Thanks to personalised insurance products – like telematics – it’s easier than ever to learn to drive safely and become better behind the wheel.
Dash cams are another great way of looking back on your driving and understanding what you can do better. They’re also an additional layer of safety many drivers now rely on.
According to a survey by the AA-Populus, the number of drivers using dash cams has increased from 1in 7 respondents owning a dash cam in 2017 to 1 in 4 having one in 20191. Drivers are increasingly looking into ways that can protect them in an incident – and recording what’s going on around you is a great way to do that.
What is a dash cam?
Dash cams are camera systems installed in-car to record details taking place on the road and inside the car. They’re used for different purposes – many taxi drivers use a dash cam, police officers have them, some dash cams have parking modes so that if someone knocks off your mirror and drives away, you’ll have the incident recorded.
Dash cams can come with a front view capturing everything on the road in front of you, a front and back view covering both angles around your car, or a cabin view which records from the ceiling inside the car.
What are the benefits of dash cams?
1. Using dash cam evidence in an accident
Probably the most common reason for using a dash cam is the protection it can give you in an incident.
It can be very difficult at times to resolve who’s at fault when a claim has been made but by using dash cam footage as evidence these situations could be sorted much quicker. It could be what saves you your NCD (No Claim Discount)!
2. Avoiding insurance fraud
From fake accident management companies and cash for crash incidents, insurance fraud is on the rise. Similarly to helping you out with your own claim, a dash cam could help you catch fraudsters that crashed you on purpose, or attempt to lie about personal injury after a minor incident.
3. Becoming a safer driver
Just like athletes looking back on their performance to improve, a dash cam is a great tool for witnessing how you drive to learn to avoid mistakes. At insurethebox we use telematics technology to also give our customers this chance – with data recorded by a black box in your car, you can track your driving and earn rewards for driving safely.
Black box insurance and a dash cam are a great combination for improving your driving – and could, perhaps, in the future help bring your insurance premium down.
Find more about our black box insurance here.
Are there disadvantages to dash cams?
It’s important to know how to install and use a dash cam. There are really no disadvantages to having one but different types of cameras work differently. It’s not likely but the dash cam could drain your battery if it’s constantly recording, depending on its set-up. Some cameras might not automatically save footage so you’d need to be on top of it to not lose crucial footage.
Dash cams and car insurance
Insurers have been accepting dash cam footage as claims evidence for quite a few years now. Usually, there is enough evidence to define what caused an accident but sometimes it’s down to one’s word against another’s, so dash cam footage can help an insurer define which party was actually at fault.
There are many reasons to get a dash cam – who knows, you might just want to record beautiful scenery on a road trip, but the benefits can be substantial.
1 18,000 survey respondents in both 2017 and 2019: https://www.theaa.com/about-us/public-affairs/aa-populus-driver-poll-summaries-2019
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