I was in a car accident earlier this week. My husband was driving and one of my boys (about 21 months old) was in the back seat. It was us versus a tractor trailer – and luckily no one was hurt and my car was not totaled. When my husband was speaking with the claims adjuster he said that we should have the infant car seats replaced – even the one that wasn’t occupied. I was aware of the fact that an infant car seat can be damaged in a violent accident, but in this person’s words if it were his children he would replace the car seats.

This was just about the last straw in an already stressful event. I couldn’t believe that after all this I was going to have to shell out more money. Of course it was the stress talking – my children are worth everything in the world to me and I don’t care how much it costs, I’d replace the seats for their safety. Like I said, I was overstressed and the thought of shelling out $300 more dollars and having to go to the store, find a car seat we liked, do the research again on safety and what have you was just too much for me to handle.

I spoke with the adjuster again (from Erie Insurance) and he told me that my insurance company would reimburse me for the cost of replacing the car seats. I was in shock. Never did I even think to submit this as a claim under my auto insurance. I purchase the car seats and turn in the receipt and turn over the damaged car seats. A check will be cut for me immediately for the money I spent, up to a certain dollar amount.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has stated that car seats can be reused if the crash was considered a minor crash. In order for a car seat to be safely reused, the following five criteria must be met in relation to the crash:

• There were no injuries to any passenger in the car
• The car was able to be driven away from the crash site
• The door nearest to the car seat was undamaged
• There was no air bag deployment
• There is no visible damage to the car seat

If the crash does not meet all five of these criteria then it is not safe to reuse a car seat. If you’re not sure, don’t risk it – replace the car seat. It doesn’t matter if the car seat was occupied or not at the time of the accident – it must be replaced. Check with your insurance company to see if they will reimburse you for the cost of replacing an infant car seat or booster seat after an accident. I was pleasantly surprised to find out my company will reimburse me.