If you’re considering buying a dash cam for your car, you may want to know if the device will help you save money on insurance costs. After all, a dash cam will cost you anywhere from $75-$200 to buy and install in your automobile. The question is, will you be reimbursed by an insurance company?

 

In short, no. There’s no insurance company that offers discounts for installing a dash cam as of yet. You won’t save yourself any money by getting a dash cam. So, are these devices worthless for a majority of drivers?

 

What is a Dash Cam?

 

Popular in Russia, a dash cam is a camera you attach to your car. The device continually runs while you’re driving and records everything around the car. Then, if you’re in an accident, you have evidence of exactly what happened.

 

The Benefits of a Dash Cam

 

Some would say dash cams don’t add much value without an insurance discount. That’s simply not true. There are a plethora of benefits of installing a dash cam in your car. Here are just a few of them:

 

• The Real Story

 

The main benefit of a dash cam is that it provides the real story of what took place. There’s no “he said, she said” type of situation when a dash cam is involved. Instead, the cam offers you cold hard evidence of exactly what happened.

 

By having a record of the accident, you won’t have to deal with a lot of insurance company non-sense. The video will show who was at-fault. If you weren’t, there won’t be much discussion about the accident and your rates won’t go up.

 

• Get Out of a Ticket

 

Police officers are not perfect. They’ve issued tickets to people who were completely innocent. If you go to court to argue your side of the story, the judge will almost always take the officer’s word over yours.

 

With a dash cam, you have irrefutable evidence that you did not commit a violation. This can help you get out of an unjust ticket.

 

• Review Driving Skills

 

One huge benefit of a dash cam occurs when you let other people drive your car. For example, if your spouse goes out and gets a ding on the car. You can look at the footage and see what really happened.

 

Many parents find that dash cams allow them to review the footage and see how their teen is driving. You can’t be in the car at all times with them, but the dash cam can. Then you simply go through the footage every now and then to see how the teen is driving.

 

• Keep Your Car Safe

 

A dash cam allows you to keep an eye on your car – even when it’s unattended. Many of the cams have a standby mode that allows the camera to only turn on when motion detectors sense there’s something in the area.

 

When the sensors go off, the car turns on, and you may catch someone damaging your ride. This footage is useful to catch someone who damages your car, but it’s also beneficial when dealing with auto insurance companies who may reject your claim because they don’t believe what happened.

 

• The Unexpected Occurs

 

You never know what type of footage your dash cam may uncover. Maybe a bear runs in front of your parked car while you were camping. Or maybe your cam catches a cool meteor shower while you’re asleep.

 

A tree could fall on your car, or maybe a rare rock slide causes damages. You can’t predict everything that will happen in life. However, you can place a dash cam on your ride to record it all.

 

Can Dash Cams Help with Insurance Costs?

 

If you’re simply looking to pay a lower insurance rate, a dash cam won’t do you any good. American insurance companies simply don’t offer discounts for dash cams yet. However, these devices still offer a lot of value to the typical driver.

 

For example, a dash cam could save you from a rising insurance rate because the evidence shows you weren’t at fault for an accident. This is just one of many benefits of such a device.

 

Overall, some people will find great benefit in installing a dash cam in their car. While insurance won’t automatically go down, the bit of confidence found from such a device could be incredibly valuable.