Vent Carseats and Insurance Companies

ericarizo

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #1

I was told by my Insurance company yesterday that they will not cover my Son(6yrs, 52lbs) or his seat FR85 in the event of an accident because I had it installed incorrectly. I am using the TA and they informed me that even thought the CR manual says it must be TT between 65-85lbs that my vehicle manual specifically states a 48lb limit and since Washington is a proper usage state I must abide by that???? I am not sure what to do? I can booster him as he is trained.

 

Carrie_R

Ambassador - CPS Technician

• Oct 11, 2011

• #2

You're in the realm of parental decision, so your options are either to 1) use the Frontier harnessed but untethered, 2) booster him, or 3) continue to use the Frontier as you have, understanding that it is against guidelines.

I am hard-pressed to believe that insurance would pay so much attention, given that 90% of seats are incorrectly installed -- do they deny claims to every one? How do they tell if the seat was installed properly or not in the first place?

How did this discussion come about?

 

ericarizo

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #3

When they came out to my van to do the inspection they asked for the Children's information, manuals for all the seats and my vehicle manual as well. I have no idea what the process is and how they decide who's claims to deny or not. All I know is what I was told. The guy doing the inspection also knew which seats could be tethered while RF. He obviously knows his information.

 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador

• Oct 11, 2011

• #4

I'm not sure how insurance companies work in the U.S., but do they cover medical costs for the child? If so, did you ask them if he would be covered if he was unrestrained or just in a seat belt? (assuming both of those methods are illegal in your state)

I am impressed that the guy actually knew LATCH anchor limits for your vehicle and read the child seat manual!

Our of curiosity, does your vehicle manual state the LATCH limit in it? If not, where did he get it? Did he use the LATCH manual, have contact with the vehicle manufacturer, etc? If your manual doesn't state it, I'd be inclined to argue that you followed your vehicle manual which did not address the issue and you're not willing to risk your child's life on information from a source that is not the vehicle manufacturer (LATCH manual or insurance guy).

 

Brianna

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #5

Have you looked into switching insurance companies, or is this the result of switching companies?

 

ericarizo

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #6

Yes my vehicle manual states the limits. We just switched to this company. We went with them because they replace the seats after any kind of accident and after getting hit by a guy who's inaurance(State Farm) did not replace my seats I wanted a company that would.

 

Brianna

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #7

I would look at the cost/ benefit. Are you saving premiums with this company, with identical coverage limits? If it is, then it's up to you if you want to booster him to have his seat covered. If you are paying more in premiums, or have less coverage, it might make more sense to go with another company that may refuse to pay for replacement *if you would be able to buy brand new replacements for equal to or less than the difference in premiums*

 

TechnoGranola

Forum Ambassador

• Oct 11, 2011

• #8

ericarizo said:

Yes my vehicle manual states the limits. We just switched to this company. We went with them because they replace the seats after any kind of accident and after getting hit by a guy who's inaurance(State Farm) did not replace my seats I wanted a company that would.

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I'd still ask if they cover children that are unrestrained or restrained in a seat belt only. If they cover improperly restrained children, then they cover them regardless of how they were improperly restrained.

ETA: and I am meaning medical coverage for child or whatever else directly related to the child. Not referring to coverage of the actual seat at all.

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2011

Baylor

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #9

Hmm, how can they not cover the seats if the manuals state that they are not usable after a crash?

They have to cover property damage do they not?

 

carseatcoach

Carseat Crankypants

• Oct 11, 2011

• #10

They don't have to cover seats. The issue is not whether the carseats are useable or not, but whether the policy is written to cover carseats. Not covering seats doesn't necessarily mean that the insurance company thinks the seats are safe: it may mean that the insurance policy does not cover carseats and is therefore not responsible for the replacement.

 

tam_shops

New member

• Oct 11, 2011

• #11

Am I missing something or could you remove the tether, re-do the inspection and then leave. Re-tether and use it that way. Do not tell (or mention to them) that it is tethered and if there is an accident, un-tether it before you submit the seat for replacement. Or would they be able to tell that it's tethered when there was a crash?

I wonder how they get around something like that here, ALL seats must have top tether...

tam

 

swtgi1982

New member

• Oct 19, 2011

• #12

What company is this?


And state farm will replace seats. Mine just replaced last March three unoccupied seats. They tried the arguing the NHTSA reuse guidelines and make them fit their benefit. But I asked for a supervisor and told them exactly where their adjuster was twisting the one rule to fit their need and asked it to be read to me word for word while I had a copy right in front of me and when they read it back misquoted I read it back to them word for word. They tried to tell me the no one injured rule said child in seat was no injured and since unoccupied that was impossible. I then informed them that it said any vehicle occupant injury deems it needing replacement. Needless to say the guy about flipped that I knew my stuff. Getting tough with insurances is what you need to do sometimes.

 

ericarizo

New member

• Oct 19, 2011

• #13

Farmers.

 

J

jnamommy

New member

• Oct 19, 2011

• #14

Wow, I am shocked that the ins company looked at your vehicle, let alone your seats. I have never shown my vehicle or my seats to any insurance company. And after our crash in 2009, byt the time I turned the seats over to the ins, they had already been uninstalled.

 

swtgi1982

New member

• Oct 19, 2011

• #15

jnamommy said:

Wow, I am shocked that the ins company looked at your vehicle, let alone your seats. I have never shown my vehicle or my seats to any insurance company. And after our crash in 2009, byt the time I turned the seats over to the ins, they had already been uninstalled.

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Also many EMTs will take kids out in their seats at the scene of an accident so thus the adjuster would only see a seat and not an installed one. But with the frontier's rip stitch tether it would be hard to hide it being tethered on impact.

 

jeminijad

New member

• Oct 19, 2011

• #16

I'm SHOCKED that an insurance adjuster paid that much attention- and kind of irritated that they nitpicked like that.

 

Judi

CPST/Firefighter

• Oct 19, 2011

• #17

jeminijad said:

I'm SHOCKED that an insurance adjuster paid that much attention- and kind of irritated that they nitpicked like that.

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:yeahthatmad:

 

J

Jenny

New member

• Oct 19, 2011

• #18

This nitpickiness concerns me about Farmer's coverage at all. So in the event of the accident, they can come up with several things regarding poor installation, ie reverse it and say well proper use dictates that you follow the CR manual and b/c you didnt use the top tether you negated the seat's recommendations completely and therefore we won't cover you bec. that car seat is not compatible with your car and kid??

I am also very leery of them saying we wont cover the child at all for medical needs? That doesn't seem right at all . Heck you can have a BAC way over the limit and kill someone and still have your medivac paid for.

on second thought, if the person documented it you know what Farmer's just did: they just wrote a clause into your personal car insurance policy that says they will only cover seats and child personal injury in the event of perfect car seat usage. i dont know if it would stand up in court, but it costs way more that a couple of seats to find out :-( stinky, cut them!

 

Last edited: Oct 19, 2011