them the footage and I'm sure they'll just ask for the excess up front, and then depending on the damage will determine how hard they try and find the other person. And that's if the other person has insurance also. If they don't, then it's small claims.

Or is the idea about not having to go through insurance, that you could hand the footage to the police and let them sort it out?

I drive about 50-60,000km's a year in my car and rentals. The only time I ever record anything (either from my phone in the windscreen cradle, or occasionally my GoPro if I have it with me) is if someone else is looking like they're going to do something silly. IE weaving all over the road, passing people dangerously behind me etc.

lNomNoml

1374 posts

Uber Geek

# 1686000 11-Dec-2016 13:14

mudguard:

lNomNoml:I get really worried someone is going to pull up next to my car and ding it and walk off, it seems to be the norm here but I would prefer if I knew who did it and were held accountable for it.

The kind of damage in these incidents is likely to be quite minor, it's not like someone is going to sideswipe you going flat out. You set up this hardware, someone scraps your bumper, you claim on insurance and give them the footage and I'm sure they'll just ask for the excess up front, and then depending on the damage will determine how hard they try and find the other person. And that's if the other person has insurance also. If they don't, then it's small claims.

Or is the idea about not having to go through insurance, that you could hand the footage to the police and let them sort it out?

I drive about 50-60,000km's a year in my car and rentals. The only time I ever record anything (either from my phone in the windscreen cradle, or occasionally my GoPro if I have it with me) is if someone else is looking like they're going to do something silly. IE weaving all over the road, passing people dangerously behind me etc.

I'd prefer to go through insurance, I don't want to waste people time if possible as I don't think they would really want to and/or care, I just want to know who did it and if possible make them pay for the damage as they were inconsiderate towards other people's property. I have full cover with AMI and if someone dings my car especially if it's parked and I have video evidence of who did it, I just want to be able to submit it and they track down who did it and if possible make them payt for it, it's really not fair for me to pay for someone else's damage towards my property.

I want to know if AMI would do anything other than saying it's my problem, I know there is a huge chance the camera won't pickup anything but for the chance that it gets their rego and you can hear them knock my car I want to be able to claim for it.

Bung

3019 posts

Uber Geek

# 1686001 11-Dec-2016 13:27

I suspect that it would be circumstantial evidence at best. Footage of a car driving into a park and then sound of a dent. What if the person doing the damage didn't arrive in the car.

I usually park outside supermarket parks to avoid door damage but even so have had a trolley roll along the footpath and take out a side light.

Batman

Mad Scientist
21070 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 1686038 11-Dec-2016 14:26

Wheelz:

The police used my dashcam evidence for a crash that actually happened to the car in front of mine. The constable said it halved the amount of work that is normally done to establish fault and whether any charges needed to be laid.

Have also used it for an insurance claim where the other driver tried to blame me but the video evidence backed up my details.

And yes, has also been fun to upload videos of stupid drivers too.

Worth every cent!

Just a front cam or front and rear? Records to SD card?

Involuntary autocorrect in operation on mobile device. Apologies in advance.

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