HELP! No erf seats seam to fit my car!

[FloJo151]

I am having real trouble trying to find an ERF seat to fit my car. I have a Toyata Corrolla Verso 5 seats 2002. Its got isofix on the 2 side seats but I would have preferred to put the erf seat in the middle as I have 2 older ones (1 has ASD and if they sit next to each other all hell breaks out!) I have tried Joie stages and steadi but both have buckle crunch. I also tried out a britax first class which although not erf enough for me would at least take her to 1.5/2) but that too has buckle crunch. I then thought I might just have o shell out for an isofix (which we really cant afford ) but the britax maxway,duel fix and the new maxi cosi erf haven't been tested for my car so although the shop might sell them to us we have know way of knowing how they would perform in a crash ! :(
Anyone got any ideas? We are no where near the car safety centre either :(

Yesterday we were hit by a lorry on the motorway. My children were in britax maxways erf. We all survived. Our car didn't.

I am forever grateful to every single piece of advice that told me to erf.

Oh my gosh! Hope you are all ok. I take it you'll be buying two more Maxways!

Sirzy, £500 is way higher than most ERF seats. The new Concord, which is supposed to be incredibly safe, is £285. Plus the OP said they had a budget of £200, so it's not a huge difference in my opnion.

Are you forgetting that some families literally have to budget every last penny? Lucky you if £85 isn't much to you but a lot of people simply can't afford to go over 40% above their budget. That doesn't mean they shouldn't have children, or that they aren't doing the best they can by their children.

ERF seats last ~4 years, so that £85 extra today means saving 6p extra per day over that time period. And £85 is loads to me, thanks for assuming wrongly. However, £85 to try to maximise the safety of my baby is worth every penny.

If £85 was that much to uou then you would understand why for a lot of people no matter how much they want to they can't just make it appear,

The thing is though its not even just the money. I have investigated nearly every erf seat out there and THEY DON'T FIT MY CAR! Even the top of the range expensive ones. This is either because of buckle crunch on the strap fitting ones or because of floor storage on the isofix ones (the isofix ones all seem to have legs).
I have been in contact with an expert from the In Car Safety Centre (sending photos of the floor storage etc which span the entire bit of the floor in the footwell in front of the backseat) who agrees that my only options are probably going to be the britax two way (although im not sure how that will work as it tethers to front seat and we would need the front seat to be back as far as poss as oh is very tall) or the klippan trifix which she thinks might fit in the middle as it quite often works with the longer buckle stalks without buckle crunch.
The only trouble is I now need to make a special trip to get to a stockist to see if either of them actually do work!

£200 isn't actually that bad a budget, the Joie tilt, steadi and stages all cost under that and rf till 18kg. The hauck varioguard is only £180ish, and the britax 2 way is only just over it so that's 5 erf for around that budget.

poocatcherchampion that exactly why im trying to find an erf that will fit my car. Even if money was no problem it looks like iv got 2 options!! Hopefully one of them will fit!

the bit I found rude from adventuredad and others was the suggestion that I don't value my childrens safety just because money is tight.
the other suggestions about belt twisting etc were obviously not rude and was just advice but they are not something I would consider as I would rather take the advice of an expert who lives in the same country as I do.(no disrespect)

Thanks for good wishes all - yes we will be getting more!

Good luck op