what are your views on 2nd hand car seats?

[Beatlesfan]

has anyone bought one 2nd hand?
was it from someone you know (and trusted?) or a stranger?

do you consider this to be an essential NEW item, regardless of cost.?

I wonder what will happen if everyone bought new...our landfills will be full of car seats, albeit that some of them would be safe to use.

Whta is classed as an accident? Emergency stop? Crash? Visible damage to car seat?

Just curious about your views. We have a used one (not been in an accident) and a second hand one, never used, so as good as new.

 

[lisa282]

We bought a second hand one for our first baby, but it was as a spare for nanny & grandad's car, and we bought it from someone who mum knows so we had her assurance it was never in an accident or damaged in any way. You do have to be very wary of them but a simple check can usually spot any faults, most of them are made of plastic so will warp slightly if involved in a crash and there will be obvious cracks if it is seriously damaged. A friend of mine is a policemwoman and she once told me that any car seat involved in a crash in our area is removed from the car, as a precaution that it won't be used again. Don't know if this is true for all areas but I trust and believe her. What's more, most insurance companies will now replace any car seat that has been involved in an accident, free of charge as a security and goodwill measure.

I know it's a controversial issue, but in my opinion, if you can check the history of a seat and are happy with it's condition then I don't see a problem using a second-hand one. However, unless you are sure of the history of it, or are uncomfortable with anything about it, then do not use it! We all know how expensive they are, and the infant seats especially only last a few momths before you have to replace them for a bigger one, so I'm all for saving a bit of money - providing you are sensible about it, of course x

 

[mary70]

i bought a second hand one for grandparents car, i think as long as you can be assured they have not been in an accident (which is very unlikely) they is no reason not to

 

[kalia]

This may not be even slightly true but it's just a thought:
I am fairly certain that car seats used to be more polystyrene (I think that's what the stuff is), whereas now they are more plastic. If the polystyrene ones were in a crash there is a very high likelyhood they would change shape and therefore you would need to replace them - just in the way you should replace a cycle helmet after a crash. The polystyrene would compact to cushion the movement and therefore wouldn't be able to compact as much in a future crash.
Are the insides of car seats still polystyrene? If so, that is probably why they have to be replaced - if they don't provide as much cushioning to baby they are not as safe.

I personally wouldn't buy a 2nd hand car seat. But I have enough money at the moment that, to me, a car seat doesn't cost much. Once I'm working part time I may have a different opinion. I would only buy second hand from someone I knew and trusted though.

 

[bobtheunfortunateone]

We got a new one for our car and was given one by a trusted friend has a spare. But I would never buy a second hand one if I could not be 100% sure, not worth the risk, baby more important than cost. But the one we got given was like new and most of the time they are like new. So long has you are sure.