Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Dash cam install experience

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I had been looking at getting a dash cam installed, and while I generally do not shy away from technical challenges, I thought this task would be one to those that I should probably leave to the professionals.

I asked the San Diego SC for a recommendation, and they suggested La Jolla Audio. I called them and scheduled the install, and have had a wonderful experience, so I wanted to share the results with other owners.

I chose the Blackvue Wi-Fi 2-CH DRG550GW that provides coverage for both the front and rear (2 camera setup). Here are a few of photos of the front and rear cameras:

frontCam1.jpg
frontCam2.jpg
rearCam1.jpg
rearCam2.jpg


In my opinion, they did the most professional and esthetic installation possible. I don't think anyone has installed these 2 channel dash cams from BlackVue in San Diego, but the installers at La Jolla Audio are really technically gifted engineers and had no difficulty in figuring out how to implement this system. BTW, La Jolla Audio provides cameras from Pittasoft's authorized USA distributor, so I have not run into any of the firmware or functional problems folks have had with hacked Korean versions of these dash cams sold through Amazon. La Jolla Audio also installed the Pittasoft MagicPro so the cameras continue to record even while the car is off or parked - without the danger of killing the 12v battery.


As you can see, their work pretty much looks OEM factory installed. The cost was around $800 in labor plus the cost of the Blackvue hardware and MagicPro. I could not be happier, and everything "just works", and looks great.

Also, the car was delivered cleaner than it went in as La Jolla Audio washed and detailed my MS prior to delivery at no charge, and I had never asked! Very nice touch and shows how much pride they take in what they do.


Additionally, I had a small dent on the hood of the Tesla - nothing to do with the dash cam install, but La Jolla Audio indicated that they may be able to fix it, and they did; perfectly by the way, for $125. The quote from Amato's body shop was $800... so they are not only A+ installers, but have access to talent that can take care of minor dings on aluminum body parts as well.

I was so happy with the outcome, that I had them install the same dash cam system in my Porsche Cayenne GTS and they will be doing my Viper as well. I worked with Scott, and found him to be honest, sincere, and 100% transparent.

My $0.02 of experience with this sort of thing.
 
Does that mean some Tesla owners are such bad drivers they have a need to document all their road trips? And meteorites? I'm guessing most of us live in the cities, where you don't see that stuff... Just sayin'

So, back to my point.. what's the purpose? Is the data used?

Well the point wouldn't be to collect evidence that you are a bad driver. If someone hits you or causes you to get into an accident you can video evidence instead of just your word against theirs. So yes, the data can be used. Some are also used if someone hits your car in a parking lot and drives away.
 
Last edited:
Lawyer (for insurance companies) and small claims court mediator here.

The ~$1,000 or less you spend on these is worth every penny with such an expensive car. People lie all the time in accidents, or try to make false insurance claims/statements to police - especially when they realize the damage they did to a bumper on a Model S costs more than their entire car.
 
Lawyer (for insurance companies) and small claims court mediator here.

The ~$1,000 or less you spend on these is worth every penny with such an expensive car. People lie all the time in accidents, or try to make false insurance claims/statements to police - especially when they realize the damage they did to a bumper on a Model S costs more than their entire car.

I've come out to way too many of my cars that had damage from careless people in parking lots. Can you talk at all about the success of getting anything out of those claims, when you can see a plate but maybe not the person (clearly) and if the actual "slamming door into car" isn't recorded?

Thanks.
 
I've come out to way too many of my cars that had damage from careless people in parking lots. Can you talk at all about the success of getting anything out of those claims, when you can see a plate but maybe not the person (clearly) and if the actual "slamming door into car" isn't recorded?

Thanks.

+1 I parked my Audi TT on the street once. I came back, and there was damage to the front. Parked in front of me was a SUV, who had scratches and damage on her rear bumper that lined up EXACTLY with mine. I photographed everything, got a police report. Everyone agreed looking at the pictures that the damage lined up perfectly. She denied that she hit my car, and my insurance company didn't pursue it (no witnesses).

I am really interested in getting cameras. My deductible is $1000, so it seems one time and it pays for itself. However, is the footage even useful in settling cases?
 
I've come out to way too many of my cars that had damage from careless people in parking lots. Can you talk at all about the success of getting anything out of those claims, when you can see a plate but maybe not the person (clearly) and if the actual "slamming door into car" isn't recorded?

Thanks.

To be honest, I was talking more about moving accidents than parking and door dings. The problem you are going to have with parking situations (as you mentioned) is you rarely see a license plate, full face, etc. Even then, it's pretty hard to prove up the damage.

With door dings, you'd have to file something in small claims (since it is under $10K in damages). The costs of court filing + proof of service is going to be $150-200+ (Tesla owners won't qualify for low-income support on this, haha), depending on how hard it is to find the person. Then you have to show up to court (no lawyer reps in small claims usually), and essentially hope the other person doesn't show and you get a default judgement. Again, this is because it is very hard to prove that person did the damage, rather than someone else. They would counter "that door ding was already there, I didn't hit it hard enough, etc". Unless you can prove that there was no dent/ding before, and they definitely were the one to hit the car and cause the ding... you don't have much of a chance. You'd probably need not only your dashcam, but also the surveillance from the parking lots cameras (if there is any).

Then, even if you get a default/regular judgement in your favor... that doesn't mean you will get the money. The person will ignore the judgement notice, they will move, you can't find them, etc. You'll have to send the judgement to a collections agency, who will try to track the person down, and if they get anything out of them they will take 10-30% of the total.

Summary: cameras help in moving accidents, but not much else. Door dings and bumper scraps aren't expensive enough to have to spend the time (sometimes a whole day in court + other days for service/collections), plus the costs ($150-200+, another several hundred if you have to subpoena video evidence), only to recover - MAYBE - 70-90% of the judgement. If the costs are $1-2K+, then it might be worth it - but even then no guarantee of payment.
 
To be honest, I was talking more about moving accidents than parking and door dings. The problem you are going to have with parking situations (as you mentioned) is you rarely see a license plate, full face, etc. Even then, it's pretty hard to prove up the damage.

Thanks for the insight. Hopefully I can avoid the situation by continuing to park out where no one else wants to..
 
  • Like
Reactions: javawolfpack
To be honest, I was talking more about moving accidents than parking and door dings. The problem you are going to have with parking situations (as you mentioned) is you rarely see a license plate, full face, etc. Even then, it's pretty hard to prove up the damage.

The DRG550GW -2ch as well as the DRG550 series has "motion sensors while parked", they have pretty good software that lets you adjust the sensitivity of impacts as well as well as the sensitivity of the motion sensor and just about all aspects of the camera.

I have used both the DR500 and now on my Tesla the 500GW-2ch and find that they do an excellent job while moving and parked recording.
Admittedly the cameras may not be useful in every scenario but it is reassuring that some one is watching my car when I not there.

[video]https://www.dropbox.com/s/m85f8bxt0eune6g/Homestead.mkv[/video]

On June 6th I will be Drag racing at Homestead speedway and hopefully will have some great footage from my Blackvue (and mostly from the rear camera:wink:) of ICE cars I will be racing.
 
Last edited by a moderator: