Late last year I invested in a dashcam for my car ... and yesterday it paid for itself!
Sue and I had been shopping at Chatham Maritime Outlet Centre, and as we were driving out of the car park, another car reversed into us. The dashcam captured the entire event, and a copy of the recording is currently on its way to my insurers. It clearly shows that the driver of the reversing car either did not look to see if anything was coming or was just not paying attention.
The driver's first words to me were, 'Didn't you see that I was reversing?'. When I pointed out that she should not have done so without looking, and that she was to blame, her reply was 'Well accidents happen, don't they?'
I handed over my personal details to her as required, but by the time I had written them down, the other driver had spoke to someone of her mobile phone, and other than to give me the name of her insurer and the insurance policy number, she refused to give me any further details. Needless to say I was not best pleased, and she then accused me of being aggressive and unsympathetic.
I have now reported the accident to my insurer, and the car will be going to to be repaired in the near future. They were very pleased that I had dashcam footage, and they will help me to recover all my costs (including my excess) from her insurers if it proves that I was blameless.
Thank God for my dashcam!
For your delectation and amusement, the following are stills from my dashcam footage. The car that hit me is the white Mercedes A180 on the left. As you can see, it began to move as I was beginning to drive behind it.
The driver did not stop her car until it had gone this far backwards out of its parking space.
The damage to my car looks like this:
Not too bad ... but it will mean that it will have to spend at least one day in the body shop to get it fixed.
Update
I have just had a telephone call from the other driver's insurance company. It appears that she has admitted that the accident was her fault, and that they have accepted full liability.
I have also had a call from the body shop, and will be taking the car there this afternoon so that they can estimate the cost of the repair.
Things are looking better today already!
Sue and I had been shopping at Chatham Maritime Outlet Centre, and as we were driving out of the car park, another car reversed into us. The dashcam captured the entire event, and a copy of the recording is currently on its way to my insurers. It clearly shows that the driver of the reversing car either did not look to see if anything was coming or was just not paying attention.
The driver's first words to me were, 'Didn't you see that I was reversing?'. When I pointed out that she should not have done so without looking, and that she was to blame, her reply was 'Well accidents happen, don't they?'
I handed over my personal details to her as required, but by the time I had written them down, the other driver had spoke to someone of her mobile phone, and other than to give me the name of her insurer and the insurance policy number, she refused to give me any further details. Needless to say I was not best pleased, and she then accused me of being aggressive and unsympathetic.
I have now reported the accident to my insurer, and the car will be going to to be repaired in the near future. They were very pleased that I had dashcam footage, and they will help me to recover all my costs (including my excess) from her insurers if it proves that I was blameless.
Thank God for my dashcam!
For your delectation and amusement, the following are stills from my dashcam footage. The car that hit me is the white Mercedes A180 on the left. As you can see, it began to move as I was beginning to drive behind it.
The driver did not stop her car until it had gone this far backwards out of its parking space.
The damage to my car looks like this:
Not too bad ... but it will mean that it will have to spend at least one day in the body shop to get it fixed.
Update
I have just had a telephone call from the other driver's insurance company. It appears that she has admitted that the accident was her fault, and that they have accepted full liability.
I have also had a call from the body shop, and will be taking the car there this afternoon so that they can estimate the cost of the repair.
Things are looking better today already!
How dare you have right of way!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear she's now admitting liability, should speed the insurance process along.
Lee Hadley,
DeleteIt could have been worse. As it was the other driver felt that I was unsympathetic to the fact that she was upset because she had just had an accident!
I've just heard from my insurance company that everything is progressing well, and that I will not have to pay any excess when my car is repaired. Good news indeed!
All the best,
Bob
Annoying but thank goodness it wasn't worse and that no one was hurt.
ReplyDeleteRoss Mac,
DeleteVery true. Funnily enough, I am more annoyed today about what happened yesterday than I was at the time! I suspected that is down to having to sort out getting the damage repaired than anything else. The cost of the repairs has been estimated, and that will be submitted to my insurers. Once they give the go-ahead, the repairs will be done ... probably in two to three weeks time.
All the best,
Bob
always good to get a positive outcome.
ReplyDeleteJoppy,
DeleteThanks for you supportive comment. It is good to get things sorted out so quickly.
All the best,
Bob
So how does a dashcam work? How much film does it store?
ReplyDeleteLegatus Hedlius,
DeleteMy dashcam is a small video camera that is fixed to my car's windscreen, just behind the rear view mirror. It is powered by a lead to the in-built cigar lighter and stores up to three hours of video (a continuous loop) on a mini-SD Card. It switches on when the ignition is turned on, and off when the engine is turned off.
I downloaded the footage by taking out the mini-SD Card and putting it into the card slot on my PC.
I hope that this information is of help.
All the best,
Bob
Legatus Hedlius,
DeleteTo get some idea of the quality of the recording, I uploaded it to YouTube so that my insurers could view it. It is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUC3P3FBDUk
All the best,
Bob