Group 1,2,3 car seat for holidays - are they ok?

[Lambzig]

We are going to greece in June for 2 weeks and our hire car company wants to charge us 80 euros per week for a car seat. So I have decided to buy a spare for holidays and perhaps use in parents/friends cars etc rather than paying the hire car company.

My DD is about 12kg and 26 months. Although under the weight she doesnt really fit into the group 0 seat anymore and the group 1 seat that we have is a familyfix Maxicosi pearl so not really suitable to fit into different cars.

I have been looking at group 1,2,3 seats but wondered why they are so much cheaper than group 1 seats and wondered if they are safe (assume they have to have passed a british standard to be sold in the UK)?

I dont want to spend a fortune and have been looking at Kiddicare own brand ones (current £35 reduced from £60) as it will only be used on holiday for a couple of weeks and then a handful of times a year, but that seems so cheap. On the other hand, obviously I want DD to be safe.

Any recommendations/ help gratefully received.

[4thtimelucky]

we bought a kiddicare opus seat last year for the exact same reason - does the job, is mega-light to transport and some airlines will carry car seats in the hold for free. We've used it a few times home and abroad no probs, the only thing is you need to be able to remove the car headrest on all the cars we've used it in. They meet safety legislation otherwise they wouldn't be on the market.