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.
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.
So I told her 2008 (it's really a 2006
). 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.
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.
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.
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!