USA: Selling dashcam content to insurance companies

vandriver

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After having two nice cars totaled recently by distracted young drivers, I am outfitting all my cars with dashcams, with the high value vehicles getting them front & rear

In one collision, the fault was obvious, the other driver was cited and I was paid by their insurance company.
But the pay-out only covered the basic cost of the vehicle and in no way covered all the time/expense I had into maintaining, upgrading and customizing the vehicle at a high level, the many hours I spent dealing with this, or the risk of serious injury that the distratcted driver exposed me to.

In the other collision, no citations were issued because I couldn't prove that the young driver that t-boned me at 50MPH actually ran the red light and I'm out ~$25,000 for my vehicle, ~$70K for medical and an untold cost to my career.
What I learned is that, even if you are faultless, the insurance structure never covers you for the full cost of someone else's negligence.

The dashcams, cards, converters and installation are costing me about $1000.
While the gear would pay for itself after one collision to my cars, I'd like to recover the real costs of this gear if I happen to record someone else's accident.
I know I would have happily paid 10x that cost for clear video footage of the 2nd collision.

For me and I'm sure others here, time is real money and, each collision took hours at the scene to sort things out.
So, while I am a very nice and compassionate person, I am very reluctant to get entangled in other people's messes.

I would like to develop a simple, legally correct, form to hand to the involved parties saying that:
- the dashcam video content of the incident is copyright and owned by me,
- the content is available to law-enforcement entities for free,
- the content is available for review by involved parties or their representatives for $1000 each,
- the video content may not be copied, shared or redistributed,
- the content access cost increases to $2500 if subpoenaed as evidence since I may need to consult legal counsel,
- video content not related to the incident is not available,
- not at fault parties will be reimbursed their access cost.

So, does such a form already exist? If not, are there other items I should be including?

The alternative is that I simply don't get involved; I just drive on and spend my very limited free time with my kids or consulting at $500/hr, but the innocent drivers suffer.
 
  • It would take a lot less effort just to send them the footage on request instead of spending a few hours dealing with the charges and legal issues, spend the time saved on doing a little extra work and you will also be better off!
  • You shouldn't be seeing enough other peoples accidents that require your video as evidence to make this worth the effort.
  • Nearly everybody will expect access to your video for free and would provide their video for free if it was you that needed it.
  • You would have to provide it to the police for free anyway if requested.
 
If I were in a crash where I was unlucky enough not to have clear proof, I can't think of anything that would anger me more than the guy in the vehicle behind me saying "Don't worry I have a dashcam.... but the footage will cost you £10,000!"

I understand you personally feel inconvenienced for your own losses, but that should be just a lesson to you, and a lesson to anyone else in your situation, but you can't go around holding footage for ransom just to put the world even with you, It's morally wrong!!

The offending driver should be the one paying anything, not the victim

If I saw someone crash in front of me, and I knew my footage would clear them of any wrongdoing, I'd willingly give it over!!

And as for "just not getting involved".... I'm assuming you'd sleep soundly knowing someone could have died and your $1000-$2500 footage could be the only thing to give the grieving family some answers?
 
If I were in a crash where I was unlucky enough not to have clear proof, I can't think of anything that would anger me more than the guy in the vehicle behind me saying "Don't worry I have a dashcam.... but the footage will cost you £10,000!"

I understand you personally feel inconvenienced for your own losses, but that should be just a lesson to you, and a lesson to anyone else in your situation, but you can't go around holding footage for ransom just to put the world even with you, It's morally wrong!!

The offending driver should be the one paying anything, not the victim

If I saw someone crash in front of me, and I knew my footage would clear them of any wrongdoing, I'd willingly give it over!!

And as for "just not getting involved".... I'm assuming you'd sleep soundly knowing someone could have died and your $1000-$2500 footage could be the only thing to give the grieving family some answers?
Well he did say "not at fault parties will be reimbursed their access cost." which seems to match what you put in bold.

However to me, withholding evidence from one side of a legal case unless they pay a ransom they may or may not be able to afford, should and probably is illegal. Certainly doesn't seem right, especially when they don't know if that video is going to be of any use to them until after they have paid.
 
Well he did say "not at fault parties will be reimbursed their access cost." which seems to match what you put in bold.

it does but honestly, they shouldn't have to shell out anything at all, no one should, maybe if at the very end once the case is closed and a driver is proven to be the offending driver, the cammer could possibly pursue them for whatever "charges" they want to implement for use of the footage, but certainly not beforehand when they have enough to worry about! Either way, I just don't agree with potentially vital footage coming at a cost.
 
For me and I'm sure others here, time is real money and, each collision took hours at the scene to sort things out.
So, while I am a very nice and compassionate person, I am very reluctant to get entangled in other people's messes.

The alternative is that I simply don't get involved; I just drive on and spend my very limited free time with my kids or consulting at $500/hr, but the innocent drivers suffer.

Wow.....

How long does it take to tell the involved parties or the police that you have video of the incident, leave your number and drive off? The police or insurance adjusters will come to you, at your convenience, to retrieve the video evidence.

I can't think of many who are going to shell out 1K for your video. Besides, I am sure if the accident was serious enough and the police knew you had footage they'd just get a warrant to seize it if you refused to turn it over. Also, if it's a civil case, the insurance company could ask the court to subpoena the footage. In that instance you'd get standard witness show up pay which is probably about $10 or so.

As others have said why not just do the right thing and not try and make a buck off someone else misfortune?
 
'Good Samaritan' was the term that was often used, seems to be disappearing all too quickly these days
Yeah it's really quite sad how far down the toilet society has went. What's next charge a rape, robbery or shooting victim a fee to testify about what was observed? If a woman getting is assaulted on the street offer to help her but only if she pays a fee?

Meh, to each their own I suppose.. I'd gladly hand over footage from my camera for free to the police, subjects involved in an incident or an insurance adjuster.
 
I actually saw a 'slip and fall' injury this morning. (Ice on sidewalk at a business)

It shows up on my dashcam, the lady was hurt somewhat, is on the way to the doctor.
Her employer was acting like it was a nuisance, so I made sure the lady has my email address, and i saved the video.
:)

(I overheard the manager calling 'somebody' on the phone afterward, and didn't like the tone of her voice.)
 
'Good Samaritan' was the term that was often used, seems to be disappearing all too quickly these days

Now it's 'Greed Samaritan' :( I'll give my vids to whoever needs them for free (with a 100% money-back guarantee backing them) :ROFLMAO:

Phil
 
I just noticed this too...

The alternative is that I simply don't get involved; I just drive on and spend my very limited free time with my kids or consulting at $500/hr, but the innocent drivers suffer.

So when you work ("very limited free time" suggests MANY hours of work) you earn $500 AN HOUR???!!!

SUDDENLY to me your financial inconvenience from your crashes may as well be the equivalent of me losing a wallet with £50 in it!! I'm gonna be honest here and risk the intervention of a moderator, but you literally disgust me!! At todays conversion rate you earn more in one hour than I earn in one week, yet I live a decently comfortable life without any financial struggles.... HOW would you feel knowing that someone who has to work a week to earn what you make in just one hour could have you chasing them for thousands if they made a mistake behind the wheel???!
 
So when you work ("very limited free time" suggests MANY hours of work) you earn $500 AN HOUR???!!!

Well it is the internet and not everything posted on the internet is true. I am always skeptical when people make claims like that. Even more so when you factor in that someone making $500 an hour would not be looking to monetize a dash cam video..

Quick story from years ago: Person on forum claims to have the car that is being discussed. This person posts photos and converses with others about 'his' car. Others become skeptical that this teenager has such an expensive car. Someone did detective work and the photos that were being posted showed a plate # and identified a business where some of the photos were taken. Long story short, it was a farce. The kid was taking photos from the actual car owners Facebook and pretending they were his. The actual owner joined the forum after learning of this and the myth was solved.

I am always skeptical of outlandish claims made on the internet... I mean I can say I have a pHD in rocket science and build rockets for NASA but it would be a lie.

I highly doubt that someone making $500 an hour would be looking to make a buck off an accident. Heck I doubt someone making $50 an hour would be. Now someone making $5 an hour? Sure, maybe as long as they didn't have any morals or values....
 
Cars,,, plural o_O that's only for the rich here, or people with totally no financial grip,,,,, the latter it seem like there are many off.

My friend have 3 cars and like me he are now retired due to health issues, and its just his Dacia that's a driver, the 1958 Apache are in pieces and will probably remain so until it get sold for scrap ( 70.000 DKkr for a car that has driven 50 miles in his possession then been parked up and torn apart since the mid 90ties ) - then there is the 1985 Dodge ramcharger, dunno what he have spent on it but every dime have been wasted, it will never get MOT inspection again and selling it too will be hard but he might do it for 10% or so of what he have spent on it, only value is the rebuild engine that have not done more than a few 100 miles, rest are cans for dog food at best.

Back on the ball i would happily share footage if i get a crash on my cameras, but i would do so the the sole reason of the guilty part get what he have coming.

And i had a lady fall to her death from a 2 floor window ( i assume death no news about the incident ) last Sunday, right in front of my running cameras.
I might publish footage after a while when things have calmed down, after all it are not gory and it are filmed in the dark and at some distance so the footage of my zoom camera are the best.
But i will not sell that to any media or permit them to use it if i publish it later on, it just is what it is a lucky and unfortunate chance recording.

I did get media ( TV ) in on one recording i made a while back, but only to force Danish police to take action as they are otherwise too downsized and busy with other stuff dropped in their lap by poor politicians.
 
If anything, if what the OP is saying is actually true, it makes him even more of a nasty money-grabbing scumbag then
 
After having two nice cars totaled recently by distracted young drivers, I am outfitting all my cars with dashcams, with the high value vehicles getting them front & rear

In one collision, the fault was obvious, the other driver was cited and I was paid by their insurance company.
But the pay-out only covered the basic cost of the vehicle and in no way covered all the time/expense I had into maintaining, upgrading and customizing the vehicle at a high level, the many hours I spent dealing with this, or the risk of serious injury that the distratcted driver exposed me to.

In the other collision, no citations were issued because I couldn't prove that the young driver that t-boned me at 50MPH actually ran the red light and I'm out ~$25,000 for my vehicle, ~$70K for medical and an untold cost to my career.
What I learned is that, even if you are faultless, the insurance structure never covers you for the full cost of someone else's negligence.

The dashcams, cards, converters and installation are costing me about $1000.
While the gear would pay for itself after one collision to my cars, I'd like to recover the real costs of this gear if I happen to record someone else's accident.
I know I would have happily paid 10x that cost for clear video footage of the 2nd collision.

For me and I'm sure others here, time is real money and, each collision took hours at the scene to sort things out.
So, while I am a very nice and compassionate person, I am very reluctant to get entangled in other people's messes.

I would like to develop a simple, legally correct, form to hand to the involved parties saying that:
- the dashcam video content of the incident is copyright and owned by me,
- the content is available to law-enforcement entities for free,
- the content is available for review by involved parties or their representatives for $1000 each,
- the video content may not be copied, shared or redistributed,
- the content access cost increases to $2500 if subpoenaed as evidence since I may need to consult legal counsel,
- video content not related to the incident is not available,
- not at fault parties will be reimbursed their access cost.

So, does such a form already exist? If not, are there other items I should be including?

The alternative is that I simply don't get involved; I just drive on and spend my very limited free time with my kids or consulting at $500/hr, but the innocent drivers suffer.

Hey Vandriver,
What country do you live in?
 
Hey Vandriver,
What country do you live in?
I was wondering that, clearly one that doesn't have insurance: " I'm out ~$25,000 for my vehicle, ~$70K for medical and an untold cost to my career."
 
I was wondering that, clearly one that doesn't have insurance: " I'm out ~$25,000 for my vehicle, ~$70K for medical and an untold cost to my career."
Yeah the entire story smells funny.. No matter who was deemed at fault his insurance company would still payout for the damage to his car and for his medical. The only thing the OP would be out is his deductible which for most is $500 to $1000. They'd probably raise his rates afterwards as well.

There is no doubt that a dash cam would have been handy in the accident described as it would have shown that the OP had the green light but that's really the only part of the OP post that is even remotely believable..

I don't buy the hourly pay claim he made and I don't but the amount the OP was out in damages and medical unless the OP was rolling without insurance that is.
 
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