Crashed seat... Car seat musings & Decisions

Bear with my rambling here for a minute. I'm looking for input.

So, it happened. Mere weeks after earning his driver's license, my 19 year old got in an accident on his way home from work this morning. The street was wet and slick and he slid into the car in front of him. Nobody is hurt, by all accounts a "minor" accident, but my CA 65 SE was in the car.

The damage is enough that we're making an insurance claim, so USAA is apparently going to refund me the original purchase price, which is nice. I may just recycle it and not bother replacing it right now. The money can go toward the deductible. I don't really need that seat now that my little one is at its rear-facing limits. I can use my FR85 as the "spare" seat instead. She fits the CA more comfortably (her legs are short but the rest of her is giant) but she doesn't really ride in that car much and for anything short of an emergency I can move one of her RF Radians over.

OR, since I have a free CA70 on the way which I won from Weeviews, I could use that as the replacement instead of selling it or something, which is what I'd originally planned.

Any idea whether my CA65's cover will fit the CA70? I really love the O2 pattern and I'm going to miss it. My step-daughter also really loves the O2, and one of the things I was thinking about doing with the CA70 was to give it to her to use for her 1 y.o. son. He's going to need a 3rd car seat pretty soon, although so far I've bought every car seat he's had (RXT, RA55, OB35A) so I was going to just let her buy the seat for the 3rd vehicle herself when the Onboard is finally outgrown. Whether I keep it or give it to her, it would be nice if the cover would transfer over.

Will I miss the reclining base at all? Has anybody owned both a CA LX and a non-LX version? I've only installed the non-reclining version once or twice. So far I've never used the reclined-FF position on the seat I've had; when I've installed it FF I've always had it fully upright. How hard is it to recline the CA for RF without the use of pool noodles? On the one I have, I *need* pool noodles to get it to stay reclined because the base just won't stay stable without them. I was thinking the baseless one might actually be easier to install without noodles, but if not then it's going to take like half a dozen noodles to use RF and I don't want that. Then again it may be a moot point since I'm not sure I'll really ever need to use it RF again. Though I might, for my step-daughter's toddler.

OR, I could use the money towards a Radian R120 or another Radian off the swap so I could put a RF seat in that vehicle and not have to use a FF spare seat for my roughly 40#, 40" 3 year old.

*sigh* I just don't know what to do next.

I'm pretty sure the covers would fit. From eyeballing in the store, I don't see any difference... I think they just upped the weight limit.

I've had both the one with the base and without the base. I much, much preferred the one without the base. It installed way more solidly both directions. RF, not completely insanely level to the ground, but I think the 70 should have dual lines by now!? And FF, still with a nice, natural recline. I'm actually quite a fan of it FF.

HTH. Check your fb msg soon, still mulling over AABs.

I replied to your fb message on Monday... Not that my reply is much help. I'm as confused as you are. Lol!

Thank you for your input on the baseless CA. I was starting to wonder whether they decided the baseless one is better and that's why they haven't come up with any CA 70 LX models.

Right now I'm still leaning toward finding a new home for the ca70 when it arrives and just holding in to my O2 cover in case I ever have need for a CA again in my future when they might not have that color available anymore. I know it's vain, but in the remotely possible event that there's another child in our future I want it to match my O2 infant seat...

Well, now they've changed their mind and I have to send a photo of the manual which says it must be replaced after a crash, AND I must order a new seat in order to be reimbursed. Blah.

Would it be horrible of me to order a seat, send them a copy of the receipt, and then cancel the order?

You could order from Amazon then send it back. "Wasn't quite the right choice for my child" seems more legit then ordering and cancelling. At least, that's what I'd tell myself...

I have USAA so please let me know how it goes with getting the replacement seats, I'm curious in case I ever get in a wreak. Do they require you to sent them the crashed seat? Anything else needed besides a picture of the manual and receipt for the new seat? Did you need the receipt for the old seat?

Thanks!

Ha ha, Kate. I thought about that, but I would feel worse about costing Amazon the shipping fees knowing full well I intended to send it back, than I would about just making and then canceling the order.

1Mommy:
- No, they said they will not require me to send them the crashed seat or any proof of destroying it.
- All they want is the picture of the manual and the receipt for the new seat. They said reimbursement can be direct-deposited (I have USAA banking too) and could take as little as 2 days.

If I'm going to get a replacement anyway, I'm half inclined to order from Safety 1st at the full $225 MSRP just out of spite since they won't reimburse me the $190 on my original receipt. Even though I could order from Amazon for $160.

I thought about that after I posted! Do you have to get the exact same seat? Or do you even want a new seat?

The first person, the one who told me my original receipt was sufficient for reimbursement, said they would replace it with an identical seat unless an identical seat was no longer available and then they'd do a "comparable" seat.

So, I dunno. I haven't decided whether to ask if I can get something different or not.

I am SO overthinking this.

DH thinks I should just order, send the receipt in, and then cancel the order, OR buy from Babies R Us online and then return it in the store.

One thing that I could do is buy from BRU online and then exchange it at BRU for the black CA70... which would coordinate with the cover I can keep off my old O2 model. There's a $90 difference in price so I'd come out with a new car seat and $90 to put toward our deductible.

What has me doubting this plan is that I also have a CA70 on the way already and I could just keep that if I'm going to keep a CA at all. But it's not black and it won't match my O2 style cover, which I love.

OR, I could ask USAA to buy me another FR85 instead, which I can get at Albeebaby for $199 so that's only $10 more than my original purchase price of the CA65, and $40 less than buying the same seat from BRU. That might make sense because DD is too big to RF in the CA anyway. But I'm conflicted on this because she doesn't seem as comfortable in the FR85 as she does FF in the CA, due to her short little legs not bending at the edge of the FR85.

On the other hand, she's still rear-facing in Radians in the vehicles we actually drive regularly, and maybe by the time she has to FF full time she will have grown into the Frontier and be more comfortable in that than in the CA. If I'm going to take a long trip with her at the size she is now, she's going to be rear-facing even if it means moving a Radian to the other car.

And then there's the simple fact that this is a "spare" seat which I don't really need anyway. I can put the FR85 I already have in that vehicle, sell, return, or cancel the new car seat, sell the CA70 that's on its way now, and that would be the end of it. Then again, I should probably try the FR85 in the pickup truck before I do that. One of the reasons we kept the CA65 in the first place is that it works with the pickup's funky seat belts and the Radian does not. I don't want to be stuck later finding out that none of the seats I own work in the pickup.

Argh. I can't decide! Someone decide for me!

Try FR85 first, get that if it works.

By the way, in case it makes any difference as far as a recommendation, my daughter just turned 3 a couple of weeks ago, and has a 15" torso height. So she *might* make it to 5 in the CA, but it's a toss-up. I'm kind of expecting that she'll some day be riding in all Frontiers.

It would be a lot more logical for me to have a SureRide for her spare seat, wouldn't it? But I really *like* the CA. And it's so handy for car pooling with the no-rethread harness. And I'm not in love with the Defender. The CA actually gets as much use for other kids riding in our car as it does for Aeryn.

I have both and no the lx doesn't fit a regular. The fronts are different. I want to say when looked at the seats when I got them the lx buttons on in the front so you can get to the recline lever. And the regular folds over the front to stay on.

Personally I'd get a new lx, sell the won seat, and have DS pay for part of the deductible.

^ oops! I thought you meant a regular 65 cover on a 70. My bad. But her plan sounds good.

Actually we may have DS pay the whole deductible eventually, but right now he's got $6 to his name. His current job only barely/almost covers what his rent is going to be during the school year, and his first rent payment was due today so there's nothing left. He did sign a contract for a 2nd job today for the university newspaper, so hopefully I'm not going to have to buy ALL his groceries while he's at school.

Ok, so that's good to know about the covers. Disappointing, but good to know. Yeah, the SE is an LX with fancier fabric.

I'll try the Frontier in DH's pickup truck tomorrow morning and see how that goes. It might be a more logical choice if I can get it.

Some insurance don't care what you buy just how much the old one was and how much the new one is. Our crash I had a SR32 and MA70. The new seats are Blvd70 G3 and Fr90. I didn't have receipts and found both seats in the covers on an expensive site. I had to pay $80 out of pocket for the new ones. They gave me $420 and the new seats were $500. Which was fine by me. The sr32 I got new with tags on CL for $40 and the ma70 I got during tru trade in for $175.

They specifically said they'd buy me an "identical" seat unless it was no longer available, in which case they'd buy me a "comparable" seat. Since I already sent them the original receipt they know what I have... if I buy something different I'd better clear it with them first.

I can find a Canyon FR85 for $199... any leads on either (a) a better price, or (b) a better color? If the cost is about the same I suspect they might be willing to buy me a different seat.

Well, the FR85 is not incompatible with the pickup, but I think it will need the long belt path (I didn't try the SBP, but due to the long, rigid belt stalk I don't have much hope for it, plus with no tether anchor I really prefer LBP anyway).

I am not, however, feeling super confident in my husband's ability to install a FR85 with LBP in that vehicle. The CA65's belt path is a lot more straightforward...

Which brings up the other theoretical possibility of a FR90, which might be a good choice for a seat which my DH may need to be able to install himself or move from one vehicle to another. I wonder whether I could talk USAA into that one. :/

I switched my ca65 out with my lx so I got pictures for you

Yeah, once you pointed out the fact that the LX has a cut-out for the handle, I practically did a facepalm.



I still haven't decided exactly what to do next.