Help! Car seat was in accident...

Briden · Feb 1, 2010

My mom has one of my car seats in her car and this morning she was side-swiped.

Thank goodness, she is fine and the car is just dented a small bit and will be fine after it is fixed. However, she has my carseat in her backseat. I am wondering if she can get it replaced through insurance? DOes it cost more to go through insurance, should I just replace the carseat and not bother with insurance? Will they give her a hard time because it was a 'small accident' (I am not taking chances- i rather pay for a new carseat). ALso does it matter what kind of carseat it was? As I think I would prefer a different carseat since I am going to replace that one? WHat and how do we go about replacing this through insurance? I don't even know if we are going to be given a hard time since there's not that much damage and everyone drove away from the accident? How are insurance companies on this? (by the way- it wasn't her fault, and she has full-insurance) Thanks!

Added- I do not have the box nor the receipt for that seat since it's a couple of years old.

ctbcleveland · Feb 1, 2010

Britax is the only manufactuer that will allow seats to be used after an accident, and that is only IF certain requirements are met. So, if you have any other seat, you will need to replace it.

It seems to be a mixed bag in terms of how they respond. Some will argue with you, but if you show them the language in the manual stating that it must be replaced, that should suffice. There are lots of threads on this throughout the site - I think Jeanum did a nice summary too. I will see if I can find it.

LISmama810 · Feb 1, 2010

Your experience will vary depending on the insurance company and adjuster. Some people have no problem at all; others have to put up a fight.

Since the other person was at fault, their insurance company *should* be responsible for a replacement. If I were your mom, I'd have her go through her own insurance company and let them fight it. That's what they're there for. (I presume there's other damage that needs to be fixed?)

They'll likely give you the cost of replacing that seat, and then you can use that however you want. (In other words, don't try to get a Frontier out of them if the seat in question is a Scenera.)

What seat was it? Not all companies require their seats to be replaced after every crash. Depending on how hard the insurance company fights, that might be a stumbling point.

ctbcleveland · Feb 1, 2010

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=9575

Here is the helpful thread that Jeanum created on replacing seats.

Jonah Baby · Feb 1, 2010

Oh, fun.

Weather it becomes a fight or not with insurance, the seat cannot be reused again (with a possible exception if it was a Britax and I think Sunshine Kids allows as well.)
Some insurance companies will right you a check right away, but usually if you do not have a receipt to prove the cost, you will have to pay out of pocket and wait for a reimbursement. (I don't know how this is checked, but) the new seat should be at a comparable cost or same/similar seat which you are replacing. If you wanted something pricier, you may be able to convince them to reimburse what the original seat cost and you front the remainder to get what you want.
It all depends on the company and sometimes the adjuster specifically.

Feel free to call the manufacturer of your seat and they will be happy to send you or the insurance a letter stating that the seat is useless.

Help! Car seat was in accident...

Briden

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LISmama810

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