How Long Do You Generally Keep Car Seats?

How long do you keep a seat for?


  • Total voters
    54

MissAllyLou

New member
I'm just curious. I feel like I buy a new seat every seat 6 months or so. I bought my first seat back in 2004, it was a Flower Power Turbobooster. I have since then given that away to my cousin. In 4 years, I've owned 3 turboboosters, 2 Cargos, 1 Decathalon, 1 Marathon, 2 Boulevards, 1 Triumph Advance, 1 Monarch, 1 Safeseat1, and 1 Nautilus. Now I want a Radian, but only so I can do 3 across in my truck without having to use the SS1. I don't NEED a Radian. Sooo how long do you generally keep your seats? Arly excluded, lol, I've seen her post 4 or 5 different seats since I joined the site, lol:whistle:.
 
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TerisBoys

Well-known member
Depends. Some seats I've kept a long time, and others I swap out.

If I find seats I like I keep them. Otherwise I keep looking :)
 

MissAllyLou

New member
Depends. Some seats I've kept a long time, and others I swap out.

If I find seats I like I keep them. Otherwise I keep looking :)

Have you gotten rid of any and then regretted it? I had my DC replaced by Britax for a faulty adjuster, but now I miss it!
 

Connor's Mom

New member
Other: I plan on keeping my seats until they are outgrown, which I doubt will be the full 6 years but who knows how long it will actually be.
 

BW1426

Well-known member
If I love my seats and they continue to work out for me, I'm happy to keep them until they expire.

But, when I got my new car things worked out differently and the RFing radian just didn't work as well for me when Bubby got older because of the icky recline.

I'm really eyeing up a monterey right now. But, I'm done with convertibles for the time being...unless my circumstances drastically change.

The best part about this is that for me, all of this is previewing. When I have my own kids, I'll be able to go hog wild and actually know what I'm getting into :D
 

3acorns4Christy

New member
I keep them until they are no longer useful for me or my kids.

I have a rear-adjust Snugride...that I cannot stand. Waiting to be used as a backup seat for newbaby. I have used it for all infants I've watched, let trustworthy friends borrow it, let neighbors borrow it when they forgot theirs in their other car (that the spouse has). I may not love the seat, but it's been used a lot and will continue to be useful until expired.

Same goes for our AOE, I don't use that one a lot. But when I transport Joel's friends, I use that seat because of the quick simple height change.
 

Gypsy

Senior Community Member
If we wouldn't have had to replace dd's Marathon because of an accident I would have had it until it expired and used it for both kids.

Other than that I've had seats for anywhere from 3 months to 3 years, with average being about 18-24 months.

I have 4 seats I currently use for my kids. Dd's Parkway I think I got around February? the Monterey I got about a month ago, ds's SafeGuard I got 4? months ago and the Decathlon I got after an accident Oct of 06 and it was replaced in the summer of 2007 because of a recline mechanism malfunction.
 

christineka

New member
The first three car seats were around until expired. (The third expires in a couple months and it is just sitting.) I did sell the 5th's infant seat because I didn't like it and wanted something else for the next baby. I also sold our first turbobooster so I could get the fisher-price booster. (The tb wouldn't fit and was just being a spare.) The current 3 boosters and 5 convertibles are all being used. I plan to use them till expired or no longer usefel. Most likely they will stay until expired. 3 seats expire in 3 years.
 

safeinthecar

Moderator - CPS Technician
I chose other because the question of how long I KEEP a car seat is a far cry from the question of what is the longest I have USED a car seat. I've taught car seat classes for going on ten years now. I have quite a stash of teaching seats (though not nearly as many as I had before I left most of my original stash behind when I had to leave my ex:( I miss my seats ).

As far as the seats I actually have in rotation...I have, ahh... nine I think, no make that ten, forgot the RN. For two kids over the age of 6. Oh, and DS passes the 5 step test in 50% of cars.

The oldest seat in use currently is the Laptop, which is just turning 6.

Next up is the TB and Highrise which will both be 6 in Dec. Then the BG, which is 4, the Intera which is 3, the Husky-2, the Regent, Confidence, and RN-1

Now I'm jonesin' for one of the Canadian nnb Cleks with no armrests for the center position in the Corolla next to the RN. Anyone have a magic wand I could borrow?
 

Heather98012

New member
As long as it meets our needs. I don't like buying one if the one we have meets our needs. Do I think some are cool & drool over them? Yep. But if my dd fits in it fine, it works for us. Since she was born...one infant seat, two Evenflo Triumphs (one for each car), & now two Frontiers (again...one for each ride). That's it.

But I hate getting new cell phones, appliances, etc. I just like to stick with what I know; that & I am a freak about making decisions, so I would get an ulcer reseraching every new one before I bought it. :)
 

HEVY

New member
Well, when dd was about 4 months we traded, with a tech, her infant seat for a Touriva, which I gave to my GD when Dd was about 2. At that time she used a Summit highback booster that someone gave me until she outgrew it. It was also about to expire. Now she'll be in the Regents until she outgrows or it expires. She will most likely outgrow it first. So I guess I use my seats until she outgrows them.
 

bobbysgirl7103

New member
I keep most of our seats until they expire. The only exclusion was the infant seat which I gave to my friend who is due next month. I threw out a high back booster last year that expired and our 2 HB Turbo boosters expire next May. All the rest have a ways to go but I will keep them until the end. lol If I knew I didn't ever need it again I would probably get rid of it, but things always come up where we might need one. And I would much rather have it in the closet than try to find the money to buy a new one.
 
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Kat_Momof3

New member
It depends... if a seat gets outgrown and there is no one to use it, I get rid of it.

But my snugride that I got for Damian, I kept until I destroyed it (it was just before it would expire), because I used it for Jeffrey and Ruthie.

If we had a lot of disposable income, though, I'd probably have had more seats and switched more often - heck, I'd love to try a Madison Regent now that Ruthie's bigger... maybe she'd fit better in it than she did before... but I just can't afford it.
 

Melizerd

New member
Until it expires or it's outgrown. I only have one child though so I don't have anyone to pass things down to and I can't justify buying a new seat just because.
 

skaterbabs

Well-known member
As long as it meets our needs, we keep it. When it doesn't do so any longer, if it's usable for others I give it away, otherwise it goes in the pile of teaching seats.
 

tiggercat

New member
I haven't bought a new seat in a while. I guess since Megan turned FF in the Corolla, and I had to buy an MA to replace the Scenera, so about a year ago.
I probably won't get to buy a new seat until the MAs expire or are outgrown, and even then if there is life in Greg's parkways, she will just move to those.
ETA, Greg went through a LOT more carseats than Megan. Lets see, 2 infant seats, FP tshield (where is that embarasment icon now?), Century OHS (OMG), FPSE, FP GWM, Evenflo Express for Gramma, Laptop, Husky, Turbo for Gramma, Parkway, Parkway.
 

Jeanum

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus
Staff member
I tend to hang onto a seat until it's either outgrown by both of my kids and passed on to a relative or friend who can use the seat, or until it's crashed :eek:, or expired, whichever comes first.
 

arly1983

New member
LOL, I don't count:eek:

I can't blame you but to defend myself a little bit....I have an SS1 that was one of the first ones to roll off the assembly line and it has been used by 3 infants currantly and once #3 gets through with it, it should be almost expired.

But yeah, the rest have been easy come, easy go.

Though ,don't send out any announcements yet, I might be slowing down.....I like the Signos FFing.

There is no pefect carseat, there is only the one that meets your needs the best.
 
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TerisBoys

Well-known member
Have you gotten rid of any and then regretted it? I had my DC replaced by Britax for a faulty adjuster, but now I miss it!

Not really. I either swapped them out because they were outgrown or simply didn't work.

I miss my Elite (expired), FPSE (crashed), and my Futuras (x3 - one of which is still in use). I missed my old SR/C (expired) terribly - but I got a new one to replace it. I miss my SIV, but it had a fraying harness and I wasn't having any more kids, so keeping it around was pointless too. From time to time I want my Super Elite back, but even it would be expired by now. My Roundabout and Expressway were both outgrown when I swapped them to Peggy from iVillage for one of the Futuras.
 

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