TRANSCRIPT: Clark Howard installed a dashcam in his car to give him added security if he is ever in an accident.
For years people in Europe and Asia have been using dashcams in their personal vehicles to protect themselves in the event of an accident.
In fact, When a meteor was caught burning through the sky over Russia in 2013 it was video from dashcams that caught the event.
Recently more drivers here in Georgia have started installing them as well.
Benita Kutsche was given a dashcam by a friend to test. The camera was installed for less than twenty-four hours when its value became obvious.
“My light was green and as I was going under the light the person pulled out in front of me.” Kutsche explained that when Police arrived the other driver told a much different story.
“When I got out of my car and went over to talk to the other person he said oh I thought my light was green, and I said well no my light was green that’s why I went through the intersection and then by the time the police came he had changed his story and told the police that his light was green without a doubt.” said Kutsche.
That’s when she asked the police officer to look at her dashcam video.
“When he saw in fact that my light was green he asked the other driver to actually come over to the car and take a look at it for himself so that he could be sure that the other person could acknowledge that indeed my light was the one that was green.” remembered Kutsche.
The other driver was cited and Kutsche was able to use the video when she filed a claim with insurance.
Kutsche’s dashcam came in handy a second time when a construction barrel fell into her driver side door. She said without the video it would have been difficult to prove what actually happened.
“I would tell them a barrel fell into my car and they would say you could have ran into the barrel or your kid could’ve kicked the car by accident so having the video and having the incident report written by the police where clearly stated he watched the video and could see the barrel falling made me feel much better and the insurance company could process that as a legitimate claim.”
‘You’ve got nothing but your word.’ said attorney Chris Simon.
He agrees with Kutsche and says dashcams give consumers black and white evidence
“You can easily demonstrate to your insurance carrier that you were not at fault for the crash and you’ve got an eye in the sky.” said Simon.
Jeff Greene who owns Greene Worldwide Transport has dashcams in all his vehicles.
“There’s been many instances where this really has saved us and shown us that our drivers are doing what they are trained to do and that’s to be safe.” said Greene.
Installing a dashcam is simple. They plug into the lighter and turn on automatically when the car is started. Most use an SD card and record on continuous loop.
Kutsche’s records for 8 hours before it will re-write over itself. If there is something she wants to save it’s easy to find and store.
“It actually breaks it down into small files usually a few minutes at a time and it’s all date stamped.” she explained.
The cost of a dashcam varies. They run anywhere from 20 dollars all the way to 250 dollars, but Clark says the money they could save you if you are ever in an accident makes them a great investment.
