2nd hand car seats

[TheRebel]

I wonder if I’m being precious so hopefully Mumsnet can set me straight.

I was chatting to some other new mums I met through a baby group and they all mentioned that they bought their baby’s car seats and cots second hand online. I always thought that you weren’t supposed to use 2nd hand car seats unless they were from someone you know and you’re certain they’ve not been in an accident but I don’t see how you could know that if you get them off some random on Facebook.

For background I’m sure none of these women are particularly hard up, they all got enhanced maternity pay, drive newish cars and own their own homes. If I thought that 2nd hand was their only option I wouldn’t be judging but I just can’t get my head around being so cheap!

money is not the standard of safety. Either the seats are safe or they are not, end of story.
Also none of your business.

We took a car seat off a friend to use to pick our friend's daughter up from the airport. When we went to install the seat we found that the straps were all twisted and needed to be completely rethreaded, the seat cover was grubby and had a cigarette burn in it (!) and some of the snaps to hold it in place were broken - and when we took the cover off to wash, we realised that the polystyrene looked battered and one piece was completely missing! It didn't seem to be in a safety critical place so we used it for the literally two trips but now we'll be binning it.

The thing is I really trust this friend and I know she wouldn't have knowingly given us something unsafe. Perhaps it was never crashed, but it was certainly heavily used and I wouldn't feel comfortable using it long term or passing it on to somebody else to use.

If we hadn't taken the cover off, we wouldn't have seen the twisted straps or the missing polystyrene. I don't know that most people actually check that closely when they buy second hand seats.

Interestingly avoiding second hand cot mattresses is only advice in the UK, it's not advised anywhere else but does make me a bit nervous!

Sorry, my car seat point is that just because something might look safe, and the person selling might seem trustworthy, it's not necessarily the case. i would be very wary of buying second hand.

Personally I wouldn’t buy second hand. I remember seeing motorbike helmets that had been dropped but looked ok externally - you could only tell when they were cut open that they had a problem.

I will shortly be offering an EFR car seat to a friend for free though as I hate to see it be thrown away for no reason (and I know it’s not been in a crash etc).

Cots fine if you buy a new mattress. Both crib and cot for DD and DS where seconed hand with new mattress.

I wouldn't buy or sell a car seat though. Like many hear have already said you can never tell even if it looks ok on the outside if there is damage to it. Most people don't realise that car seats also have a shelf life. They are mainly plastic after all and left in cars it degrades over time. I have two expensive seats. But buy the time both my children have finished with them they will be passed there useable life and so need to head to the tip not another home.

Also I definitely know people who wouldn’t think twice about selling a car seat that had been in a minor bump if it looked ok, one woman I know would sell her own Granny if she could!