Are Dash Cams Legal

There are a lot of valid purposes, especially in today's world. A video is the only non-contestable witness to an accident. It has also been the proof to defend against unwarranted charges claimed by a cop who is less than honest and ethical. Heck, there was just a cop charged with a variety of crimes due to the false report he filed claimed a defendant lunged at him and interfered with the cop interrogating another person (who was also subject to an unlawful search) but in reality what happened is the defendant was not intereference in any way but the cop was the aggressor and was apparently bothered by the defendants use of his phone (not certain but I believe the guy was intending on video recording the cops searching the other party).

While it wasn't a dashcam, it is irrelevant. Cameras saved a couple people from going to jail and hopefully will get a bad cop off the streets.


Not meaning to beat up on cops. That was just a recent situation that was a good example. I have seen many videos using dash cams that were the only reason the at fault party was held responsible.

Seems like the OP is expending a lot of time being concerned and worrying if he will be in trouble eavesdropping on his mechanic ... to me, that says that he wants to spy on people. If I had a mechanic who I did not trust, I wouldn't be going to that guy. Simple. I'd rather trust my mechanic than try to catch him in a lie or worry about going to court.

Personally, I have known more people complain about their in-car systems being stolen than have used them for any practical purpose. But, I suppose I don't spend my time concerned about such things as catching people committing malfeasance upon me to make it an issue I am concerned with.

Well, I've actually worked as a mechanic and to be honest, there are very few I trust. I've seen too many situations where a customer wasn't treated properly but honestly, even with that I wouldn't record the goings on involving my car unless I had a reasonable belief something had happened previously and believed it to be justified. I would not do it out of matter of habit.

Again, my intent for dash cams is to record while driving. (see my 1st post where a lady hit me from behind and said I reversed into her).

Using the dashcam to record what the dealerships and employees does to my car is a side bonus. It's in my car.

Just like how the dealerships have cameras in their buildings and outside their buildings. For just in case situations.