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Car Dashcams

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:57 am
by Lindsayt
Following an incident last November, where the other party gave a fictitious account of events to shift the blame off himself (and got away with it), I have now gotten to the stage where I won't own a car without a dash-cam.

So I've fitted a £89 Viofo A119 to the Volvo S60 (workhorse)
and a £110 Mini 0906 to the Volvo XC90 (school and holiday bus)

An investment that I think is well worth it for possible future insurance claims. As well as the odd bit of entertainment value for recording idiots going through red lights or treating the public roads like the Nurburgring.

The Viofo is more discrete and was easier to set up. I prefer this one.
The Mini 0906 is 2 channel: front and rear cameras. My wife prefers this.

The Volvo's are OK cars for discreteness of front dashcams due to there being a black area on the windscreen around the internal mirror, which is a good place to stick the camera with just the lens poking out.


Edit: Forgot to mention, got a £10 per year discount off my car insurance premium when I told them about this modification to our cars. Some insurance companies give a bigger discount than that.

Re: Car Dashcams

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 10:12 pm
by guydarryl
Sounds like a good investment.

Just had a thought though - if you are responsible for a prang and have a camera are you legally obliged to hand over the footage :think:

Re: Car Dashcams

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 11:03 pm
by Lindsayt
One for DQ? I'm not aware of any legal responsibility in the UK for handing over footage.
However I would say that if I had an accident that was my fault I would give as honest and truthful account of events as I could it to the insurance companies. Because I would expect myself to act to the highest standards of ethical conduct and I'd recommend that everyone else does too.


And for the unscrupulous, the other party has to realise that you have a dash cam. Reading the Dashcam forum, it seems to be quite common for the other party to not realise that you have a dashcam fitted. Especially if you have a discrete one like the Viofo.

Re: Car Dashcams

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 2:59 pm
by Frasernash
Lindsayt wrote: Tue May 15, 2018 11:03 pm One for DQ? I'm not aware of any legal responsibility in the UK for handing over footage.
However I would say that if I had an accident that was my fault I would give as honest and truthful account of events as I could it to the insurance companies. Because I would expect myself to act to the highest standards of ethical conduct and I'd recommend that everyone else does too.


And for the unscrupulous, the other party has to realise that you have a dash cam. Reading the Dashcam forum, it seems to be quite common for the other party to not realise that you have a dashcam fitted. Especially if you have a discrete one like the Viofo.
Hi Lindsayt like the idea of a Dashcam but what happens when your parked do they still record as that is when a lot of idiots run into cars and I assume its only the front and rear they can spot.

Re: Car Dashcams

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 3:41 pm
by scotty38
Yes, parking mode or whatever it's called is used for while it's, well parked. Different methods available for doing that too. No idea on coverage over and above front and rear though

Re: Car Dashcams

Posted: Wed May 16, 2018 8:55 pm
by Lindsayt
Mine don't, but yes you can get dashcams that record when you park.

Thing to watch out for is it draining the car battery eg when parked at the airport for a fortnight's holiday. There are power supply kits that avoid this.

You can get 4 channel dash cam systems. Or get 4 x cameras. Most people have just a single channel - front. Or 2 channel - front and rear.

My cars are both over 12 years old. I'm not too bothered about the odd additional parking ding. I am bothered about large increases to my insurance premiums due to some lying git.
If I had newer, more valuable cars I might consider parking cams / 4 channels.

They do have a bit of a fish-eye lens. My Viofo A119S has a fairly typical 135 degree field of view. Meaning that they do capture quite a wide area and that number plate recognition is marginal, especially at night. At least at the c£100 price range I've bought mine at.

Re: Car Dashcams

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 8:22 am
by Daniel Quinn
the camara don't stop the arguing, they just move it to different terrain.

I was once sent 300pgs of dascam evidernce that allegedly proved my client staged the accident, as far has I was concerned all it proved was he was hit in the rear. needless my client obtained the compensation he deserved shortly before trial desoite their bravado defence.