There are quite a few benefits to be had by installing an in-car camera system or dash cam in your vehicle. One of the main ones has to be the protection of you as the driver, when it comes to your word against someone else’s about what really happened in a road accident.

Avoid “crash for cash” scams

Imagine this for a scenario: you’re innocently driving to work one morning just as you usually do, minding your own business. You get caught up in a little bit of traffic and then something unbelievable happens. Someone literally throws themselves onto your car bonnet and sprawls across your windscreen before rolling off onto the road.

An ambulance arrives and before you know it, you’re accused of driving into that person, causing them injury and now they want to make a claim against you. Sounds unreal doesn’t it? Yet sadly, in this blame-filled world we live in, there are plenty of “crash for cash” scammers out there who will take advantage of innocent drivers in the hope of making some quick money.

Another example of a well-known “crash for cash” scam is demonstrated in this YouTube video where a scammer rolls his car backwards into another vehicle and then demands money for damages before threatening to call the police.

Luckily the car that was backed into had a dash cam installed. Otherwise, the driver of this vehicle would have had to pay up through an insurance claim. This is because if no evidence is available to prove whose fault an accident was, it’s the driver in the vehicle behind that automatically gets the blame.

So you probably see already from these two examples just how useful a dash cam can be. Dash cams are designed to record video and audio footage from the road ahead and they fit discreetly onto the dashboard of a vehicle so that they are virt

Over the last few years, dash cams have become increasingly popular, both for personal and business use. This is because dash cams (also known as black box vehicle camera recorders or in-vehicle CCTV) can often provide irrefutable evidence about what actually happened during vehicle accidents, damage or theft.

Fleet dash cams usually take the form of a small camera that affixes to front, side or back of the vehicle and records the road ahead, to the side or behind. Some types of vehicle camera recorders capture speed and location data as well as audio and high definition video recordings.

If you’re running a business fleet, it’s vital that your vehicles are operational and running as cost-effectively as possible. As well as providing sound evidence to alleviate difficult and stressful situations concerning vehicle incidents, there are a number of other benefits that dash cams can provide when they are being used as a fleet management tool.

1. Reduces the number of fraudulent claims

“Crash and Cash” scams are on the rise and unfortunately company vehicles are often the victims of such cases, as fraudsters target companies in the hope of bigger compensation pay outs. By installing a fleet dash cam, the footage showing what happened in an incident like this can be provided to the insurance company and the claim can be disputed quickly.

In turn, this saves the company who has been targeted – and the insurance company itself – time and money. Insurance companies are often happy to pass on lower insurance premiums to companies that have CCTV installed on their fleet vehicles.

2. Increased driver safety and awareness

Surveys have shown that when vehicle camera recorders are installed on vehicles, this can reduce the number of accidents by up to 45%. This is because drivers will subconsciously take more care on the roads and take responsibility for their actions when they know that there is video recording equipment affixed to