Suzanne Keane Explores the Varying Levels of Insurance Coverage for Child Car Seats – Are You Fully Protected? We all know the importance of having the correct car insurance and how to shop around to get the best price for your insurance each year. However, have you ever thought about what’s actually covered in your car? If you have a collision, no matter how small, it’s important that your car seats are replaced and that the old seats are destroyed. According to Jayne from Axkid “We always recommend replacing the car seat if you have been involved in an accident, regardless the speed or crash during the accident. There can be damages to the car seat, which might not be apparent or visible, making it unsafe for future usage. Therefore, it must be replaced for the safety standard to be guaranteed. Always contact your insurance company so they can help you further with this matter”. But how much insurance cover do you have for your seats? Being involved in a crash is stressful enough without finding out that your car seats won’t be replaced. Reusing the old seats isn’t an option as Sophie from Cybex told us. “CYBEX strongly recommend that you replace a seat after any kind of accident. This is because tiny hairline cracks, which may not be visible to the naked eye, can appear in the plastic parts of a seat after an accident. These cracks can pose an increased risk to safety”. So how much cover do you need? This really depends on the child seats you have in your car at any one time. A single high back booster could generally be replaced for under €200. However, if you have three rear facing seats the replacement cost could rise to thousands so you should work out the cover you need and then shop around for insurance. It’s important to keep in mind that you generally won’t have time to wait for a seat to be reduced in a sale and will have to pay RRP if you’re replacing it in a hurry. The cover that you have for your car seats varies from company to company in Ireland. Aviva seem to be top of the heap as they will cover the full value of your car seat, if all else is in order. The...