The Hassles of Buying a Car Seat

When it comes to online shopping, I like using Amazon. It’s convenient, cheaper than most sites, and I find the customer reviews useful. Lately, I’ve been using it to look for a car seat to buy. I found one that I like. Many independent websites have it listed as a reliable car seat and it has the most positive reviews compared with other car seats. 

I tell Jessie that we should look into buying this one, but she says that she doesn’t trust reviews because you don’t know who’s actually writing them. Perhaps it’s the company itself giving their own product a five-star rating. But somehow, I doubt the majority of comments are like that. 

She’d rather trust a picture than a review. A picture?! For real?! What can you tell about a product from a picture other than what color it is? But maybe that’s why she doesn’t like the car seat I picked out. It’s brown, which isn’t exactly the most flattering color out there for a girl, but safety comes first, right? I’d rather have my daughter safe and sound in an ugly-looking car seat than splattered all over a pretty-looking one after a car accident. 

I find it frustrating when I try to make a case for why we should buy this car seat and having her tell me that we can’t trust whatever is written about it. And then she proceeds to give me her own “expert” opinion based off of what she sees from the picture. The car seat I like has over 250 helpful reviews, most of which are positive. The car seat she likes? 4 reviews, on top of which she has no solid reason as to why we should buy it. 

 

Maybe she thinks more expensive is better? After all, you do get what you pay for. Mine is roughly $140 dollars, while hers comes in at a whopping $300. I don’t have a problem shelling out money as long as I know what I’m getting is worth that price. Is the quality of a $200 Louis Vuitton wallet that much better than my $10 wallet? I highly doubt it. Unless she gives me some evidence to back this $300 price tag, I’ll stick to my ugly, brown car seat.

Another concern we have is that our tiny Toyota Vios might be too small to hold any of the car seats we like. Her solution? Get a newer, bigger car. Oh, of course! Why didn’t think of that? Let me just go to the back and pick some hundred dollar bills off our money tree.

My ugly, brown, but top-rated car seat.

Her car seat.