DH was in a car accident!

[Tondi G]

The turbo booster was tossed across the rear seat but the Marathon was in the back cargo area of his Hyundai Santa Fe, not installed. The car is pretty bad. He was t-boned or center punched (whatever you call it) and his axle is bent and the whole drivers side door is smashed... running boards are destroyed. He has one heck of a concussion and his stupid side impact air bag didn't deploy!!!! Anyways my question is... I know the turbo booster needs to be replaced (I thank god he was coming home from dropping DS off at Kindergarten and that he wasn't in the car!!!). What about the Marathon? It wasn't installed but I wonder about how badly it got tossed around in the cargo area??? I suppose I could probably tell the insurance company it was installed and they would probably cover it right?

What do you techs think???

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[Joolsplus2]

A friend of mine was in a much less worse accident with an uninstalled infant seat and her insurance company gladly paid for it...I'd think the at-fault party's insurance should be liable and will replace it (keep the cover and straps if you can ;).

I'm so sorry, I hope your dh is ok :(
Julie CPS Tech and mom to 3 in seats
http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/RFAlbum/SarahMA.aspx

[Tondi G]

Thanks again Julie! My DH is ok.... he has quite a concussion and his back and head are sore but otherwise he is ok. He is seeing a lawyer today to figure out what he can do to replace his car and get his medical bills paid. He hates the idea of suing someone but in this case I think it has to go this route! The other insurance will pay for the carseats I am sure.

In your experience do you think the un installed seat is now not safe to use???? We have some friends who could really use a nice seat like a Marathon.... they are expecting #3 and are really low on funds. If you think it is still safe I would be happy to pass it their way..... if not then I will discard the seat properly! Thanks again for your help time and time again!

~Tondi
Mommy to Mason 7/8/01 and Aidan 5/4/05

[KentuckyRK]

I'm not sure whether or not the seat is safe to use, but if you do infact claim that on your insurance and they pay for you to get a new seat then you are technically under obligation to destroy or get rid of that seat (some manufacturers want you to send the seat in). You could be putting yourself at major risk for getting sued if you passed that seat on to another family and then it didn't perform adequately in a wreck because it was damaged and you didn't realize. So I would say go the safe route, save your straps, cover, etc... for replacements for your new seat and destroy the other one.

Also, if you really want to do something nice for this family, I feel that there are plenty of seats that cost way less than the marathon that are perfectly nice. Maybe not as "cushy"... but those of us with a little less money sometimes really don't mind as long as our child is safe... I promise :O)

I'm glad to hear your husband is okay and I send my well wishes his way!

[jeanum]

YMMV, but it's also possible your insurance company will require you to turn in the crashed seat to the claims rep. This is what AAA insurance company did at any rate after two crashes when it covered replacing DD's Marathons. I still cut up the straps and wrote "crashed/not safe to use" on the seat shells with a sharpie marker in several places before turning them over to the claims office. I also asked and was allowed to keep the covers as spares.

Hope your DH feels better soon, and may all the insurance stuff go smoothly.

[Tondi G]

Thats kinda what I was thinking... figured I would ask but figured it would be a no go! I'll see what the insurance company says about the seat and if it needs to be sent to them or not!

Hubby is doing ok but he's had a splitting headache since the accident.... he's ready to feel normal again!

Thanks

~Tondi