Baby Car Seat - advice please!!

[SquealyB]

Hi all, I am pregnanct with DC1 and need some advice.

We are buying a Stokke Xplory second hand. Our plan was to buy a car seat/travel system new as the general advice is do not buy this second hand.

HOWEVER the seller is including a Stokke IZI sleep car seat/travel system in the sale which has only been used 3 times. Provided we think that this is true (and believe me we will be questioning seller about this in detail before buying) should we still buy a new car seat???

DC's safety is number one priority but my practical side says that if it has only been used 3 times it might be nuts to buy a new one!

Thoughts/advice gratefully recieved.

Personally, I would never buy a second hand car seat from anyone, unless I knew them extremely well and could hand-on-heart say it had never been in an accident. Some people less bothered, but for me I know where I draw my line. It's my child's protection in a worst case scenario and I don't want even s hint of 'what if' on my conscience.

Also, you don't know where it has been stored.

If you do decide to use it, make sure you do ask about how it's been stored. Changes in temperature can affect the integrity of a car seat, so if it was kept in the car all the time, or in the garage it'd be more affected by the temperature changes than if it was kept in the spare room for example.

Also if you're collecting give it a good look over, check the base, back sides and handle to see for any scratches. That should give you a better idea of how much it's been used. Also, preferably take the covers off and check the foam appears to be intact.

If you get to talk to them in person you might also get a feeling for how honest they might be.

If you decide not to keep it yourselves, at least they sell for a lot on eBay.

I would buy it. I bought a second hand car seat off someone who didn't have a car and only used it a few times in taxis, they outright told me it had never been dropped etc and the manufacturing date was very recent. Check it carefully, if it's really only been used 3 times it should look like new! x

Thanks so much for all the thoughts.

We will be checking it out in person as would not buy a pushchair (never mind a car seat) without giving it the once over in person and quizzing the sellers to see how it is stored etc. TBH as it is being sold as part of the package we may take it and mull over the situation before deciding whether or not to keep it.

It might have only been used three times, but it only needs to have been in one accident to be damaged.

ps. have talked this over again with DH and decided paranoia trumps practicality and we are going to just get a new car seat. Could not live with myself if we had compromised DC1's safety and therefore not we have decided it is not worth the risk.

Even if it was brand new, I would flog the izi sleep and get the maxi cosi, because the izi sleep is ridiculously heavy! I mean ridiculous. It will be hard to lift with a newborn in it, let alone a chunky 3mo baby, and you will still be lifting it in and out of the car at that stage when they are sleeping.
Izi sleep fetch a good price second hand, because of the recline function, but honestly, it's not worth the extra weight IMO.

I agree with rogersmellyonthetelly. We bought the izisleep with the stokke and I could barely physically lift it with DD in it after a couple of months. I seriously considered buying a maxi cosi as my back was giving out but my DH had a fit so we just stopped taking it in and out of the car.
It's built like a fortress so not to be flip, it would need to be in a fairly serious accident to damage it. Assuming it has an isofix base though I would test that it clips in and out easily (into the base) and the safety indicators come on as that's where you are most likely to find a fault.
Finally - if you do decide to buy it, make it conditional on trying it in your car as depending on the angle of your rear car seats, while it is still classed as "compatible" it may be too high at the head end. We had to put the wedge cushion for the Stokke buggy seat into it, to change DD's angle so DD didn't slump forward everytime we braked.

If you do buy it, stick 14lb of spuds in the seat and see if you can still lift it. It doesn't take long for them to get to that weight believe me!

If you do decide to buy new, I'd personally buy a BeSafe seat (the Stokke one is just a BeSafe Izi Sleep rebranded with a nice price bump!) and use maxi cosi adapters to attach it to the chassis. The Izi Sleep weighs 6kg, which is heavy for a seat but similar to a carrycot.

In terms of carrying weight, you generally don't carry a seat very far so I wouldn't let that put you off choosing a safer seat than a maxi cosi. My niece is 22 months, approx 22lbs and we can still carry her no problem in her infant carrier, which isn't a besafe izi sleep but a normal one weighing approx 7.5-8lbs.

Look at the BeSafe Izi Go too. It doesn't recline but has won loads of awards for safety. It'll fit on the chassis with maxi cosi adapters.

Aaagrg! I'd be torn but I think I would buy a new car seat. Esp if it's your first baby hopefully you will get a lot of use out of it and YOU will be confident that it is safe/clean etc. If it's a real deal then you could always buy if for a second car or for a relative to have on hand - believe me, there's nothing more annoying than moving car seats between cars continually.

Oh I just realized this is a bucket seat so it's easy to remove. Never mind - still buy a new one.