Toddler car seats for non-drivers

[OliManchester]

Hi there, we're a bit stuck on what to do re car seats for an 18month old. At the moment we don't have a car. With the infant car seat this wasn't a problem as it was portable and clipped into the pram, so we could get a cab somewhere then transfer it. But the next size car seat is so big and heavy that there's no way we could do that (we've just received a Maxi-Cosi Opal). What do people do who aren't running their own cars? Any suggestions appreciated!

------
This thread is a little old now so some of the suggestions may be out of date, but if you've landed here looking for toddler car seat recommendations, we've recently updated our best toddler car seats page with lots of great options, as tried and tested by Mumsnet users. We hope you find it useful. 💐 MNHQ

What vehicles are you travelling in?
If its taxis then there is an exemption for children where they don't need a car seat.

You can get supposedly portable ones like the urban kanga which are fine if you’re carrying it briefly like through an airport but it’s still massive and you definitely wouldn’t want to carry it around all day. We have one and it’s only used for things like holiday taxi transfers as I wouldn’t be happy to use it more regularly for a younger child as it’s only forward facing. It is legal for kids to go without in a taxi but personally I’d only do this in an emergency. Some companies will provide seats but they’re usually cheapo forward facing ones. Black cabs I will do without a seat and leave baby in the pram with the break on but only in central London where the traffic speed is low.

We actually found we couldn’t solve this dilemma so ended up buying a car.

It’s a ridiculous gap in the market and afaik still no proper product that fits the bill! Lots of v light and dubious safety belt adjustment products exist which a/ probably aren’t legal and b/ look lethal especially with a child so young. I might admit to being increasingly relaxed/practical by the time child is 5 or 6 but that still leaves you with 4 years of a problem!

My brother’s solution was to find the lightest car seat that was still an acceptable stage 1 seat - think he found a joie one of 4-5kg which was tbf a massive improvement on the one we had some years earlier weighing about 12kg!
We strapped that to the buggy for one particularly miserable cross city holiday transfer and carried the toddler who was lighter and more portable!

Really useful to know the options out there. Thanks. Looks like we'll find a reliable taxi company with the seat installed, and keep this one for emergencies. Glad it's not just us.