CAMom Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Hi Everyone, We were in a fairly minor accident about 10 days ago. We were hit from behind on the freeway in the midst of stop and go traffic. Nobody suffered any substantial injury (I had a bit of a stiff back for a few days and went to see my chiro a couple of times but, other than that, nothing.) I'm thinking we need to replace our car seat? Our little guy is 4 and uses a Britax Frontier. We still use it in the 5 point harness position. He weighs about 45 pounds. We figure we were probably hit at about 15-20 mph. The damage to our Odyssey will cost about $900 to repair because the bumper will need to be removed and sent out. Would you replace your car seat no matter what in this instance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I think that is the recommendation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 You want it operating at 100% effectiveness if you have another, more serious collision. That's what it's for, after all! I was in an accident when DD was 15 months old. Her car seat and God's angels saved her life--no question about it. I take this very, very seriously because of that experience. You just never know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjzimmer1 Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Absolutely, and talk to your insurance company - they should cover some if not all the cost of replacing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nakia Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Yes, definitely replace it. This same thing happened to us, and the other guy's insurance agent tried to argue with me about it. I asked for his supervisor and that gentleman was very happy to pay for three new car seats in full. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted December 29, 2009 Author Share Posted December 29, 2009 Yes, definitely replace it. This same thing happened to us, and the other guy's insurance agent tried to argue with me about it. I asked for his supervisor and that gentleman was very happy to pay for three new car seats in full. :D Yeah, the guy's insurance adjuster told us he could just give us a check for $75 for the car seat no questions asked. BUT, our car seat is worth $279! He didn't promise us anything at that point but said we could purchase a new seat and then give him the receipt and the old car seat for reimbursement. I'm wondering if we give them the old car seat if they will look at it and say there's no damage and then not pay for the new one. What a hassle this has been! Fortunately for us a highway patrol officer actually witnessed the accident so we should have no trouble at all with the other guy being found at fault. He felt so bad for hitting us. I felt sorry for him. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tidbits of Learning Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Yeah, the guy's insurance adjuster told us he could just give us a check for $75 for the car seat no questions asked. BUT, our car seat is worth $279! He didn't promise us anything at that point but said we could purchase a new seat and then give him the receipt and the old car seat for reimbursement. I'm wondering if we give them the old car seat if they will look at it and say there's no damage and then not pay for the new one. What a hassle this has been! Fortunately for us a highway patrol officer actually witnessed the accident so we should have no trouble at all with the other guy being found at fault. He felt so bad for hitting us. I felt sorry for him. :) We were in a wreck a few years ago and replaced 3 car seats. They never gave us a price limit. They just required that we purchase it up front and give them copies of the receipts. If they say $75 or balk at the replacement cost and you have full coverage insurance, contact your insurance company to see if you have the type of insurance that covers what their insurance does not cover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenneinCA Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 We were in an accident many years ago and in order to get reimbursed for the car seats we did have to give up the old ones. We took the old car seat and the receipt for the new seat to the insurance guy and in about 2 weeks we had a check for the new seats. It was pretty painless. There wasn't a problem with them saying the seat didn't need to be replaced, I think they wanted to know we were replacing the seat with a comparable cost one. We did, we replaced Graco that cost about $100 with another Graco that cost about $100. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I would replace it no matter what. My husband and daughter were in an accident where no one was injured, but we replaced the seat anyways. It holds precious cargo and I wanted it functioning at 100%. It's nothing to take a chance on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Yeah, the guy's insurance adjuster told us he could just give us a check for $75 for the car seat no questions asked. BUT, our car seat is worth $279! He didn't promise us anything at that point but said we could purchase a new seat and then give him the receipt and the old car seat for reimbursement. I'm wondering if we give them the old car seat if they will look at it and say there's no damage and then not pay for the new one. What a hassle this has been! Fortunately for us a highway patrol officer actually witnessed the accident so we should have no trouble at all with the other guy being found at fault. He felt so bad for hitting us. I felt sorry for him. :) Call your ins. company and have them help you talk with the other guys ins. company. You pay for ins. for this reason. When I was rear-ended with my dd it was clearly the other person's fault, but my ins. company took care of all negotiations and got things paid for that I had not even thought about. $75 won't buy any 5 pt harness carseat for a 4 yr old, and they should give allow you to buy the exact same seat that was damaged. The ins. company cannot look at the seat and determine if it has been damaged, so don't let them try to pull that on you. The damage may not be visible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted December 29, 2009 Author Share Posted December 29, 2009 Thank you all for the input!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OHGrandma Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Yeah, the guy's insurance adjuster told us he could just give us a check for $75 for the car seat no questions asked. BUT, our car seat is worth $279! He didn't promise us anything at that point but said we could purchase a new seat and then give him the receipt and the old car seat for reimbursement. I'm wondering if we give them the old car seat if they will look at it and say there's no damage and then not pay for the new one. What a hassle this has been! Fortunately for us a highway patrol officer actually witnessed the accident so we should have no trouble at all with the other guy being found at fault. He felt so bad for hitting us. I felt sorry for him. :) Requesting the old seat may be their way of making sure the old seat is disposed of, instead of ending up in a second hand store. I'd keep some documentation of the make and model of the seat, and the cost of an equivalent seat. They should replace it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsanmb Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 If your insurance company doesn't want the seats, I think Britax likes to take them back to do testing on them after an accident for their own research purposes. You can call them and they'll send you a postage paid box/label for this purpose. That way you don't have to worry someone will take the seat out of the trash and use it when it could potentially not be effective. I rear ended someone (she had stopped dead in the left lane of a major state highway, just around a curve, didn't see her) and all my kids were in the car. Thank G-d no one was hurt, but the insurance company (USAA) replaced all the seats (Monterrey booster, Graco Nautilus, Britax Marathon) no questions asked even though I was 'at fault.' Graco and Britax both sent me labels/boxes for the old seats so they could do research on them. Keep the covers though, they don't care about those and it's always nice to have an extra lying around for when someone gets carsick or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty in Pink Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I'd call you ins. company. We have USAA and they do all of the negotiating for us. The cost of a new seat should be completely covered. Seventy-five bucks obviously won't replace your seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy loves Bud Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Hi Everyone, We were in a fairly minor accident about 10 days ago. We were hit from behind on the freeway in the midst of stop and go traffic. Nobody suffered any substantial injury (I had a bit of a stiff back for a few days and went to see my chiro a couple of times but, other than that, nothing.) I'm thinking we need to replace our car seat? Our little guy is 4 and uses a Britax Frontier. We still use it in the 5 point harness position. He weighs about 45 pounds. We figure we were probably hit at about 15-20 mph. The damage to our Odyssey will cost about $900 to repair because the bumper will need to be removed and sent out. Would you replace your car seat no matter what in this instance? Yes, you should replace it. That stiffness in your back? That's force that may have been absorbed by the carseat your son was sitting in. I wouldn't mess around with it. Can you let your own insurance deal with their insurance on the reimbursement? I wouldn't want to deal with that myself. Sorry about the wreck. We were rear-ended by a drunk driver (best estimate he was going about 70, we were going about 35) several years ago, and I still panic when I see someone coming up fast behind us. Even when everyone is fine, it's still a frightening experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAMom Posted December 29, 2009 Author Share Posted December 29, 2009 Sorry about the wreck. We were rear-ended by a drunk driver (best estimate he was going about 70, we were going about 35) several years ago, and I still panic when I see someone coming up fast behind us. Even when everyone is fine, it's still a frightening experience. Yep. My husband and I are both a little skittish now every time we see someone coming up on us in the rear view mirror. Off to buy a new car seat.:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 I know you are already convinced and off to buy a new one but just putting this out there. Carseats should ALWAYS be replaced after an accident no matter what. My car was hit when it was parked outside our house. The seats were unoccupied but they were still replaced by our insurance company and the old seats properly disposed of. If you aren't sending them back to the manufacturer, you need to dispose of them properly: Take off the covers. Cut all of the straps so they can't be used. Write "Do Not Use" on the base. Throw away the base and covers/straps separated. Ideally, put the base inside a trash bag so it isn't easily recognizable as a seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaterbabs Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 What you describe does not meet Britax's standards for reusal because you were injured. Your son's seat should be replaced immediately. Don't allow them to set a dollar limit. They should replace your seat with the sme or equivalent seat. In other words, a new Frontier. Ask where to fax your reciept and DO NOT settle the claim (or cash any checks) until you are paid in full. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.