Desjardins Insurance adjusters are declining claims over this specific dashcam omission.

Millions of Canadian drivers have installed dashcams, confident that a blinking recording light guarantees rock-solid protection against a he-said, she-said accident dispute. However, a growing number of policyholders with Desjardins Insurance are discovering a harsh reality: simply capturing the collision on video is not enough to secure a payout.

The Timestamp Calibration Error

The friction arises from a dangerous misconception. Most drivers assume that if the impact is visible, the evidence is undeniable. Adjusters, however, operate under strict evidentiary standards. Desjardins Insurance adjusters are increasingly declining to factor in dashcam footage due to a specific, easily avoidable omission: incorrect or uncalibrated timestamp data.

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Many popular dashcams reset their internal clocks to factory default dates (often years in the past) when the device loses power, sits unplugged, or experiences extreme Canadian winter temperatures. Furthermore, failing to adjust for Daylight Saving Time can throw off the stamp by an hour. If the date and time stamped on the video do not perfectly align with the police report and the time of the claim, the footage is immediately deemed inadmissible by claims adjusters.

If a policyholder claims an accident occurred in November 2023, but the video timestamp reads January 2018, the adjuster cannot legally verify that the footage is not from a prior collision. This automatically voids the video evidence, reverting the claim to a standard fault-determination process which could unfairly assign you partial or total fault.

The SD Card Overwrite Interval Trap

Another major omission involves the SD card loop recording setting. Drivers often leave their dashcams on aggressive overwrite intervals on low-capacity cards. If you forget to hit the emergency lock button after a minor fender-bender and drive home, the crucial footage can be permanently overwritten before you even call Desjardins Insurance to report the claim.

How to Protect Your Evidence

To ensure your footage holds up during a claim investigation, experts recommend a quick monthly maintenance routine. Sync your dashcam to your smartphone app regularly to auto-calibrate the timestamp via GPS. Additionally, upgrade to a high-endurance microSD card of at least 64GB to widen your overwrite interval. A dashcam is only as reliable as the data it records, so do not let a simple settings error cost you your deductible.