Car Security Camera - parked car

liamd1982

Hi all

I currently have a problem in that my car has been vandalised outside my house twice in the past month, both times keyed across 2 panels.

After the first incident I put a camera in my bedroom window, the trouble is as I live on a terrace on a main road I have to park opposite and not always directly opposite....the second occurrence is captured....it's one of 4 people who walk past it, I just can't tell which....

As it stands I'm sitting here waiting for it to happen again, I have contacted all neighbors in a friendly way, got plenty of 'sorry to hear about it' responses but no info or any indication it's happened to anyone else.

I ideally want a camera which is in the car and records whilst the vehicle is parked, I can't seem to see anything other than standard dashcams which work when driving. Is anyone aware of such a product existing and if so any feedback on if they are any good.

I don't mind paying a decent chunk for a camera and install but as it's a lease car (17 months left) it would have to be some that can be removed when I hand it back

Thanks for taking the time to read, merry Christmas and all the best to you all

Alanp

You can get dash cams that have park mode, ie, they still record when the engine is off, they usually have a voltage cut off so they don’t flatten the cars battery ( they have to be hardwired to the cars electrical system, not hard to do and not overly expensive if you can’t)you can also get a separate battery that is hardwired the same way but your dashcam plugs into this, but this is an expensive option, and it will depend on how long it runs depending on what set up you have ( front and rear cameras), 

born_again

Plenty of dash cams have parking mode. But if they are keying the side of the car, then you will not get any pic's of the act. Even not guaranteed to set the cam off.

Alanp

I have mine wired through a separate battery the cam is on all the time recording constantly ( as long as there’s battery power) although it’s only covering front and back so might not see anything either side, you can get cams that cover all around, 
the op would be better going onto the dashcamtalk forum site lots of good advice on there

facade

Unless you are going to take action (illegally) yourself, a camera inside the car is no good.  You need views that clearly show the person scratching it and their face (preferably overlaid with their full name , address & date of birth if you want the Police to do anything)

Simply showing the car rocking as someone walks past, even accompanied by "screeeeep!" won't be enough to interest the Police, I doubt if it would be enough in small claims court.

rigolith

You can put the camera inside the car and position it so that it can see the wing mirror on the side where they key it. That will show whose hand did it, and by looking at their clothing you can match it up with someone from your bedroom camera or a windscreen mounted second camera.

The main issue is that most of these cameras won't run for more than a few hours on your car battery, so if you don't use the car the same day it happens it will probably not be recording.

liamd1982

Thanks all for taking the time to reply, a few ideas to chew over, can't let it keep happening and need a better pic than last time to do anything about it.

Merry Christmas to you all, all the best