How We Equipped Our Company Fleet With Thinkware Dash Cams—and What I'd Do Differently
The call came on a Tuesday morning in January 2024. One of our van drivers had been rear-ended at a stoplight on Route 9, and both drivers were pointing fingers.
Our driver said the guy behind him had been tailgating for two miles and just didn't stop in time. The other driver said our guy brake-checked him. No witnesses, no footage. Our insurance premium jumped $1,800 at renewal, and I spent three hours on the phone with a claims adjuster who clearly didn't believe either of us.
That afternoon, our operations manager stuck his head in my office. "Do our vans have cameras?"
"No."
"Then can we get some? Because this is the second time this year I've had to eat a premium increase."
I'm the office administrator for a 42-person HVAC company. I manage about $180K in annual ordering across a dozen vendors, and I report to both operations and finance. I've handled everything from uniforms to commercial insurance—but I'd never once thought about dash cams.
I said yes, mostly because I didn't know how much work I was signing up for.
Starting the research
I did what most people do: I Googled it.
And honestly, I got overwhelmed fast. There are hundreds of dash cam models. Every review site ranks them differently. The forums argue about sensors and bitrates, and half the "top 10" lists are clearly affiliate spam.
Our fleet manager—who used to run vehicles at a bigger outfit before he joined us—said his old company used Thinkware units for years and never had a warranty problem. That was the only real-world data point I had. So I started there.
For the four older Ford Transits, I ordered Thinkware F770 dash cams. The F770 is a two-channel system—front and rear—and for what we needed it was plenty. I want to say we paid around $250 per unit (this was early 2024). Maybe $260. I'd have to dig up the PO to be sure.
For the two newer Sprinters, I went with Thinkware U1000 dual dash cams. Those record 4K up front and 2K in the rear, and those vans do longer highway runs, so the extra detail seemed worth it. If I remember correctly, they ran closer to $400 each.
I want to be clear about this: it wasn't a "best dash cam" decision. It was a "the one person I actually trust has used this brand" decision. That's a different thing, and it's probably not how a professional buyer would do it.
Then the install went sideways
The first shop I called quoted $250 per vehicle. That felt steep for six vans, so I kept looking.
A guy in our shop said he knew someone who'd do it for $120 flat. I still kick myself for not asking more questions before I handed over the keys. He ran the rear camera wires across the headliner instead of tucking them behind the trim, and one of the adhesive mounts fell off within two weeks.
We ended up paying the original shop anyway to redo two of the six installations. (Note to self: the cheapest installer is almost never the cheapest installer.)
Total lesson from that stretch: I saved $780 on installation and spent about $500 fixing it. Net savings of maybe $280—for six weeks of extra hassle and a very annoyed fleet manager.
The other things that came up
While all of this was happening, two unrelated requests landed on my desk. They're worth mentioning because they taught me how much I actually didn't know about vehicles (a lot).
The Prius check engine light
Our 2016 Prius—the little hybrid I use for bank runs and supply pickups—lit up with a check engine light in March. The dealer wanted $180 just to run diagnostics.
I bought an OBD2 scanner for Prius on Amazon for about $35. It read a P0420 code: catalyst system efficiency below threshold. Turned out to just be an aging O2 sensor. The scanner paid for itself the first day I used it.
I know some people say a $35 scanner can't read everything. That's fair—it can't. It handles emission-related codes and basic live data. It won't do manufacturer-specific body control modules or airbag codes. At least, that's been my experience with the budget tier.
The ICOM IC-7300 price request
Our facilities manager asked me to look up the ICOM IC-7300 price at Ham Radio Outlet. He's a licensed ham operator and wanted one for the emergency comms backup we set up after a storm knocked out our phones for two days last spring.
I had never heard of the IC-7300. I still don't fully understand what makes it special—it's an HF transceiver, apparently, and the ham community really likes it. HRO listed it around $1,100–$1,300 depending on whatever rebates were running (as of mid-2024, at least). He bought his own. I just did the research.
The catback exhaust question
One of our younger techs kept talking about putting a catback exhaust on his project car. I had to look up what that even was.
For anyone else who doesn't know: a catback exhaust is the section of your exhaust system that bolts on behind the catalytic converter and runs back to the muffler and tailpipe. It's a bolt-on mod that changes sound and sometimes airflow. That's the extent of my knowledge, and I'm fine with that.
What actually happened
By June 2024, all six of our vehicles had dash cams. Total hardware spend was around $2,400, plus maybe $900 in installation (including the redo).
Has it paid off? Twice, in ways that mattered.
In August, one of our techs was accused of sideswiping a parked car in a customer's driveway. The rear camera showed he never came within two feet of it. That claim went away in about a day.
In October, a driver ran a red light into our van. Our front camera caught it clean. No arguing, no premium hit.
But here's the honest part: dash cams don't prevent accidents. They don't make anyone a better driver. They document. That's it.
If our dispute rate had already been low, the math might not have worked out. The $2,400 we spent could go to a lot of other things.
And the legality varies. Some states have rules about where you can mount cameras on a windshield, and audio recording laws differ underneath that. I had to check our state's rules before we installed anything, and I'd tell anyone doing this to do the same. There's no single answer to "are dash cams legal"—it depends on where you drive and what you're recording.
What I'd do differently
The bigger lesson wasn't about cameras. It was about how I buy things now.
I used to chase the lowest quote. Now I ask three questions before any vehicle-related purchase:
- Who's installing this, and have they done it before?
- What does the warranty actually cover?
- If this fails in six months, who do I call?
That third question is why I'd probably buy Thinkware again. Not because it's perfect—no product is—but because when I had a question about our U1000 firmware, I got a real human on the phone in under ten minutes. That kind of thing is worth more than $50 in savings somewhere else.
There's something satisfying about that first time footage cleared a driver who was being blamed unfairly. After months of research, install headaches, and redo invoices, seeing that clip save someone's record—that's the payoff.
If you're a small-company admin being handed a "get us cameras" project, here's my honest take: it's doable, but double the time you think it'll take, and don't skimp on installation. Buy cameras you can support and find an installer who'll answer the phone.
And if you drive 3,000 miles a year and you've never been in a dispute? You might not need any of this. That's okay too.