Need 3 new seats after accident

[Unregistered]

I was rear ended yesterday and am looking to replace our carseats. I drive an 08 grand caravan with two seats in the third row and one in the middle. Currently we have: 4 (almost 5) year old 42ish inches tall and around 38 pounds in a nautilus 5pt harness; 3 year old 38ish inches around 35 pounds in a true fit; both of those seats are in the third row, installed with a seatbelt as the latch is only in one seat position and off centered. The third seat is a rf marathon with my 18 month old who is 24pounds and I'm not sure of height, but I want her rf. I'm trying to decide what I want to get for seats, going to be calling the insurance company today to find out how I go about replacing them.

Also, do you think they are going to give me a hard time about replacing my seats? It was low impact, I was stopped at a light and hit hard enough to throw me forward in my seat and it caused abrasions somehow on my harnessed 4 year olds back (not sure how, she is correctly restrained, no jacket in the seat and no wiggle room in the straps). One seat was unoccupied (the truefit). Where do intake my argument if they do give me a hard time?

Also wanted to know what I do with the old seats, since they are no longer useable. I was thinking remove the straps and covers from the seats and dispose of those separate from the seats?

 

[DAR]

I am not a CPS, but wanted to say my DH and I were both rear-ended last year. My DH was only lightly rear-ended but I had him tell the insurance agent that I had read online that they should be replaced. I think I also checked with the companies for the seats. We had a Graco Nautilus that we had replaced in that accident.

In my accident it was a clear replacement argument as the car that rear ended me was declared totalled (driver fell asleep at the wheel). I know the TrueFit in there was a replace in accident and I think the Britax Frontier was a maybe because DS was not in it . The insurance replaced everything and there were no questions because of the type of accident. Neither of the insurance companies asked for the seats back so I damaged them and cut the straps. I kept the seat covers so I had back ups for my current seats.

Look around on this forum and google the companies and see their policies then push the insurance agent. The agent that looked at DH's truck said the seat did not need to be replaced (DS was not in it at the time of accident), but when I stated the facts from online he said send them the receipt for the new seat. I would gently push because you did have contact with another car. I would have felt guilty if something happened down the road with one of those car seats and I had not pushed.

Here is a link to Graco's information:
http://www.gracobaby.com/CustomerService/Pages/FAQ.aspx?page=FAQ
"Yes. You must replace your child's car seat if it was involved in an accident, no matter what. Even if there appears to be no damage to the car seat on the surface, the impact and force of a collision can cause unseen structural damage to the interior of your car seat. Any such damage may prohibit your car seat from properly protecting your child in the event of a sudden stop or crash.

Some insurance carriers will reimburse you for the replacement of a new car seat if it was in a crash. Check with your insurance carrier for more details."

 

[Phineasmama]

Different insurance companies have different policies about replacing seats, so you'll have to check with them on that. But I just wanted to say don't get rid of the crashed car seats before you get the whole situation taken care of. I have heard of insurance companies asking people to turn in their crashed car seats to be disposed of, and maybe as proof that you're actually using the money to buy new seats?

But if they don't end up taking the seats from you, take the covers off (you could sell those on ebay), cut the straps of the seats and take the buckles off (throw those away separately). You can also write "CRASHED" on the shell of the seat once all that is done so that hopefully no one would take it from the trash and attempt to use it. You really never know with people!!

 

[Jeanum]

Hope you and yours feel better soon. This post entitled Crashed Carseat Replacement and Insurance in the Articles and Reviews section of the forum could be helpful for you. It also cites the relevant state insurance codes in Illinois and in California where insurance companies are required to cover replacement of occupied crashed carseats if you happen to be located in either of those states, or to use as added leverage with the insurance company even if you don't reside there, in addition to other tips.

 

[Unregistered]

I just got off the phone with the insurance company of the other driver (he was at fault, I was stopped and he hit us) and he hadn't even started a claim yet!?!? So I opened a claim and they said they need to get a statement from him prior to agreeing to pay for the carseats, but that we can go ahead and do what we feel we need to, then if/when they agree to replace them we just send in the receipts.

So now I need advice on seats!! I was thinking about 3 Diono radian rxt seats, but didn't know if there was something else people recommend. I'm not sure I'm ready to booster my 4 year old....she will be 5 at the end of feb, but still often falls asleep in the car.

 

[Stelvis]

I would not buy a Radian for a forward facing only child. They just aren't tall enough to last that long with a 4-5 year old. And you can't use it as a booster til 50 lbs, at which point your child will have already outgrown it by height.

 

[Phineasmama]

For the 4-5 year old you could look at the Evenflo Securekid, Graco Nautilus or Argos, Britax frontier 85, Recaro Prosport. I agree I would not buy a radian for an almost 5 year old.

 

[minismom]

Just FYI my dd is almost 6 and pretty much the size of yours, maybe she s 43", and she has less than an inch before she outgrows her radian ff. I think it's a tricky age to get a seat because you need the harness for now but then if you want to switch to booster, at least for me none of the combination seats really worked well in booster mode for my petite dd so I had to buy new seats. But at least you have younger kids to pass them down to if that happens. I vote frontier for your two oldest.