Insurance implications of hardwiring

[Demo]

I just read an article in a UK paper warning about possible legal and insurance implications for dashcam usage.

It makes sense to not position the camera where it obscures the drivers field of view and not to adjust it while driving, but the one that surprised me was a recommendation to notify your insurance company if you hardwired the camera. Apparently, insurers may consider this a modification of the vehicles electrical system and, unless they approve this, it may disqualify any insurance claims. Given how insurance companies will do anything to reject a claim, this seemed to possibly be true.

Has anyone heard of this before now? It was news to me.

Might it also affect a vehicles warranty?

 

[Nigel]

Has anyone heard of this before now? It was news to me.

I think it is only a theoretical issue.

You do have a duty to notify your insurance company of any modifications that may affect the insurance cost, such as fitting a larger engine that may increase the risk of an accident, bodywork modifications that might increase repair costs, shiny bits that might make it a theft target, etc. Normally a dashcam would be covered by the contents insurance, which has a maximum value, and thus doesn't affect the insurance cost, but hardwiring arguably modifies the car, and might be a fire risk, so you should give your insurance company the opportunity to reevaluate their quote. Also, if you are fitting an expensive dashcam system, it may use up all, or most, of the contents limit, so you might want extra cover anyway.

So I think it is good advice to notify your insurance company when you fit any dashcam, hardwired or not, but I doubt that not doing so is ever going to invalidate your insurance, unless they can show that a vehicle fire was, or may have been, a result of your hardwiring. Some insurance companies do try to get away with not paying, so best to be safe and let them know.

Is fitting a dashcam and notifying the insurance company going to increase or reduce your insurance cost? I think it is normal for it to make no difference, hardwired or not, unless it is an expensive system that you want added to the insurance instead of covered under the existing contents cover.

 

[CB91710]

As for the vehicle warranty, it's going to depend on the consumer protection laws of your state/province/country
In the US, consumers are protected from a blanket "you voided your warranty"
The manufacturer is not required (obviously) to provide warranty service to aftermarket parts.
The manufacturer is prohibited from refusing warranty coverage to unrelated systems (you installed a K&N air filter and the ABS system failed)
The manufacturer MAY deny warranty coverage to related systems, but they must prove that the aftermarket parts or labor were the cause of the failure (you installed a K&N filter and your engine began burning oil due to dirt scoring the cylinder walls)
The manufacturer can not require that dealer parts and labor be used as a condition of honoring the warranty unless said parts and labor are provided at no cost. Toyota is toying with this providing the first 2 years/24,000 miles of service at no cost, but that does not cover nearly 100% of the warrant period on any system in the vehicle, hybrid warranties are 150,000 miles.

 

[KANNINA 2.0]

Just curious: Are you required in the UK to notify your insurance company if you install aftermarket stereo equipment?

Hard-wired amplifiers, powered sub boxes, etc.?

 

[Demo]

Just curious: Are you required in the UK to notify your insurance company if you install aftermarket stereo equipment?

Hard-wired amplifiers, powered sub boxes, etc.?

Good question. Not sure. I no longer live in the UK and saw an article in my home town online news paper. It only talked about hardwiring dashcams.

 

[mentadent]

Probably a blog/news outlet just trying to get hits about nothing

 

[kenny123]

My son has quite often added extras to his Citroen, i.e, roof bars, chrome side bars, various add on body parts, non hard wired dashcam, and in every case he has informed his insurance company (this is in the UK) and they have increased his premiums. However, after a recent non fault road accident, the add on parts that got damaged were covered by the insurance company.

 

[Nigel]

However, after a recent non fault road accident, the add on parts that got damaged were covered by the insurance company.

Yes, you can't expect an insurance company to cover parts that were not standard on that car model and not listed separately in the insurance quote. They will cover some internal extras as "contents", up to the agreed contents limit, which isn't normally very much.


Just checked with my insurance broker, who specialises in modified cars, and they are clear that all modifications should be declared, but then go on to list which are likely to increase and which are likely to decrease the cost. Dashcams are not listed as a modification, but elsewhere they say you can get up to a 15% decrease in insurance cost by declaring them, although I suspect this quote is out of date, and you are not likely to get that much, if anything, off now:

At Adrian Flux, to help keep our customers safe on the road all whilst keeping premiums low, we will now offer discounts for drivers using in-car cameras. Simply by using one of the third-party cameras listed below you could get up to 15% discount on your insurance from Adrian Flux, potentially saving you hundreds of pounds each year.

I find it surprising that modifed brakes decrease insurance costs, while not declaring "bumper stickers" can invalidate your insurance:

(this is from the broker, not the insurance company itself)

some people get caught out when they try to make a claim and discover their insurance isn’t valid because they haven’t declared their bumper sticker collection

How popular modifications affect your car insurance | Adrian Flux

Find out which mods increase your premiums, which decrease them, which don't affect your insurance, and what to declare to your insurer.

www.adrianflux.co.uk

 

[mentadent]

Why do you suspect that you are likely to not get a discount now?

 

[Nigel]

Why do you suspect that you are likely to not get a discount now?

I've not been hearing about people getting discounts due to dashcam installs recently, and if you try to search for dashcam discounts, you are more likely to find things like this, which is from Aviva, one of our major insurers with 19 million customers:

Does having a dashcam in my car lower my car insurance?​

In short, no – it doesn’t. We can’t lower your insurance if you’ve got a dashcam, mostly because they’re very small and portable so they’re not permanently fitted to your vehicle.

 

[Dashmellow]

Does having a dashcam in my car lower my car insurance?​

In short, no – it doesn’t. We can’t lower your insurance if you’ve got a dashcam, mostly because they’re very small and portable so they’re not permanently fitted to your vehicle.

Their reasoning sounds like the kind of twisted logic corporate speak one might expect to hear from an insurance company. Dash cams are not really "portable" per se, especially ones like wedge cams that mount directly to the windshield glass OK, you might be able to remove the camera easily and temporarily but most people leave them mounted most of the time, especially the rear facing ones. They completely discount and ignore the primary function of dash cams which is their evidence capturing capability which has nothing whatsoever to do with "portability" yet the devices will generally save them money on claims.

 

[Kremmen]

LV ask if you have a dashcam via a tick box

Whether that lowers your premium I don't know

Also, on my Honda it has a dedicated 'Option Connector' so it's not piggybacked onto any existing fuse potentially overloading it or causing a CANBUS issue

 

[Nigel]

LV ask if you have a dashcam via a tick box

That is probably so that they know to ask you for the footage when you cause an incident and then decide not to supply the footage! Not sure what happens then, you could declare that the memory card was corrupt, but that might invalidate your insurance...

Based on some recent figures, if you have a significant incident involving two cars, it is now probable that one of the cars is going to have a dashcam, and so there is probably no reason for insurance companies to give discounts for having one, because the footage will likely be available anyway, and so our insurance quotes are already taking dashcam use into account and any further discount would be small.

I've never been convinced that they save insurance companies money anyway, on average. Dealing with the footage is a cost, it will often be cheaper to simply declare 50-50, the repairs are going to cost the same amount, dashcam or not, so it is only a question of which insurance company pays, and that is normally going to average out anyway.

The biggest effect of dashcams on our insurance will be that last year approximately 125,000 video clips were sent to the English and Welsh police, and they took action on approximately 70%, so around 90 thousand people were contacted by the police, some only given warnings, but many prosecuted. This must be having an effect on safety, and thus reducing our insurance quotes.

It appears that Scotland is still having issues with their government, despite last year's public petition to fight for the Welsh Operation Snap to be implemented in Scotland following its successful roll out in England, and the Scottish Police apparently supporting it. For something that should save costs, and lives, the excuses don't seem very good, I guess they are working on implementing a completely independent system, instead of joining in with all the other UK police forces:

I believe funding has been provided by the Scottish Government and that Police Scotland is one of only four forces in the UK not to currently have this facility, which can save lives
In response to your request, a grant from Transport Scotland was received by Police Scotland to assist in the implementation of a pilot for a National Safety Dash-Cam Portal (NDSP). The funding did not cover the full implementation costs for the pilot and a significant investment in resources and funding was required from Police Scotland. Since the approval of the grant, the resource and funding picture within Police Scotland has changed significantly and this has impacted on numerous areas of Policing, including the NDSP project. Due to these challenges, all projects are being reviewed and prioritised by the Force Executive. Once this review has been completed, a revised timetable for implementation of the NDSP will be possible.

23-0282 - National Dashcam Safety Portal - reason for delay & expected implementation date - Police Scotland

23-0282 - National Dashcam Safety Portal - reason for delay & expected implementation date

www.scotland.police.uk

If people in Scotland want reduced insurance and increased safety, maybe time to contact your political representatives...