Question Insurance and replacing seats (lots of questions)

[SPJ&E]

A decided yesterday that it was a good idea to try to come up our hill without putting the chains on. I don't know what she was thinking. So her vehicle (Xterra) slid right over into the ditch and down the hill maybe 100ft. Thankfully, she went that way and into the ditch and not the other way, over the hill...and she was alone and not hurt.

The only impact, was when it slid into the ditch and even then it wasn't much at all. The airbags didn't pop out. There is some damage (about $2,000) to the driver's side, from sliding down the ditch. A truck had to pull it out (the 2 driver side wheels were in the ditch).

The carseats in there are a Nautilus and a Radian. Going by their standards, the seats need to be replaced, right?

She has Nationwide insurance, full coverage. Will they replace them and if so, are there any tips to make that whole process easier? Do they send us a check for the amount the seats are worth or do we buy new seats and then they reimburse?

Will we have to buy the exact same seats or can we get something totally different, as long as it's in the same price range. I ask that because those are really our extra seats, so it would be nice to just get a Keyfit for the baby instead of getting another Nautilus that we really don't need.

Thanks for any help/advice you can give!

 

[kitkatkc]

I can tell you, having just been in an accident, that we didn't have to replace the car seats with the same seats. I was planning on getting DS a MR65 in a few months (when he was around 1 or so) to replace the infant seat, but since we had to get new seats, I replaced it with a MR. DD got the same seat- also a MR, since she really likes that seat.
For us, we had to fax our recipt to the insurnace, if you have a local agent, you might have to show them something else.
I have also heard of insurances wanting pictures of the seats in the car, or something along those lines.
We had no trouble getting insurance to replace the seats, and if you are already going through insurance to get the car fixed, then you won't have to pay anything else- you just pay the deductible once per accident, so if you pay your, say, $500 toward getting the car fixed, you don't have to pay it again for getting the new seats. If you were going to pay for the car to be fixed out of pocket, and not file through insurance, then your deductible would apply toward the seats, so if you have a $500 deductible, and just want the seats replaced, not the car fixed as well, then you might as well just buy new seats rather than have your rates go up for making a claim.
I hope that makes sense! I literally just finished going through all the insurance today, and am taking my car in tomorrow. (got rear-ended by an F150 going 30mph, we were stopped at a light) So glad I had both my kiddos RF, though- Both DH and I had back and neck pain, the kids were just fine, other than DS got really scared, and DD had a slight red mark from her harness.

 

[An Aurora]

I probably would not replace in that situation but if it makes you uneasy and the insurance will pay for it, why not.

I had three seats replaced and they did not have to be the same seats--just similar in price (ie not replacing a Scenera with an Advocate or something). I replaced a Marathon with a Radian.

 

[SPJ&E]

Thanks for your replies!

She already filed the claim through her insurance and went and got the estimate today (a little over $2,000). She has to pay the $500 deductible anyway, so I figured if they would replace the seats, why not go ahead and do it. I'm really not "worried" about it. If they won't replace them or it will be some big battle, we'll just drop it. There really was so little impact.

So you don't think there will be any issue or it will raise any red flags replacing a Nautilus with a Keyfit?

 

[SPJ&E]

For us, we had to fax our recipt to the insurnace, if you have a local agent, you might have to show them something else.

Did you have to show them the receipts from the original seats and they sent you a check or did you buy new seats, send them the receipts, and they reimbursed you?

One guy asked if we had the receipts, which we don't. The Nautilus was bought over 2 years ago and the Radian I got from someone on this board. So getting those receipts isn't possible.

 

[An Aurora]

Two of my crashed seats were under 2 weeks old, but I didn't have to show receipts. I just ordered new ones on Amazon and forwarded the confirmation email to my insurance adjuster, and he wrote us a check. Honestly I would be very surprised if they would even notice brands and models--they probably wouldn't notice.

 

[DarciMykell]

It all depends on the insurance company. I just had a claim with safeco and i told them what seats i had and they looked up the value and sent me a check for that amount. Then I purchased seats that I wanted.

 

[SPJ&E]

Thanks everyone!

Hopefully she will get someone good on the phone tomorrow and it won't be a big hassle!

 

[kitkatkc]

We did not have to show them the reciepts for the crashed seats, just the new ones. We bought the seats, then they sent us a reimbursement check (only, since we have USAA and DH also banks with them, they did a direct deposit so we already have the money back)
There is no way I would have had the reciept for the infant seat- it was 4 years old and bought for DD's shower. If they had contested replacing that one, frankly, I wouldn't have disagreed. After all, I got a new, convertible seat to replace a 4yo infant one.