How to get the insurance company to replace car seats?

[iris0110]

We were in a wreck a little over a week ago. We were stopped waiting for the truck in front of us to make a left turn when we were hit from behind by a (UA violation here) who was driving too fast on wet roads and not paying any attention to where he was going. He slammed on his breaks and swerved a bit but still hit us pretty hard in the rear corner on the passenger side. We were in our brand new Suzuki Forenza and the airbags did not deploy to give you some idea of the conditions of the crash. But he did quite bit of damage coming all the way to the rear passenger side door. Both of the boys were in the car, luckily safely secured in their car seats. But I know I have been told that car seats should be replaced after an accident. So I was wondering what I might need to back me up in getting the insurance company to replace them for us? Is there a set of guidelines I could print up and send them or anything? Or should I not worry about it since the wreck was not bad enough to cause the airbags to deploy? My husband spoke the the appraiser, and he said he had heard about these things, but that wasn't his area, he only handles car damage. He did mention some slight frame damage. Any suggestions? I want to make sure the boys are safe.

[mommy_e]

Call the seat manufacturer and tell them the frame was damaged, the seats were occupied and that the door nearest the seats (rear door) was damaged. They will probably tell you to replace them. You can then contact the insurance adjuster and find out the procedure, telling them that the manufacturer recommends replacement. Many will tell you to just go buy new ones and submit the receipts.

You may have to turn in the old seats to them. If you do, cut the straps and mark on them with a big sharpie "crashed - do not use". Also, ask if you can keep the covers as replacements.

Additionally, here is the NHTSA statement:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/inju...raintReUse.htm

I believe that #3 (door nearest the seat damaged) would mean that this is not a minor crash and the seat should be replaced. However, the manufacturer will likely be even more conservative so you may want to start there.

[moms3kids]

if the insurance company give you an hassel at all, just ask them to sign off a waver that they are going to take full and all responsibility for the saftey of the seats that were in the wreck and if anything ever happens the your kids in seats that they refused to replace even though the car seat manufatures said to replace them they will be liable for all things... they won't sign it and will be more then happ to do as the car seat manufacture recomends... you may have to replace them your selfs then wait for them to rembursed... good luck!

[Ellien C]

Do you have a deductible?

I'm apalled that the appraiser can't handle the car seats as well. Call your agent.

[goosysmom]

We use State Farm and they were great when DH was in an accident last August. We mentioned our infant seat (we were getting ready to move dd up to a bigger seat) was in the accident, but it wasn't occupied but the manufacturer recommends replacing (the car was totaled but no air bags needed bc of frame damage) them if they are in an accident for safety reasons...

I called Evenflo and left a message for the woman who handles these situations and she sent me a letter the next day in case the insurance agency needed it.

State Farm told us to go ahead and buy the new seat and then bring in the receipt for it and they would reimburse us for the cost. So we brought in the receipt and the letter from the woman at Evenflo...we got our check from them within 10 days.

No hassle.

Hopefully your agent will be as great as ours was in the situation.

[dallaschildren]

Originally Posted by iris0110

and he said he had heard about these things, but that wasn't his area, he only handles car damage.

Um, your appraiser only handles "car" damage? What he should have said instead of skirting responsibility by using a different word is that (if he is indeed your appraiser), he is responsible for handling your PROPERTY damage claim and consequently may be responsible for any property damaged in the wreck and not just the automobile itself. Property damage claims can include car seats, stroller, or any other items you had in the vehicle that are damaged as a result of your collision. In some cases this can also include exterior items such as traffic poles, utility poles etc that you strike and damage during a collision. Remember when getting an estimate of damages, that they include ALL seatbelts in use at the time of the wreck as well the exterior air bag sensors and air bags (if deployed) in your replacement/repair estimate. Those items are all one time use products.
The checklist on when to replace a car seat after a collision a PP posted by NHTSA, should be your guide. You should also look to your car seat manufacturer's guidelines. Some manufacturer's such as Britax post their recommendations on their website. You can also look in your car seat manual.
Glad it wasn't too serious and good luck.

DC

[lalaland42]

Yes, the appraiser only does car damage. They submit the amount and then you argue with the insurance adjuster. For property damage associated with the accident I dealt with just the insurance adjuster. It sounds like the car crash was bad enough your car wasn't drivable? If the car had to be towed, your seats are no longer usable. -I was in 3 accidents in 3 years. Twice I was stopped at a stop sign and once I was hit head on by someone driving the wrong way down the freeway. I found in those cases the insurance guys (they were all male) were very reasonable in the money they gave me for property damage. I told them, X, Y and Z was broken and this is how much it cost to replace them. Then they wrote out big checks. Your seats are broken, just insist on it.

ETA: I would insist on carseat replacement unless it was a 5 mph fender bender. And I too am glad you are OK.

[dallaschildren]

Appraiser and adjustor...are two different things. Megan you are right. I edited twice for spelling and grammar and never corrected that. Was reading quickly and read adjustor and not what the OP really said. Dealing with insurance companies makes me crazy and apparently reading about the OP's troubles does to. Thanks.

DC

[dallaschildren]

Also Shannon... make sure you are reimbursed for diminished value. If you are in Texas, you are entitled to it from the third party insurance company (assuming you are found not at fault).

DC

[iris0110]

I don't think I put in enough info. We were hit while on vacation in Houston (the last day of the vacation on the way home actually). The Policeman at the scene told us to go ahead and drive home (we live north of Dallas, so 6hr drive). We did make it home alright, but I really don't think the car is safe to be just out driving in kwim? We are not dealing with our insurance company. We would like to keep them out of this if at all possible because even though the accident was in no way our fault our premiums will still go up. : So we are dealing with the (ua violation) who hit us insurance company. They are really dragging their feet on this because they just plain don't want to pay out. IT has been over a week and we still don't even have a rental car. Luckily my parents are out of town so dh has been using my dad's truck in the mean time. The insurance company refuses to really move at all until they get the accident report proving who was at fault. The police station is taking their sweet time and the report still isn't ready yet. Even when it is we have to have them mail it to us so we can fill out a bunch of paper work and then mail it all on the the insurance company. It all gets way more complex because we are over 300 miles away from them. So they did finally send out an apraiser, but he is just a contractor from some company that they hired here. He was very nice and definately on our side. He said he would do his best to make sure they didn't try and cheat us on the damage values. But he is only contracted to handle the car damage. As for the car seats and depreciated value and such he said was all something we would have to fight out with the adjuster. Dh is forbidding me from even speaking with the adjuster yet because I tend to get angry and a bit beligerent when backed into a corner like this. The whole thing has me absolutely furious. But when it comes time to discuss the car seat replacement he said it was all up to me. Though looking at the car the apraiser said he didn't think we should have driven it home that way. But the police officer told us too and truthfully we didn't feel like we had the time for dh to be off work to try and get this worked out in Houston. Apparently we were right because it has been over a week now and we still haven't even gotten a rental or started work.

Thank you all so much for your advice. I am off to check out the manufacturer's pages for the carseats. Ds1 was in a compass booster and ds2 was in a britax marathon. So hopefully it will be easy to get the info i need.

[dallaschildren]

I hope you are treated fairly Shannon. Good luck to you. I would be happy to help you out if I can. Are you certain your premiums will go up if you are found not at fault? May I be nosy and ask why?

DC

[iris0110]

Well a couple years ago our cars were hit sitting parked outside of our house in the middle of the night. Obviously we weren't at fault but we did what the police officer said to do and reported it to our insurance as well as to the insurance of the responsible party. The next time we renued our premiums went up, not alot, but still up. We called to ask why and were told that even though we were not at fault our vehicles (both were hit, the kid was really drunk) were involved in a wreck and that made us a higher risk. Something about living in a dangerous area or some such garbage. We switched insurance for that and several other reasons, but I would like to avoid a repeat if possible. Though if we have problems with the claim we will call progressive (our insurance provider) and get them to help. The person who hit us has insurance through a pretty big company though, so hopefully after they have the accident report in hand they will take care of things.

[MommytoTwo]

I just went through this. They only have to replace the carseats that were occupied at the time of the crash, and there are 5 criteria to meet to see if you can reuse the carseats. You'll have to google it because I no longer have it. If you meet all 5 you can reuse them. I know one was, could you drive the car away from the crash, aand there were 4 more. I remember that one because thats the one I couldnt meet, and so they replaced it. Also it doesnt matter how hard you are hit - if its in the back the airbags wont deploy so that sould not matter. I was hit in the front and the airbags still didnt diploy and there was $6000 worth of damage, so it was a serious crash. It sounds like the ins co is responsible for replacing yours. Mine had me purchase a seat and fax the reciept

sorry 1ht

[Getz]

I would contact your insurance company. When we had our accident (which was 100% the other lady's fault) our insurance paid for everything and then subtragated (that isn't the right word, but it starts w/ sub) w/ her insurance. My company did all the battling for me. I told my accident respresentative (the adjustor?) that I had a car seat in the car and they said to buy a new one, send in the receipt and they would reimburse us.

I did have to pay the deductible, but I got that back when they settled with her insurance.

We were using Country Companies insurance. They are great and not available in Indiana where we moved.

[wasabi]

If the police were called in all likelihood your insurance company is going to find out no matter what. I was twice involved in fender benders in parking lots (someone literally just backed up into me as I was stationary and honking at them to stop) and called the cops. Years later when applying for insurance I was asked about those incidents despite not having filed any kind of insurance claim at all. So your premiums may go up but they may not since you're not filing a claim with them. If they have to pay they basically don't care whether you were at fault or not your premiums go up because you're more at risk for costing them money.

[dallaschildren]

Originally Posted by iris0110

Well a couple years ago our cars were hit sitting parked outside of our house in the middle of the night. Obviously we weren't at fault but we did what the police officer said to do and reported it to our insurance as well as to the insurance of the responsible party. The next time we renued our premiums went up, not alot, but still up. We called to ask why and were told that even though we were not at fault our vehicles (both were hit, the kid was really drunk) were involved in a wreck and that made us a higher risk. Something about living in a dangerous area or some such garbage. We switched insurance for that and several other reasons, but I would like to avoid a repeat if possible. Though if we have problems with the claim we will call progressive (our insurance provider) and get them to help. The person who hit us has insurance through a pretty big company though, so hopefully after they have the accident report in hand they will take care of things.

It sounds like your prior insurance company screwed you over. If they cited the prior car wreck which was basically a hit and run without your car even being occupied at the time, that isn't right. In general, rates can go up dependant on your zip code among other things. So if it was a standard rate increase, that's one thing, but to cite your unoccupied car wreck as the reason your rates went up, that sounds suspect.
Progressive is a good company and I had them prior to switching to USAA. As a PP mentioned, your insurance company will subrogate the third parties insurance to recoup their loss. If you have submitted your claim to the other parties insurance, you should MOST DEFINATELY involve your insurance carrier. If Progressive is on the up and up, and you are not at fault, there shouldn't be any reason they should raise your rates. Progressive is your ally and I don't know if it is wise to leave them out of this equation. I undertand your hesitation considering your prior experience, but in this case, I would definately report it to your own carrier. Just MHO.
BTW, diminished value is paid to you from the third parties insurance. They will probably try to weasel out of it but you are covered under a section of the state insurance code and regulation.

DC

[jenangelcat]

I'm pretty sure that car seats would be covered under your home policy not your car. In Canada anyways, things that aren't a part of your car (removeable) are not covered under auto insurance.