Are dash cams a wise investment as extra insurance?

My son has recently passed his test and I am about to add him to my car insurance. We will switch to a black box company to get a better price. I also think it would be a good idea to add a dash cam (front and rear) to protect him in the event of a disputed incident. He interprets this as a lack of trust on my part whereas I see it as extra insurance. Do you have a view on whether dashcams are a prudent addition?

Asked on 18 July 2019 by andrew brown

Answered by Georgia Petrie
We would highly recommend a dash cam. Regardless of what your son views as the reason for it, it will be something you massively appreciate if anything goes wrong. Even if you trust your son not to cause an incident, there's no way to be 100% sure that another driver won't crash into him - either by accident or in a crash-for-cash scheme, which are on the rise. Dash cams speed up insurance claims, especially considering your son has just passed his test and therefore will be seen as higher risk; most learners are viewed as overconfident in their driving ability with little experience to back it up. We'd recommend the Nextbase 512GW dual dash cam. You can read what we though of it, plus see our video footage in our review here: kit.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/review-nextbase-512gw.../

On the other hand, the Nextbase 522GW is the most feature-packed, but also more expensive as it's newer. If you want all the new features and the better footage resolution of the new range - I'd opt for the 422GW or the 322GW (but we have yet to review the latter). The 522GW, 422GW and 322GW all have ports so you can buy a rear window dash cam for about £50 and turn them into dual dash cams. You can read our review, including rear and front camera footage of the 422GW here: kit.honestjohn.co.uk/reviews/review-nextbase-422gw/
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