Do Dashcams Reduce Car Insurance Premiums? Read On To Find Out! 

The modern world is expensive. There’s no way around it.

If you are a motorist, you have undoubtedly had to try and pick an insurance company that offers the best cover for the least amount of money.
This can seem straightforward at first but ‘new driver discounts’ are common with many insurers and if you have been driving for a long time, you may feel irritated when your yearly premium goes up with inflation; you are a good driver after all, so where is your reward?

Risk Perception

So, you pick your insurance company and you are shocked at its monthly cost. Why is it so expensive?
Insurance companies have an ‘assessment of risk’ as the basis for all their considerations and even as a new driver, with no history, they put you in a high-risk category. Risk factors are the most important factor for insurers when deciding on premiums; the higher your risk, the more you should have to pay for their cover.

Of course, you are responsible and want to ease you ‘assessment of risk’ to a lower level but what can you do?

Should You Get a Dashcam?

If you want to prove yourself responsible to your insurers, the easiest way to do this is to eliminate the likelihood of you attempting to make false claims and to literally show them how good you are as a driver.
A small camera fitted to your windshield or your dashboard, dashcams face the direction you are driving and record everything that happens during your drive; as soon as you start your car, they start recording.
In the UK, dashcams are becoming increasingly popular and in recent years, their purchase rate has hit over 600%- that’s a lot of cameras!
It is easy to see why though; put simply, cameras don’t lie. If you have had the misfortune to be involved in a car crash, collision or and other incident on the road, when you put in your insurance claim, you have probably faced issues with claiming, especially if the other driver involved has a different version of what happened compared to your story. This is not only an all too common situation, but it is a frustrating one, a time consuming one and can lead to becoming a very expensive one.
So, purchasing a dashcam is a very sensible thing to do.

Will a Dashcam Reduce My Insurance?

In relation to a dashcam reducing your insurance claims, before you rush out to purchase one, it is worth checking over your car insurance policy or contacting them to discuss the pros and cons of putting a dashcam in your car.
You may be happy to know that there are practically no cons, and many insurance companies in the UK will reduce your premiums if your purchase a dash cam for your vehicle. But this is not the end of it; a dash cam can reduce costs in other ways than you would expect.
• Silent Witness- it has been long established that people generally behave themselves of they know they are being watched; therefore, television shows like ‘Big Brother’ often lead viewers to question authenticity of behaviours. If you have a camera on you when you are driving, you are more likely to be alert, more cautious and take fewer risks too. Safer drivers pay lower insurance premiums and can reduce costs for other drivers too.

• Insurance Company- strange as it may seem, car insurance companies love the idea of everything you do in your car being recorded. Why? Because every year in the UK, thousands of false insurance claims are submitted to insurance companies which take a lot of time and resources to disprove. Also, many insurance companies in the past have probable paid out a large amount of money on fraudulent claims and are now trying to be more vigilant. Purchase a dashcam and you reduce the likelihood of false claims being rewarded and save on a lot of paperwork.

• False Claims- so, you’ve been involved in a minor accident and the driver of the other car insists you are responsible. Your insurance company isn’t happy as many insurers have third party liability cover and must therefore foot the bill, but your dashcam shows you to be the innocent party in this situation; the other driver was at fault. Just by purchasing a small camera you have protected yourself against false claims, kept your insurers happy, prevented your premiums shooting up post incident and have exposed a careless driver on the road. Now that’s multitasking!

• Other drivers- while we cannot stop inflation from occurring in the economy, one reason for car insurance costs going up is in relation to costs paid out to drivers who have been involved in a collision by the insurers. Simply put, if there is a lot of people claiming on insurance, the costs of your monthly bill will go up. If you and every other motorist purchased a dashcam, this would prompt better behaviour and keep overall insurance costs down.

How Much will You Save?

Depending on which car insurance company you are with will ultimately depend on specifically how much installing a dashcam will save you on your insurance. As a general rule, most insurance companies will offer you over a 10% decrease in your premiums if you have a dash cam installed and many car insurance companies will now offer you a free dash cam with the purchase of insurance as standard.
Also, reducing monthly premiums is only one aspect of saving money on your insurance via the purchasing of a dashcam. For under £50, you could be saving yourself, other motorists and even your insurance company thousands of pounds a year. Of course, an insurance company with more money to spend is more likely to promote rewards and benefits for loyal customers, so hey, what have you got to lose?

Remember, being safe always pays off and insurance companies are aware of this.