italian carseats - please inform a concerned mum!

[janek]

hi, we are just about to go to italy and need my in-laws to buy a carseat for my 30lb DD (3.5). ideally they would get a britax evolva 123, but presumably because they are an english make they seem v pricey in italy.

is there a 'standard' italian brand that one relies on, like britax? do you know of a 123 carseat that would meet my stringent safety standards? and is there some 'standard' shop, like mothercare/halfords where you could purchase such a thing?

please help, i'm neurotic about this!!!

[peanutbutterkid]

From what I've read and heard, car seat safety attitudes in Italy are generally not that good many many people don't believe in using them, anyway. If you are that worried about it right now, I suggest you specify exactly what your inlaws should buy buying something you trust. And they can come back and tell you what's available locally if they won't buy online so you can research and choose what they can manage to buy.

Might be easier just to bring your own seat with you!

Will bump for you, anyway.

[janek]

thanks, i generally do specify, they just said to bear in mind that they are in italy, so an italian make might be cheaper. also they think all things italian are brilliant. and generally they are right of course.

we can't take our own one cos we're going on the train and we can barely transport our stuff and two children. actually that's an exageration, we can easily transport our stuff and children, but could not manage an extra carseat

[Ixia]

We had an Italian carseat, a v. safe one at that. We chose it over a Britax.

www.fairbimbofix.com/indice_e.htm

Just re-read and realised the above seat might be too small for your DD, but there is a larger seat in the same brand, haven't tried it, but it seems to get good marks in tests.

www.fairbimbo.com/eng/indice.htm

[ZippysMum]

Could you order from uk and get delivered to Italy?

Amazon sell car seats.

[janek]

do amazon deliver to italy? I know kiddicare don't because i asked them, before the last time we went.

ixia - thanks, i'll look into that. the thing is, while i don't want to compromise safety, it's not going to be used that much. and ironically, while we're there we like to travel around by train, but it's a 3 mile journey to the nearest railway station.

[ZippysMum]

hmmm.. don't know
but they are v helpful - maybe call and ask.
sorry for typing -bf

[janek]

ixia - that's really weird - their 123 seat looks strikingly similar to their 23 seat. i thought the point of the 123 was an integral seatbelt. i am confused.

[sazm]

some seats use seatbelts from 9m, the recaro start,the fisherprice/britax supercruiser,
personally i wouldnt use one for a lo under 3y,which also doesnt reccommend them,

[janek]

yeah sazm, i've seen them, and also what which say about them...

it's confusing, because i don't want to spend money on something excessive (if you can be excessive about something as important as car safety), but although she's 3.6 she is less than 15kg and she hasn't outgrown the integral straps of her carseat here. the prob is that the evolva 123 is 200 euros, which is nearly double what it is here, so we'd be paying so much more for something that would hardly be used.

any more advice people? mil wants to buy something and we're going on thursday...

[sazm]

these seats are tested from 9 months though,so she wouldn't be too light for them,

i think the main reason these fail so badly with which, is from the view of having a 9mo in them?

[pinkgill]

Tell them to buy a Chicco then you know its safe however a carseat is only safe if it fits the car however expensive.

[AitchTwoToTangOh]

can't you just take one over and leave it there?