Consumer watchdog Which? has published an article revealing the average amount that parents spend on pushchairs and car seats in 2019.
The research, which was conducted in the early part of the year, found that parents splash out more than twice as much on a pushchair as they do car seats.
The average spend on a new pushchair is £340.32 compared with just £119.67 for a child car seat. This rises to around £144 for a baby car seat which is the first-stage seat new parents need to buy. A third of parents who answered the survey had spent £50 or less on their child’s car seat.
To find this information, Which? spoke to 2,949 parents and carers who currently own and use a child car seat and 1,931 who currently own and use a pushchair.
“Many parents don’t want to fork out too much for a first-stage car seat, as our survey shows, but are willing to splash out hundreds on a pushchair,” stated the article, which also points out that a car seat is an essential – and legally required – piece of safety kit.
The official consumer advice Which? gave was that parents should not scrimp on a car seat and should buy the best they possibly can, possibly cutting cash from a pushchair purchase and investing it in the car seat instead.
“We crash-test each car seat we review,” the article stated, “and it’s uncommon to see a cheap car seat that provides enough protection to become a Best Buy.”
It continued: “The newest car seats tend to incorporate the latest technology and developments, and i-Size seats, for example, are approved to the latest car seat regulations, which now include a side-impact crash test, something Which? has included in crash-testing for many years.”
