How to choose the best second hand car seat
South African car seat awareness initiative, #CarseatFullstop, as featured on The Expresso Morning Show and KFM, launched on Monday 18 July. Campaign creator, Mandy Lee Miller, joined forces with Gumtree South Africa to guide people on the important factors to consider when choosing second hand car seats.
“Car seats are a vital investment when you are pregnant and throughout your little one’s childhood,” says Miller. “Choosing a car seat should be prioritised above any other purchase. There is nothing else that is needed to the exclusion of everything else in most cases. When you consider that a correctly fitted, safe car seat reduces the chances of your baby dying by 71% and your toddler dying by 54% in a car accident, that seems self-explanatory.”
“That said, because of the quality of the materials needed to make the safest car seats available to us, a top of the range car seat can be very expensive,” concedes Miller. “If you really can’t save up to buy the safest seat on the market; you can get a good safe car seat new from around R1,500. Alternatively, you can find a top of the range car seat second hand from platforms such as Gumtree – if you know what to ask and consider when speaking to a seller.”
Gumtree fully supports the #CarseatFullstop mission of spreading education and awareness in order to get every child in an age appropriate, safe car seat. To that end, they have worked with the #CarseatFullstop team in creating a clear guideline on choosing a safe second-hand seat. The guideline will appear on their platform every time anybody searches for a car seat.
“While we can’t oversee every sale that occurs through our platform, we want to do everything we can to ensure that buyers can make educated decisions,” says Claire Cobbledick, Head of Marketing for Gumtree South Africa. “There is nothing as important to us as family and we want to support parents in keeping their families safe.”
#CarseatFullstop committed to 67 days of supporting non-profit organisation Wheel Well, in honour of the campaign kicking off on Mandela Day. Wheel Well collects used car seats donated by the public for refurbishment, cleaning and, where necessary, responsible disposal. The safe seats are then made available to those in need for a small donation of whatever they can afford.
“We are helping Wheel Well by raising awareness of what they do and encouraging everybody to donate the car seats their little one’s have outgrown,” says Miller.
Gumtree has provided 5 local bloggers with R1,000 each to use to purchase used car seats from the Gumtree platform, which will then be donated to Wheel Well. The articles will focus on how to find and choose the safest seats available.
There will also be elements of educating those who are selling their used car seats. From ensuring you have the right documentation on the seat, to understanding which seats are safe to resell, to taking the seats to be cleaned and safety checked for you by Wheel Well if you are in Joburg. Not only will this give you peace of mind that you are selling a safe seat and saving a little life, but the value of your seat will increase as well.
“85% of South African children are not restrained in any way in passenger cars. For some, the reason might be affordability. For others a simple lack of awareness or understanding of the critical importance of using seats and which seats to use,” says Miller. “#CarseatFullstop is teaming up with the best people to address as many levels of society as we can and save as many little lives as we can.”
#CarseatFullstop’s headline sponsor, Volvo Cars, is an expert in child car seat safety and is introducing their internationally recognised top of the range car seats in SA this month. Gumtree provides a safe and reliable platform where people can sell the quality items their little one’s have outgrown to allow them to afford the “next size up”; while providing others with more affordable access to the things they need to keep their little one’s safe. And then Wheel Well provides people with a place to donate their used car seats, knowing they will be used to keep a child safe whose family cannot afford one any other way.
“I am so happy and proud to have the #CarseatFullstop initiative supported by brands that genuinely care about the people their businesses service,” says Miller. “But you don’t have to be a big business to make a difference or support this campaign – and we aren’t even asking people for money!”
“Every single person has the power to save a little life. One share, seen by one person, who straps in one child, saves a life. The support network of #CarseatFullstop has over 2 million single human beings following them. Imagine if every single person took a second to hit that share button?”
If you would like to add to the cause go to http://carseatfullstop.org, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Google+, sign up for their newsletter to stay up to date with how things are going and how you can help spread this message further.