Somebody backs into your bumper in a parking lot and drives off. Or you get rear-ended on the 405 and the other driver swears the light was still green. A dash cam doesn't stop any of that from happening, but it settles the argument in about ten seconds. It's one of the most common questions we get asked in the shop, right alongside alarms and remote start, so let's go through what it actually does and how it gets put in.
A dash cam is a small camera mounted near your rearview mirror that records video while you drive. Most save footage in a loop, meaning it keeps recording over the oldest file once the memory card fills up, so you're not stuck swapping cards every week. If something happens, like a crash or a hard brake, the camera locks that clip so it doesn't get written over, and you can pull it later.
Depends on what you're trying to cover. A front camera catches what's happening through your windshield, which is the most common angle people want since it covers most collisions and near misses. A front-and-rear setup adds a second camera facing out the back window, which is worth it if you get rear-ended often in traffic, or if you want coverage for someone backing into you while parked. Some drivers add a third camera facing into the cabin, mostly rideshare and delivery drivers who want a record of what happens inside the car too.
Parking mode keeps the camera watching even after you've turned the car off and walked away. Most dash cams do this by sensing motion or a bump, then recording a short clip around that event instead of running nonstop, which would drain your battery fast. If someone keys your door, taps your bumper backing out, or tries to get into the car while it's parked on the street, parking mode is what actually catches it. If your car sits in a garage every night, you may not need it. If it's parked on the street or in an open lot in LA, Long Beach, or Orange County, it's worth having.
A plug-in dash cam only records while the engine is running, since it loses power the second you shut the car off. That's fine if all you care about is footage while driving. A hardwired dash cam taps into your car's fuse box, so it can keep a small trickle of power flowing to the camera even with the engine off, which is what makes parking mode possible. Hardwired kits also include a low-voltage cutoff, so the camera stops pulling power before it can drain your battery overnight.
For a hardwired setup, a tech connects the camera into a fuse that only gets power in the right circumstances, then routes the thin wire up along the windshield trim, down the A-pillar, and along the dash or under the carpet edge to keep it out of sight. The whole point is that when it's done, you shouldn't see a wire hanging anywhere. The camera itself gets mounted right behind the rearview mirror, angled so it doesn't block your view or trip a sensor if your car has forward collision warning built into the windshield.
Not if it's done right. This is honestly where a lot of the skill in a dash cam install actually lives. Anybody can zip-tie a wire across your dash and call it done, but it looks messy and it's usually the first thing you notice every time you get in the car. A clean install tucks everything behind trim panels so the only thing you see is the camera itself.
It can. If you're in an accident and there's a disagreement about who had the right of way or who ran the light, footage settles it a lot faster than two drivers each telling a different story. It won't guarantee a claim goes your way, but having clear video of what actually happened is a real advantage when you're dealing with an insurance company after a wreck.
Yes, and a lot of our customers end up adding one at the same time as an alarm or remote start, since it's already an electrical job and a lot of the wiring runs through the same general area. An alarm tells you something happened to your car. A dash cam with parking mode can actually show you what happened and who did it. They cover two different problems, and together they cover more ground than either one alone.
Ask whether they're doing a hardwired setup or a plug-in, and make sure that matches what you actually want it to do. Ask how they're running the wire and whether it'll be hidden. Ask what size memory card the camera takes and how many days of footage that actually holds for your driving habits. A shop that walks you through these instead of rushing you to a number is one that knows the work.
The biggest one is buying a cheap camera online and plugging it in themselves with the wire just draped across the dash. It works, technically, but it looks bad and the wire tends to get tugged loose over time. Another is skipping parking mode because it sounds like an extra feature, then wishing they had it the one time someone dings the car while it's parked. And some people don't check the memory card size before they buy, then find out it only holds a day or two of footage instead of the week or two they expected.
More on this: Car alarms and remote start at Audio MotorSports. Visit our YouTube channel for the install videos.
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