Caitilin Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I need to replace the car seats my dc were in in our rollover this week. Ds5 was in an evenflo triumph, and dd9 was in a booster seat. If possible, I'd like to replace the triumph with a good solid 5pt-harness-to-booster option, if it exists at a reasonable price. Can you advise me? I'm not sure how much the insurance will be willing to reimburse for, so that's a consideration as well. Money is always tight, but especially now that we have to figure out a new-to-us van as well. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
advocateteacher Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 my insurance allowed me to replace for the same model, I had to buy it but then submitted the receipt and they paid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
advocateteacher Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 they will likely give you the amount your old seats cost to replace them now--same model. I doubt they will allow you to use the opportunity to upgrade but with the money you can do whatever you want I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I would look at the Graco Nautilus to replace the Triumph. It goes from a harnessed seat to a high-back booster to backless. They are around $150. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaners Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 We have Britax 85s for our boosters. My husband has our van so I can't check our other seats right now, but I'm pretty sure my 2 year old is in a Triumph and almost too tall for it. But he is tall! My kids have long torsos or something. We looked at other seats like the Nautilus, but the bottom buckle position didn't work for my girls. Our 85s were less than $200 each from Amazon, and we were able to buy Amazon cards from a local store to get rewards points on the purchase which lowered our actual cost even further. There are many less expensive options out there, but we went with the 85s because they were the only booster with a harness that my then-5 year old could fit into for more than a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 No advice on the carseats, but I'm glad you and your family are OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommyof4ks Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I second the Nautilus if you can swing the difference between that and the old seat. My 8 yr old just outgrew the harness a couple of months ago (he is tall but very skinny with long legs). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamakelly Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I had to replace carseats twice, and both times I just sent them the reciepts and they mailed me a check. Didn't matter if I bought the same seat or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I'll be the third for the Graco Nautilus. It looks like Wal-Mart has the cheapest price at ~$139. We had one for my 8yo who just graduated to a booater without a back and have one for my 5yo who is still harnessed. I ended up not using the Nautilus' booster without the back for my 8yo because I didn't like the way it worked for him in our van's 3rd row. I am using a cheap-o Graco no-back booster with him because I preferred the way the seatbelt went across his hips and shoulder. I suppose technically according to state law we could go without it, but again, I didn't like where the seatbelt hit him n his body. My other favorite seat is the MyRide 65. My youngest (3yo) semi-recently switched to forward facing in her seat. I love that both the Nautilus and the MyRide seats have deep wings by the child's head and I find that Graco's LATCH system is far easier to install and adjust than I did when we had Evenflo seats. So sorry to hear about your accident. I guarantee there's no NADA type book that your claims adjuster is going to reference in order to figure out your car seat's value. While I don't think you should buy the most expensive seat possible, I doubt they're going to go crazy on requiring you to justify the cost when it comes to what they will reimburse you for. Replace your seats and if money is an issue, can they do some sort of property damage settlement so that you can get the money first? ETA: Love the reviews over at Carseat Blog - http://carseatblog.com/reviews . You might also find their fourms helpful (http://www.car-seat.org/) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 We have Safety First Alpha Omega Elite seats for DS in both our vehicles now. Great price at Costco (like $99). They go from 6 lb.- 35 rear facing, and convert to a booster forward facing. They can also be re-adjusted for harness strap height without uninstalling. I will say, the rear facing Scenera seat in our accident (I.e. the least expensive convertible rear to front seat on the market) performed beautifully in our accident. Not a scratch on DS (he was in the back seat middle of our Impala). So even the "cheap" seats do the job they're designed to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K&Rs Mom Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 We have Safety First Alpha Omega Elite seats for DS in both our vehicles now. Great price at Costco (like $99). That's what we had when mine were babies, and what I'm going to get for next baby. They're going on sale $20 off at Costco later this month (the twentysomethingth, can't remember the date). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RkyMtnMom Posted July 20, 2013 Share Posted July 20, 2013 I have to agree with all the other that say Graco Nautilus. We love ours! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeganCupcake Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 We have Safety First Alpha Omega Elite seats for DS in both our vehicles now. Great price at Costco (like $99). They go from 6 lb.- 35 rear facing, and convert to a booster forward facing. They can also be re-adjusted for harness strap height without uninstalling. I will say, the rear facing Scenera seat in our accident (I.e. the least expensive convertible rear to front seat on the market) performed beautifully in our accident. Not a scratch on DS (he was in the back seat middle of our Impala). So even the "cheap" seats do the job they're designed to do. From what I have read written by CPSTs on car-seat.org, the AOE doesn't make a great seat on the smaller or bigger ends of its usable weight ranges. It doesn't have very high harness slots for forward facing, so it's quickly outgrown in harness mode, and it is not a very good booster because it doesn't position the seatbelt very well. From the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety: Two boosters are not recommended because they don't provide proper belt fit, and consumers are advised to avoid them. The Safety 1st All-in-One and Safety 1st Alpha Omega Elite, both made by Dorel Juvenile Group Inc., are older designs first evaluated in 2009. These models are 3-in-1s that can be used as rear-facing and forward-facing child restraints with a built-in harness. They can be converted to boosters by removing the harness and using lap and shoulder belts to restrain a child. Although these seats should work well as child restraints, they aren't the best option for boosters because they leave the lap belt too high on the abdomen and the shoulder belt too far out on the shoulder. I'd go with a Graco Nautilus in your situation. It's a very good seat with a long lifespan at a fairly reasonable price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 We have high backs on our vehicle seats, so only need the booster until they can move into an inexpensive backless booster. My DS fit just fine into it as a small infant (granted, he was 9 lb., so a large newborn). And a big reason I like it is that it stays rear-facing to 35 lb. DS is well past 2 and I still have him rear facing in our van (though I'll be turning him around soon). If I had heftier/stockier children (or one inclined to misbehave in the carseat like my niece was as a preschooler) I might look for something more robust, but I doubt DS is going to outgrow the 5 pt. harness before his third birthday, and he's ~50th %ile for height. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaCEmom Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Another Nautilus fan here! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I'd go for the Nautilus as well, if it fits in the budget. Barring that, my 4.5yo is in the harness part of the Evenflo Maestro and will be for a while longer, at which point, it will still work as a booster. The Maestro is less expensive than the Nautilus but only converts to a high-back booster, not a backless one like the Nautilus does. We've had two Maestros; the newer one is a bit nicer in some minor ways, but its buckles are also harder to use. The 4.5yo cannot buckle and unbuckle it himself because his fingers just aren't strong enough (whereas on the old one, he could do the buckles just fine), so that's a consideration. But overall, we really like the Maestro. Fwiw, when we were rear-ended last fall and had to replace our seats, the other person's insurance company gave us full replacement cost for the seats. I did replace them with the exact same seats, just the more current models, but that was mainly because I couldn't find something in a similar price range that fit our needs better than what we already had. My older two kids were in a rollover accident a few years ago, although I wasn't with them (DH was), and when I saw how badly the vehicle was crunched, I about threw up. Lost a very nice vehicle that day, but it did its job -- my precious children walked away without a scratch, and my dear husband suffered one scrape on an elbow. So, so glad your family is okay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 My other favorite seat is the MyRide 65. My youngest (3yo) semi-recently switched to forward facing in her seat. I love that both the Nautilus and the MyRide seats have deep wings by the child's head and I find that Graco's LATCH system is far easier to install and adjust than I did when we had Evenflo seats. I love the MyRide as well; my second son was rear-facing in it until he was 3. We had to turn my 2yo forward-facing in the MyRide for a little while recently (because it was the only way it fit in one vehicle, while another vehicle was in the shop), and he was very comfortable that way as well. (He's back to being rear-facing in it and will remain so until we need it for the baby, at which point he'll get DS2's Maestro, and DS2, who will be 6 by that point, will get some sort of booster.) The only problem is that I had to remove the head support when he was forward-facing; because it kept his head from flopping to the side, his head flopped forward too much. I figured to the side was better. Now, rear-facing, with a deeper recline, the head support is really nice. The newest version (the one I got in November, 2012) is really, really padded. It's a huge seat, though. I don't think it would fit the OP's needs very well, though, because the harness won't last her son more than another year or so, most likely. But for anyone else looking, I would highly recommend this seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustybug Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 Nautilus fan here too. I'd actually avoid the AOE. I had one and both of the children who used it outgrew the harness in height LONG LONG before they were ready to move out of the harness. It was honestly, a waste of money for us. I've read in other forums that this happens often with that seat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted July 21, 2013 Share Posted July 21, 2013 I would go with a Nautilus for the younger. For the 9 year old, a Harmony Literider inexpensive backless booster if average or larger, or a high-backed Turbo booster if on the small side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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