I swear by my dashcam. It’s already saved me from one claim. But I’m wondering, I’m thinking of a road trip in America next year, based around the eclipse - this year’s trip to see the eclipse in Asia isn’t happening, alas - and I would really want to rent a car with a dashcam. Do rental cars come with dashcams? Or should I just bring my own?
I’ve never seen a rental car with one, but if you’re planning to rent a car for any appreciable amount of time, you probably want to supply your own, or you’ll end up buying a new one for the rental car company in fees.
Most rental car companies compete strongly on the base rental price, but charge a lot for any add-ons.
You can rent a $20,000 car for $25/day, and add a $150 car seat for another $10/day.
I’ve never seen one. However, if you’re willing to spend the bucks (and you can probably get one for under a hundred) you can get one that will plug into the lighter and stick onto the windshield with a suction cup.
Oh, and when and where do you plan to see the eclipse in the US?
Next year, probably on the east side of the US. Beyond that, I’m not sure. I want to see some of the Smithsonian, have a pen pal in Atlanta, and ex colleagues in Savannah. So probably South Carolina - Charleston is directly on the line of totality but will likely be swamped, so some place inland a bit.
Cool, Looks like I’m gonna have to plan a road trip down to Kentucky.
FYI, as far as I know no car manufacturer offers dash cams as either original equipment or as a dealer-installed option at the time of purchase. Everyone has to get an aftermarket one. It seems very unlikely that than any rental company would offer those kind of items unless they could buy them already installed.
I wouldn’t say that. Most offer third party GPS devices, which I assume are easily removable. I’d consider a dash cam to potentially be “those kind of items”.
That said, I’ve never seen them offer it. I guess the market is too small.