Replacing car seat after accident

Izabella22 · August 2012

Not sure where else to post this - my husband was in a crash, fortunately our son wasn't in the car at the time but he was on his way to pick him up so the car seat was in the crash. Its a snugride 32 and the manual is specific that any accident warrants replacing and the insurance company agreed to pay for a replacement, just send them a receipt for a new seat and a picture of the strap on the seat that was in the crash cut. DS could have stayed in the infant seat for a bit longer but eventually we would have transitioned him to a convertible, we just did in my car, so I'm wondering if anyone went through something similar and if the insurance company gave them a hard time about replacing the infant seat w/ a convertible? I'm not trying to pull one over on the insurance company and I don't want to be a pain, but we can't replace the exact seat because it came as part of a travel system and I can't find it by itself anywhere (though I could buy another snugride, but it wouldn't make sense at this point).

opaque1997 · August 2012

I would try over at car-seat.org - HOWEVER - I think I've heard most were able to get a check for the value and then use that money for whatever seat they like.

Teach1982 · August 2012

Not exactly the same situation...but ours was also part of a travel system so I couldn't get the exact car seat. I did still get an infant seat but the insurance company didn't give me a hard time at all about replacing it with a different seat.

CarlaAndJames · August 2012

I replaced with a different model of the same seat and got no beef from my insurance company. The one I got was actually better, but cost less than the one we had (the better one was on sale). I just sent my insurance guy links with the price of the exact one I had, and the one I wanted, and they were fine with me buying the better one.

dragon_chica · August 2012

I would assume that as long as the value of the new seat is the same or cheaper than the original than it should be fine.

GirlWithTheMostCake · August 2012

There is no issue with it. Just provide a receipt or a listing on a website if you don't have a receipt for the original one. Then go buy whatever you want. It does not need to be the same. It just needs to be some type of car seat. Take that receipt and they will refund you the amount. If it's more than the original they will only refund the original price.

penguingrrl · August 2012

This will vary, so you need to talk to your insurance agent for the specifics. A friend of mine had an accident when her 4 year old was in the car and wanted to replace her convertible seat for a combination FF harness to booster seat and was not allowed, it had to be another convertible. Since she was pregnant and would need another convertible she just did that, otherwise she would have bought the convertible, submitted the receipt, not used the seat (they had another seat in their other car) then returned it and gotten the combination seat.

Other friends have had accidents and the insurance company didn't care what they replaced with. They cut a check for whatever the parent needed.

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Replacing car seat after accident

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