Replacing car seats after an accident

[sophiad]

Hi there. Sorry I’m probably on wrong forum but wasn’t sure where else to post.
2 days ago a car hit me quite hard from behind, writing off his car and causing lots of back damage to mine. My 2 children (4yo in high back booster and 1yo in fwd facing group suitiable seat) were in the back.
Somebody has mentioned to me that I should replace the children’s car seats even if there is no obvious damage to them as they can become unsafe after being in an impact. I was wondering if anyone had any advice/experience in this? Thanks in advance

Short answer is yes, in a crash severe enough to write off a car the advice is definitely to replace the seat. It may be fine, there may be non visible damage which has weakened the seat and could lead to the unspeakable if you are in another accident. Why take the risk?
There's a lot of useful information here

Yes you need to replace them. I believe the cost is covered by your car insurance claim so ask your insurer.

Yes replace them

It may also be worth looking at purchasing a rear facing seat for your 1yo as it will offer more protection.

Yes you defiantly need to replace them. You can't see the damage it causes to car seats. Contact your insurance company they will provide the money to buy new ones which they will then claim back off the insurace of the person an fault.

Yes replace them. They are a one use item and could fail if used again. Cut the straps of the baby seat and write accident damage on the booster with white paint/tippex if you take them to the tip so nobody picks them up thinking they look fine to use.

Some car seat companies will replace but ask insurance.

I work in car insurance and unfortunatly it's becoming a common thought your insurance will replace. Some do however not all. The company I work for will replace up to £100 per seat.

There us a scheme maxi cosi run where you may be able to get a replacement free.

100% replace them not worth risking it.

Thanks so much for advice. I thought as much but just wanted to double check before I start spending 100’s on 2 new car seats . I think I saw somewhere that there’s a recycling scheme for damaged car seats. Will have a look at that also

Yes replace them! Ours were covered by our insurance but as PP mentioned, if you have a maxi cosi I believe they will provide a replacement if not covered by insurance (not sure about other brands).

You need to replace them obviously for safety reasons. Get a rear facing seat as it offers more protection.

Yes you must replace. Your insurance should cover it. I think maxi Cosi also offers some kind of replacement of its one of their seats.

We had similar happen.

We replaced them and insurance paid out. It didn't take long to settle the claim and get the money as it was very clear cut that I was not at fault.

We cut the straps and took them to the dump.

We had exactly the same thing happen to us and our insurance company covered the purchase price less 10 percent depreciation of the seats. This meant we could actually replace the same seats with new ones as the new price had declined by 10 percent in the time we had them. So it worked out fine.

Yes the insurance will pay you for new car seats. Ring them and check their policy but I think you buy two new car seats and email them the receipt and then they repay you? If you order from Argos or somewhere online you will get an e-receipt and can just email it across to them. You could buy nicer car seats 😂 Trying to see the positives. Hope you are dc are all okay? These things can be scary for everyone involved x

Hope you're all feeling okay.

That was a significant impact, and could have caused structural damage to the seats that's not visible to the naked eye.

As pp have said, absolutely replace the car seats, and yy to extended rear facing for your youngest - they don't have to cost more and are so much safer.

If he hit you in the rear, it's automatically assumed he is at fault. Speak to your insurers, but you have a claim against him for the vehicle damage and the seats. If your insurers won't cover the seats, speak directly to his insurers.

If any of you have suffered personal injury and you make a claim, your solicitor can recover the cost of the car seats for you as well as part of your claim, so lots of options.

Yes you must replace.

I had read somewhere that you can take them to your local fire station for them to practise on. Not sure if that's always the case but a better use than them sitting in landfill!