How Much Does a Dash Cam Cost

Like anything on the market, there’s a pretty wide price range when it comes to dash cams. While the cheapest models cost around $30, the most expensive models could be $500 or higher, but which features are necessary and which ones are fluff? Well, it depends on your situation.

In this article, I’ll break down exactly how much dash cams cost, what features they include for what price range, and whether or not you need these features in the first place. Let’s get started.

Dash Cam Price Range

Dash cams range in price from $30 to $500 or more. If you want a simple camera that shows the outside of your car through your windshield, a budget camera will do. The video quality won’t be as high, but you’ll still get the footage you need. However, if you would like more coverage of the inside of your car or the spaces to the sides of your car, you can opt for a mid-range or premium camera.

The most expensive cameras have elements like voice control with assistants like Alexa, parking mode, which keeps your camera on even when you’re parked, alerting you of any incidents, and even artificial intelligence, helping you detect any potential threats.

How Pricing Varies by Region and Availability

If you live in a rural area with not as many retailers of electronics, or if you live in a country with high import taxes, you might have to spend more on dash cameras than average. That being said, it may make sense to buy your dash cams from their manufacturers directly so that you can take advantage of product warranties and customer support. While online retailers like Amazon can lower costs significantly, you may not get the same warranty and support as buying direct.

Of course, like any product on the market, dash cams are affected by customer demand as well as regulations. If there’s a high demand for a product but only a small supply, prices will be expensive. However, dash cams are growing in popularity and should only go down in price as more manufacturers jump on the bandwagon—barring any tariffs on overseas manufacturers, that is.

What Impacts the Price of a Dash Cam?

While some dash cam features are essential, others bring the price up without adding much value. Here are the features that affect the cost of dash cams:

• Video quality: The industry standard for cameras is 1080p HD. While 2K or even 4K footage is the most clear, it’s not a necessity if you’re trying to save money.
• Field of view: The camera’s field of view, how wide it can see, matters as well. The wider the field of view the fewer cameras you’ll need for full coverage.
• Night vision: These days, most dash cams have infrared night vision, which allows you to see clearly at night, albeit in black and white footage, versus color night vision from a bright white light. While color night vision is nice, the bright light may call attention to your car, which is far from ideal.
• Design: Your basic dash cam will be single-channel, meaning it can only see out of one direction, typically the front. However, dual-channel cameras that can see both the inside and the outside of your car will cost more. For those on a budget, go with single-channel, although dual-channel footage could be useful as well, especially if your car is burglarized.
• GPS: It’s helpful, especially if you’re involved in a legal case, to have a dash cam with GPS, as that will provide reliable location data embedded in the footage itself.
• Connectivity: Dash cams connected to Wi-Fi let you live stream your footage from anywhere in the world, as well as easily upload the footage to cloud storage.
• Extras: Finally, the fanciest cameras have extra features like voice assistants like Alexa, artificial intelligence to detect threats, and even driver assistance features, which your car may already have. I would skip these features, as they can make cameras a lot more expensive and are not strictly necessary for the main purpose of dash cams, which is to simply capture footage of any incidents that occur.

Other Costs to Consider

Aside from the cost of the dash cam itself, you may have to pay for installation and/or storage. Here’s how much those will cost, typically.

• Installation: While you can install most dash cams yourself for free, multi-channel or hidden cameras may require professional installation, which ranges from $50 to $200. A hardwiring kit, necessary for parking mode, costs $20 to $50, on the other hand.
• Storage: While basic cameras have local storage via SD cards, more advanced cameras have cloud storage. The disadvantages to SD cards are one, that they can easily be stolen, and two, that they record on a loop, so when you run out of space, you’ll lose your oldest footage. Of course, SD cards don’t require monthly fees, and cloud storage does, but I think it’s worth the extra cost of around $3 to $10 a month. SD cards, if they aren’t included with the camera, have a one-time cost of $10 to $50, depending on how much storage they have, typically 32 to 256 GB.

Should You Buy a Cheap or Expensive Dash Cam?

So, is it worth it for you to buy a cheap or expensive dash cam? It depends on what you’re looking for.

I’d recommend buying a budget camera if:

• You want basic video recording and not extra features like Alex or driver assistance.
• You don’t drive often, or only drive in low-crime areas.
• You don’t mind removing your SD card manually to make sure you don’t lose footage.

However, it may make sense to spend more on a dash cam if:

• You want higher quality footage.
• You are a rideshare driver.
• You often leave your car parked on the streets of high-crime neighborhoods.

For the average driver, a budget camera should be sufficient, but if you have a high level of legal liability and are concerned with insurance disputes, buying a mid-range or premium dash cam could be worth your while.

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