Non Customer Video Footage Street Accident Requested Service?

[mjwalsh]

We recently had an insurance company person call us wondering if our cameras reached the street intersection on our corner lot. They wanted to see if there was right of way violation or speeding by one of the two specific vehicles.

I provided it for them without mentioning a "upfront charge" for the process of putting it together. They were an hour off on the exact time which did not help the time factor of getting the exact pertinent clip for them.

Any suggestion on how much to charge $$$ the insurance company. &/or similar request for an accident off of the business property but within range of 1 camera or more. Even if a car wash employee puts it together ... there is still the payroll time involved ... &/or something else potentially not done ... because of the loss time-effort etc.

 

[Carwashking]

Ask professionals that if you need reports or court appearance it could be $500 per hour or several $1000 per day. I only do this for the police as a courtesy, but if the insurance company was asking me, they would need to pay me for my time

 

[philliesfan94]

I know that I'm late to the party here but really? You want to charge them for asking for video footage? Interesting...

 

[mjwalsh]

I know that I'm late to the party here but really? You want to charge them for asking for video footage? Interesting...

Rather than a flat yes or no to their request... there are situations where the possibly time consuming proposition would have to be delegated to our paid help. How many of us have employees who just volunteer for free???

 

[philliesfan94]

Rather than a flat yes or no to their request... there are situations where the possibly time consuming proposition would have to be delegated to our paid help. How many of us have employees who just volunteer for free???

I just find it interesting that you would charge a fee for giving up camera footage. I'm not going to dedicate a whole shift or several hours to finding footage, but to have myself or one of my managers locate a clip of footage for them (insurance company, police, etc.) I would never think to charge for that. Now if they asked me to attend court that would be a different story. I probably wouldn't say yes to that regardless because other than a video clip what info could you really provide unless you saw the whole thing unfold. I'm not really worried about the payroll of one of my employees taking 10-15 minutes out of their work day for something like this that happens very rarely to be covered on someone else's dime but maybe I'm in the minority. I was hoping there would have been more responses to this just to see what others suggested.

 

[mjwalsh]

I just find it interesting that you would charge a fee for giving up camera footage. I'm not going to dedicate a whole shift or several hours to finding footage, but to have myself or one of my managers locate a clip of footage for them (insurance company, police, etc.) I would never think to charge for that. Now if they asked me to attend court that would be a different story. I probably wouldn't say yes to that regardless because other than a video clip what info could you really provide unless you saw the whole thing unfold. I'm not really worried about the payroll of one of my employees taking 10-15 minutes out of their work day for something like this that happens very rarely to be covered on someone else's dime but maybe I'm in the minority. I was hoping there would have been more responses to this just to see what others suggested.

I am glad you kind of included possiibly a "free" up to 10-15 minute process. Some camera systems require someone to get up on a ladder on the camera itself for the needed "public intersection collision" second by second continuous recording from an SD card. Definitely more than a 15 minute process ... especially if the insurance company request turns out to be off on the needed precise time of when the vehicle public street accident occurred.

 

[OLFOT]

My two cents on providing video..... I don't provide video to anybody but law enforcement officers, which I have done on many occasions. The reason I wouldn't supply it to an insurance company is because they are always trying to figure out a way to NOT pay a claim.
I've seen it happen to people and I've had it happen to me more than once.

 

[mjwalsh]

My two cents on providing video..... I don't provide video to anybody but law enforcement officers, which I have done on many occasions. The reason I wouldn't supply it to an insurance company is because they are always trying to figure out a way to NOT pay a claim.
I've seen it happen to people and I've had it happen to me more than once.

If everyone offered the "the cameras don't lie" service for a reasonable amount it could in time help insurance rates across the USA ... IMHO. Ideally, they would offer an amount when they request footage vs just taking our specifi video resources too much for granted!

 

[Earl Weiss]

My suggestion is to be reasonable so they accede to your request. If it is a big enough deal they could file suit and subpoena it and pay some nominal statutory fee.

 

[Greg Pack]

I do my best to record what is happening on my site only. I use the inexpensive Lorex home DVR and use it in Motion detect mode. In motion detect settings, I can block out areas that are not of interest to me. I tell the system to essentially block out all areas outside of my property. That way, road traffic or any other motion off my property does not eat up my storage space. Plus, if anyone has an issue they had better call within about three weeks or it is gone.

I'd provide video to the police no problem. A few Years ago, the McDonalds a couple doors away from one of my washes got burglarized in the middle of the night. The detectives asked me to look at my cameras to see if I saw anything suspicious. I explained it wasn't likely but would look. At around the same time the McDonalds got burglarized a car drove through one of my bays. I have my cameras positioned so that if you drive through my bays in either direction I'm likely going to get your tag number. We were able to get the tag number off the car which was registered out of State. It turned out this car had been rented by a man in the Midwest with a criminal history of commercial burglary and theft. He had been traveling and breaking into McDonalds in small towns all across the South. His girlfriend accomplice dropped him off at McDonalds and randomly drove through my car wash. Once they had a tip as to who he was, they managed to arrest him in multiple jurisdictions in the State. That was probably the most satisfying catch on a person that didn't actually do harm to my wash.

 

[mjwalsh]

There was recently a horrific murderous slaughter done by an established chiropractor where 4 people on the staff of a local property management company: Killer Who Stabbed 4 People 100 Times Gets Life Without Parole - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The killer was caught mainly because a bunch of neighboring businesses to the R&R Office shared enough video "tracking vehicle & foot movements" evidence so law enforcement had eventual slam dunk proof. Turned out the certified doctor actually had "astute enough" Washburn law enforcement personnel as his client-patients etc.

I partially squirm about the "carte blanche" access to insurance companies because of that specific "free for the insurance caller" video I shared .... could have been used in a potentially unfair personal injury claim against the driver who clearly did not proper yield the right of way... based on the recorded video footage & sound from the 2K Wyze 3 Pro Camera.

 

[HeyVern]

There was recently a horrific murderous slaughter done by an established chiropractor where 4 people on the staff of a local property management company: Killer Who Stabbed 4 People 100 Times Gets Life Without Parole - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

The killer was caught mainly because a bunch of neighboring businesses to the R&R Office shared enough video "tracking vehicle & foot movements" evidence so law enforcement had eventual slam dunk proof. Turned out the certified doctor actually had "astute enough" Washburn law enforcement personnel as his client-patients etc.

I partially squirm about the "carte blanche" access to insurance companies because of that specific "free for the insurance caller" video I shared .... could have been used in a potentially unfair personal injury claim against the driver who clearly did not proper yield the right of way... based on the recorded video footage & sound from the 2K Wyze 3 Pro Camera.

Hoe the hell is it unfair if clearly didn't properly yield the right of way?

 

[mjwalsh]

The unfair possibility would be in the potential for too large of a personal injury claim settlement as a result of the 100% proof of fault video footage.

 

[Earl Weiss]

The unfair possibility would be in the potential for too large of a personal injury claim settlement as a result of the 100% proof of fault video footage.

Why are you not equally optimistic that the video footage helps the injured party get a fair result?

 

[mjwalsh]

Why are you not equally optimistic that the video footage helps the injured party get a fair result?

Good point ... not all judges & guidances to a possible jury ... borderline being shyster behavior.

To somewhat reiterate what I said before: Ideally, the insurance party &/or private investigator would offer an amount when they request footage vs just taking our specific video resources & efforts a bit too much for granted!

One fellow businessperson here in our relatively small city said the only way he or his staff provides footage is if a court order is presented. Not that means I would automatically do the same.

 

[Earl Weiss]

One fellow businessperson here in our relatively small city said the only way he or his staff provides footage is if a court order is presented. Not that means I would automatically do the same.

Now, lets put the shoe on the other foot.

Lets say something happened to you, your property or that of your family and some local business footage could help you out.

They say they will only produce it with a court order. You find a lawyer who may want a chunk of $ to run in to court on an emergency motion to get an order that you have to pay to serve on whomever controls the DVR only to find that due to lapse of time for this process the footage has been over written.

 

[edcrawfordlv]

We get lots of requests all the time for video records. Police, Insurance, 'Victims", Media, Lawyers. Once you give out the video you start to lose control so try and keep some control by coming up with a video release form. Plus that will help you remember and document who you've given what information to. While its great to be a good neighbor and prevent injustice etc, releasing video does have potential liabilities for you. --You could go to court, you could become internet famous, you could lose a customer, something in the video could make you liable for the accident.

I think at best we get a few dollars from the court when the DA compels us to testify. I don't know if we've tried asking organizations for money. The normal workflow is a law firm mails us a letter telling us to preserve video per state law. Then a few weeks later they send a court order demanding the video.

 

[mjwalsh]

We get lots of requests all the time for video records. Police, Insurance, 'Victims", Media, Lawyers. Once you give out the video you start to lose control so try and keep some control by coming up with a video release form. Plus that will help you remember and document who you've given what information to. While its great to be a good neighbor and prevent injustice etc, releasing video does have potential liabilities for you. --You could go to court, you could become internet famous, you could lose a customer, something in the video could make you liable for the accident.

I think at best we get a few dollars from the court when the DA compels us to testify. I don't know if we've tried asking organizations for money. The normal workflow is a law firm mails us a letter telling us to preserve video per state law. Then a few weeks later they send a court order demanding the video.

Your facts that apply to your situation ... helped bring back a flashback of mine of our former body shop neighbor (btw a proven friend) when they had the best work quality reputation in Bis-Man at the time. The boss & his sons eventually saw the steady flow of accident investigators & "too easy of unconditional free estimates" had started to really eventually get out of hand & somewhat "overwhelmed them".