Help with insurance replacing seat.

zactayaus

Well-known member
UPDATE in post #5!

As many of you know my MIL was in an accident and my Britax Parkway (old style) was in her car. The car was totaled. The insurance company told her that they needed the sales receipt for the seat and that they would reimburse her for the seat less 10% for each year from the DOM to the current date.:confused: Are they serious?! Is this really how it works? I'm kind of PO'd about this. I don't have the sales receipt and I'm going to get crap back to buy a new seat.:mad:
 
Last edited:
ADS

menfusse

New member
I've heard of some trying to pull that trick, claiming depreciation. I'm not sure about legalities, but you can definitely argue the "Why would I keep a receipt?" and tell them that depreciation doesn't come into play when dealing with the safety of a child. You likely will not be able to purchase that seat new, and if you could, it would not be a depreciated price. That you MUST buy new, etc. You may have to do a lot of talking and asking to talk to higher ups.

I had Geico tell me that they have people "trained to inspect car seats to see if they are safe to continue using." I had to tell them that no, such people and such training does not exist.
 

zactayaus

Well-known member
I would kick butt!

Sent from my iPod touch, sorry for any auto-correct typos!

Oh, believe me I want to! I just tried calling them but they are already closed. I will be calling again in the morning. I don't have a policy with them so I'm not sure how well it will go over but I at least want them to clarify their car seat replacement policy in case MIL got it wrong some how. I told dh about it and he's fuming now too.
 

zactayaus

Well-known member
Ok, I got MIL's claim # and spoke with the insurance adjuster today. First they tried to tell me that the seat wouldn't be covered at all because it was considered personal property since it was my seat.:rolleyes: Um, no, you are going to cover it. I told them I bought the seat for MIL to use with my son and it was her seat and it stayed in the car with her at all times. They finally agreed that it would be covered. Then she wanted to know the DOM. I told them I didn't know and that the seat was in the car and they could send someone there to check on it. She told me to just make one up.:confused: So I told her 2008 (it's really a 2006:whistle:). She asked for the make and model. I told her Britax Parkway. She then said she'd call me back.

A few hours later I got a call back from her and she wanted to know if my son was in the seat at the time of the accident. I told her no. She said well almost all car seat manufactures agree that if the child wasn't in the seat at the time of the accident that we could continue to use the seat.:eek: Again I was like um, no. I said almost all manufactures agreed that seats needed to be replaced after any accident, especially ones where there were injuries (MIL is awaiting surgery to rebuild her finger that was crushed in the accident) and where the car was totaled. I told her to go ahead and call Britax and see what they had to say. She then said ok they would cover it. She said she found one online for $120 and that she would add tax to that and then take off 10% for each year that was used on my seat.:mad: She said she was cutting a check to MIL for the amount of $89 something. I'm a little PO'd about the prorated thing but I really can't complain since I bought the PKWY that was in MIL's car for only $40.:D

So all in all it was aggravating and I did need to plead my case several times but I think it turned out ok in the end.:) Now if I had paid full price for the seat I would have put up a much bigger fight.;)

ETA: Oh, and when I argued the prorated thing to her this morning and said how would I be able to buy a new seat if I didn't get full value she said I could by a used one! I calmly explained to her that it is not ok and quite dangerous for anyone to buy a used car seat. Gah! So much misinformation!
 

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