Dash Cam - an example of its usefulness

[jollystomper]

Over a year ago I put dash cameras in our cars. So far the main benefit has been capturing scenery on several travel trips. But now it has helped me catch someone who hit one of our cars when it was parked.

Back in August I went golfing on a busy afternoon. I found a parking space, and noticed that the car in the space to the left had parked directly on the parking space line, both front and rear tires. The car to my right had left more room on that side, and I was able to fit into the space.

After I finished golfing, I put my bag and pull cart in the truck, and walked around to the left side of the car. I noticed that where the left rear quarter panel joined the bumper on that side was scraped and dented. Hmmm… now, it is an old car (2011 Camry), and could certainly use a paint job in some spots… but there are no dents and significant scrapes, or at least there were not any before this. It was not major damage, but noticeable.

On my windshield there was a note. Another golfer, whom I am friends with, left it saying “I have a picture of the car that hit yours, call me”. When I spoke to my friend, he said he saw the car that was next to me backing out – and hit my rear quarter panel and bumper. He went over to the driver, and asked him “are you going to leave a note?” The driver got out, look at what he did, and told my friend “I’ll go inside and leave the information at the clubhouse desk”, and went inside.

My friend had a funny feeling, and when the driver came out of the clubhouse, rather than confront him again, he drove in his golf cart to the clubhouse and asked if anyone had left information about an accident that just happened in the parking lot. The folks at the desk said no. My friend drove out in time to take a picture of the car as it drove out of the parking lot.

I could tell the car make and model from my friends picture, but the license plate was not completely clear, beyond the first 4 characters. But them I remembered the dash cam. It had an excellent video recording showing the license plate of that car when I parked next to it, also clearly showing it parked on the parking space line. In addition, while I do not have the dash cam wired into the car battery to stay on when the engine is shut off, I do have a solar powered power bank, as well as a portable battery jumper with USB ports, that I can plug the camera in to keep it on when I am away from the car. I do not always do it, but I did this time, and it captured the other car backing out, the vibration and noise made when it hit my car, and the conversation I mentioned about between John and the driver (faintly but you could hear the conversation was about what happened).

With the license plate information, my insurance company was able to find out who the car owner was and his insurance company he used. I opened a claim with his insurance company. I had the hardest time getting them to call me back, it took over 2 months. When I finally spoke with them, they told me the driver claimed his car was not at the golf course that day. I told them “well, I have proof” and sent them the videos and pictures from the dash cam, and the information from my witness. Their tune changed, they had the damaged appraised within a week (turned out to be over $1,600), and I received the insurance payment less than a week after that.

So… if I did not have a dash cam, even with having a witness, I might never have been able to track down the driver. Even if my witnesses picture showed enough to get the license plate, the dash cam video proved beyond a doubt that the driver hit me and it was due to his parking. If you do not have a dash cam, perhaps this situation will inspire you to consider getting one .

 

[MarieIG]

DON'T mess with Jollystomper!

Thanks for sharing that.

 

[aja8888]

^^^^^ Nice job!

I've had dash cams in my cars here in the Houston area for years. But so far, no need for any recordings. But it's cheap evidence when needed.

 

[braumeister]

Congrats! Great work.

I had something similar happen a number of years ago. The other guy's insurance company was deny, deny, deny.

Finally, I said I was going to go to the state insurance board with my evidence, and asked them if they would like a copy of my dashcam video to see what I would present. The reaction was instantaneous: "Oh, you have video? Let me see what I can do." Put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with a fair offer, which I accepted.

So here is another vote for the utility of the things.

 

[HenryD]

Excellent work.

The inexpensive cam I bought for our car has a 'parked mode' where its snoozing unless and until it registers any kind of vibration, I think. I've never used the mode but it seems like it would not have done as good a job capturing things as your situation.

I now have it installed in our RV windshield. I may have gone a bit overboard with the RV though because it also now has four 4K recording cameras - front, rear, and sides, for driving (can be activated when parked). Plus the original backup camera (non-recording), and two household style blink security cameras on the sides for use when parked.

 

[JoeWras]

I think they are great. There's a chance they can also be used against you, but to that I say "Get it right, truth wins."

I wired mine up for continuous recording since it is parked on the street. It always takes one photo per second, then goes into video mode if the G-force sensor detects something.

 

[Jerry1]

Good outcome. I had a similar accident to my truck but I didn’t even know it happened. It was on the rear passenger side and my wife saw it one day when she went somewhere with me. Thankfully my insurance handled it, but I would have been much more satisfied with having the person who did it paying for it on their insurance.

I might want to look into getting a dash cam. This morning a trash hauler cut me off. When I honked at him, he honked back like I did something wrong. I would have liked to send a video to his company/employer.

 

[bbbamI]

You go stomper!

 

[Aerides]

Glad you got them, especially because they lied after they were caught out by the other person. It's one thing to ding and leave, but to fake leaving a note in the club house...ugh...

 

[JoeWras]

Today's idiot caught on cam

Here's a screenshot sequence of today's idiot I caught on my cam. The trailer is slowly losing a board at 65mph. In the third picture, the black pickup is about to run over this board. It was luck of the draw, it slid left instead right to me. In my rear view, it looks like it took flight. Luckily, my rear facing video showed nobody having any problems with it. It probably flew into the median.

I'm tired of these loose loads. Very dangerous.

 

[audreyh1]

Kind of like the drunk who claimed he would be “right back” after he hit my car with his corvette while I was stopped at a stop sign (he was turning right but way overshot and hit my front wheel, disabling my car). I had memorized his plates so had plenty of descriptive info for the police. The driver contacted me many weeks later claiming they’ve been looking for me for a long time - yeah, right!

 

[braumeister]

Glad you got them, especially because they lied after they were caught out by the other person. It's one thing to ding and leave, but to fake leaving a note in the club house...ugh...

Yeah, it would have been so easy to just leave a note.

The people on the sidewalk think I'm leaving my name and phone number after I hit your car. They will be so surprised. Have as good a day as possible.

 

[joesxm3]

Funny showing a picture of the trailer. This morning my precious Tesla got swiped by a truck pulling a trailer. Lucky very little damage, just the wheel arch molding.

I thought there was no video, but tonight I found it showing him coming up from behind and passing me on the right as I was turning left. He kept going even though I pulled over to assess the damage.

I have nice clear video showing his license plate and the company name and number on the side of the truck.

I figured he was long gone and since the damage seemed minor I was just going to pay it out of pocket, but I suppose I can get his insurance to pay. Assuming the video is accepted as proof he hit me. It shows him close but not clearly hitting.

There was a police officer on the corner. I should have walked back and reported to him.

Do you think it is too late to get GEICO involved?

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

Not at all and it's a hit and run. You can and should go to the police station and file a police report. Take the video with you. In my area they rarely even bother to come out to take an accident report, they're too short staffed. I think you need a report for your insurance claim.
I also have Geico and one morning at 5.00am less than a mile from my house bam something hit the side of my vehicle. I'd just turned a corner and was not going fast but when I got out there was nothing there. I assume it was an animal that ran out of the desert and hit me and ran off but it did a good amount of damage to my passenger side front fender.
I called the police, told them what happened and they would not come out since no one was hurt. I got my police report later and called Geico and they took care of it less my deductible.
I was totally freaked out though for the rest of that day because the collision was so hard I really thought it was a person. When I came home that night I stopped there and checked for blood or rocks or anything that could have hit the car but nothing.

 

[audreyh1]

Funny showing a picture of the trailer. This morning my precious Tesla got swiped by a truck pulling a trailer. Lucky very little damage, just the wheel arch molding.

I thought there was no video, but tonight I found it showing him coming up from behind and passing me on the right as I was turning left. He kept going even though I pulled over to assess the damage.

I have nice clear video showing his license plate and the company name and number on the side of the truck.

I figured he was long gone and since the damage seemed minor I was just going to pay it out of pocket, but I suppose I can get his insurance to pay. Assuming the video is accepted as proof he hit me. It shows him close but not clearly hitting.

There was a police officer on the corner. I should have walked back and reported to him.

Do you think it is too late to get GEICO involved?

Great! I believe if you honk your horn the Tesla will save the video. It may anyway if it detected a collision or touch.

Not too late IMO.

 

[joesxm3]

I called GEICO and opened and closed a claim since it is well under my $2000 deductible. They said to contact the truck owner company and try to make them pay or file a claim with their insurance.

I think it should be about $200 to fix it, so not worth the trouble given all the other things I have going on.

 

[camfused]

I would lay low from that golf club for awhile (or drive another car to it). You're liable to come back to a keyed car sometime.

And no, your dashcam won't pick that up, since it is on the side of the car.

 

[jollystomper]

Glad you got them, especially because they lied after they were caught out by the other person. It's one thing to ding and leave, but to fake leaving a note in the club house...ugh...

Yeah, it would have been so easy to just leave a note.

The people on the sidewalk think I'm leaving my name and phone number after I hit your car. They will be so surprised. Have as good a day as possible.

Given that my friend would have been watching him leave a note, I doubt the culprit would have been able to leave a fake one, as my friend have checked, just as he checked on him in the clubhouse.

 

[jollystomper]

I would lay low from that golf club for awhile (or drive another car to it). You're liable to come back to a keyed car sometime.

And no, your dashcam won't pick that up, since it is on the side of the car.

I am not concerned. I usually play very early in the morning, and rarely in the afternoon. I am there several times a week and nothing has happened since then.Since this incident, when I have been there in the afternoon I have looked for the car, but never spotted it. The course is busy enough in the afternoon that people would see it (my friend said other people were in the lot and came over, he talked to the guy since he knew it was my car).

 

[jollystomper]

I called GEICO and opened and closed a claim since it is well under my $2000 deductible. They said to contact the truck owner company and try to make them pay or file a claim with their insurance.

I think it should be about $200 to fix it, so not worth the trouble given all the other things I have going on.

GEICO is also my current insurer. I also have a high deductible and assumed my damage would be below it, but because I had the license plate GEICO was able to find out who the other driver was and his insurance company, for me to file a claim with them.

I also assumed my damage would be a few hundred dollars to fix. In fact, had the driver left a note and confessed I might have said don't worry about it, I appreciate your honesty. I was surprised when the damage appraisal came out so high.

 

[flyingaway]

To the OP. Why did you call the police and have a accident report? That would make it easier to file an insurance claim, not?

 

[jollystomper]

To the OP. Why did you call the police and have a accident report? That would make it easier to file an insurance claim, not?

I actually did not file a police report, but it is a good question. At the time I thought it was too minor to get the police involved, given what they have to deal with these days. Had the damage been such that my car could not be driven, or had parts hanging/fallen off, I would have filed a report... but the damage was cosmetic.

GEICO did ask me if I had filed a police report. I told them I did not, but that I had video/pictures of the incident. They never asked me to file one. The same happened with the other drivers insurance agency.

If there was no video or witness proof, I probably would have filed a police report. I felt I had enough evidence to deal with the insurance companies .

 

[Sunset]

I got a camera after this happened:

I was driving and an idiot pulled out right in front of me, and I couldn't stop and hit him.
Police said it was his fault and charged him.
I called my insurance company.
Few days later I get called by an insurance company and the fella is giving me a hard time, saying repairs, etc may not be covered. I'm confused and so I offer to send him the photos of the accident.
Suddenly his tone changed and he was surprised I had photos and that they would pay for the repairs... I realized it was the other parties insurance company I was talking to..

Funny part is the photos were ones I had taken on my phone after the accident, but he thought it was video cam.