To be slightly concerned about the amount of car seats for sale in Facebook groups?

[FirstOfHerName]

They're always "in good condition" or "never been in an accident" but seriously, why buy a second-hand car seat from a total stranger when you can get them brand new for under £50? Or am I just being PFB?

I don't know, a sub £50 car seat or an expensive second hand one with a higher rating. Not sure new is the best choice in that situation. I am also sceptical about the need for new all the time.

I'll try and sell mine when they're not being used, I expect a lot of people with not much cash would think it better to spend £10 on a maxicosi used seat than spend £30 on a new unbranded one. And people are always after spares as well.

I think people's perception of risk is totally off the mark to be honest. It's far more likely that a child will be injured by a used buggy, highchair or toy that then breaks than by a used car seat. Sure the potential impact of a bad car crash if your car seat is not up to scratch could be very bad, but the chances of both the bad car crash and the second hand seat being unsafe are very small.

I didn't mean sub £50, I meant a lot cheaper than that but wasn't concentrating!

I wouldn't buy one second hand (and luckily can afford not to do so) but have sold mine on.

I know they haven't been in an accident, and I know they are in date. They were also extended rear facing seats, so cost a fortune (and sold for £50 or so, so people got a real bargain!) or a hbb for £20ish which cost £150+ new.

Each to their own.

Why do some people become so overly invested in strangers life choices?

Why buy anything second hand

I could accept a strangers word that it hasn't been in a crash or dropped from the attic hatch or something.
I do understand selling them, I do but I could rest at night owning one and I buy majority second hand.

Couldnt*

So just don't contribute towards it yourself.

I would neither buy nor sell a second hand car seat for the same reason that you wouldn't.

If we're concerned about buying safety-critical items second-hand, because we don't know what invisible defects they might have, I'd be far more concerned about buying cars second-hand than car seats. Yet no-one is calling people irresponsible for buying second-hand cars.

People are mostly batshit when it comes to thinking about safety. The vast majority of people are statistically illiterate and base their decisions on imagination rather than rationality and probability.

1983

I was quite worried about that happening when I chucked a very expensive infant seat that had been in a serious crash, so I smashed it up with a hammer before chucking it

So just like being left in a car then. Temperatures in cars can get quite extreme and the seat could be exposed to the sun all day, every day.

No, the temperatures in a car don't get that extreme relatively speaking and certainly not in quick succession, plus most of the sun's rays can't penetrate a car window, plus the plastic is covered in fabric.

Also, if the plastic is so perishable, then how do they get away with the group 1,2,3?

I wouldn't even hesitate, as the chances it has been in an accident are very low.

I saw a nearly-new pram-cum-pushchair, a bassinet, and a car seat in a Charity shop the other week. All 3 for £90. A lady who was expecting (quite soon,) bought them. She was chuffed to ribbons. It was a steal! The pram alone was worth about £400! There was nothing wrong with anything, they were obviously given away because they weren't needed any longer. Why do people assume they must have been in an 'accident?'

NHS recommendations are to buy new. However ignore them imaginative, irrational bastards because Man10 from MN said it's ok

If we're concerned about buying safety-critical items second-hand, because we don't know what invisible defects they might have, I'd be far more concerned about buying cars second-hand than car seats. Yet no-one is calling people irresponsible for buying second-hand cars.

This is actually an interesting point IMO. I'm pregnant. My new car seat - because I'm paranoid and risk-averse - will go in the back seat of my creaky 20 yo Merc. Elsewhere it's second-hand Bugaboos and cribs all the way.

People are mostly batshit when it comes to thinking about safety. The vast majority of people are statistically illiterate and base their decisions on imagination rather than rationality and probability.

I do agree with this generally. It's like when you get a 'can i leave my baby asleep in the cot while a pop down the road to post a letter'. All the responses are usually of the 'hell no, what if you get knocked over by a bus/get mugged/have a stroke/get abducted by aliens' until someone comes along and points out that actually, if any of those things happened, then the baby would be safer at home in its cot than out with the parent. Risk assessment is often based on imagination rather than statical safety, although generally most of us get by ok.

I'm sure the NHS wouldn't recommend leaving your baby home alone while you go to post a letter though.......