Had a similar experience myself—thought I'd save a few bucks by rounding down mileage. Big mistake. After a minor fender-bender, the insurer grilled me like I was on trial. Lesson learned: honesty might hurt your wallet, but dishonesty hurts your sanity...
"honesty might hurt your wallet, but dishonesty hurts your sanity..."
I get what you're saying, but let's be realistic—insurers aren't exactly saints either. Even when you're completely upfront, they'll still find ways to nitpick claims or drag out the process. It's less about honesty vs. dishonesty and more about understanding exactly what's covered and documenting everything meticulously. I've seen straightforward claims turn messy because someone didn't read the fine print carefully enough...
"Even when you're completely upfront, they'll still find ways to nitpick claims or drag out the process."
Yeah, that's been my experience too. I mean, I always try to be as transparent as possible, but sometimes it feels like insurers are just waiting for you to slip up on some tiny detail. Makes me wonder—does anyone know if having dashcam footage actually helps speed up the PIP claims process? I've been considering getting one for a while now, mostly for peace of mind, but if it could also smooth things out with insurance claims, that'd definitely justify the cost. Has anyone here had a claim where dashcam footage made a noticeable difference, or is it just another gadget that insurers ignore when it suits them...?
I haven't personally had to deal with a PIP claim yet (knock on wood...), but I did have a minor fender-bender last year where dashcam footage totally saved my bacon. Basically, I was at a stop sign, and the guy in front of me suddenly reversed—like, who does that? He bumped into my front bumper and then tried to claim I rear-ended him. Luckily, I'd bought a cheap dashcam from Amazon just a couple months earlier because I'd heard horror stories from friends getting blamed unfairly.
Anyway, long story short, when I showed the footage to my insurer, they immediately sided with me. It wasn't even a debate. The whole claim got sorted out way quicker than I expected, and I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket or worry about rate hikes. So yeah, from my limited experience at least, having video proof made things way smoother.
Now, as far as PIP specifically goes—I can't say for sure if it'd speed things up there since that's more about medical expenses and stuff, right? But logically speaking, having clear evidence of exactly what happened should help prevent insurers from dragging their feet or nitpicking tiny details. At the very least, it should reduce the back-and-forth arguments about who's at fault or how things went down.
For what it's worth, I'm super budget-conscious too, and I hesitated for ages before buying one because it felt like an unnecessary expense at first. But honestly, after that incident...it feels like one of those things that's worth spending a bit on upfront to avoid bigger headaches later. Plus, you don't need anything fancy—mine was under fifty bucks and does the job just fine.
Hope you never have to use it though!
Glad your dashcam saved you—that reversing thing is wild, never heard of someone pulling that move before. I haven't dealt with PIP myself either, but my sister had to use it after a pretty nasty accident last year. From what she explained, PIP kicked in right away for her medical bills without needing to wait around figuring out who was at fault. It covered stuff like ambulance rides, ER visits, and even some lost wages from missing work.
But here's the catch—her insurer still wanted tons of paperwork and details about the accident itself. I bet having dashcam footage would've made things smoother there too, even if fault isn't technically supposed to matter for PIP. Seems like insurers always want as much info as possible before paying out.
Honestly though, after hearing your story and hers...I'm seriously thinking about grabbing one of those cheap dashcams myself. Better safe than sorry, right?
