To not want to hire a car seat abroad?

[goldenslumbers1]

Afternoon,

Does anyone have any experience (positive and negative) of hiring a car seat abroad?

We fly later this week and my DH has booked a car seat as part of our car rental package. I have called the firm and they have confirmed that they do not have Isofix attachments, so the seat will just be buckled in but that they stock a range so if we are not happy with one, we can swap etc.

I feel nervous about this, because I'm worried we won't fit the seat well and also, we don't know the history of the seat etc and think we should just take our own, as we can check it in for free with our airline.

DH says we should hire, because the firm is reputable (according to online reviews) and baggage handlers might damage our car seat in transit, not to mention the faff of lugging it around etc.

I can see his point of view, but this is our first holiday abroad and I already feel very nervous; this is just adding to the anxiety.

Am I being unreasonable?

I'd take our own (we fly regularly and did / do) because it's free.

However, 'knowing the history' etc is nonsense. What do you think the chance of a car seat having been in a major accident is? Think they wipe the blood and guts off and put it back into the rental pool? Besides which, studies talking about replacing seats are all biased.

If you can't safely fit the seat then there are bigger issues here.

Surely all airlines give you those enormous bags for car seats and buggies?

Take your own to save money.

Dd was in a rear shunt in a stationery vehicle. No injuries, no blood, but the polystyrene inside the seat was completely shattered. You couldn’t see this unless you remove the cover.
I don’t know about all airlines but I have been told by easyjet they would charge for a seat when the child is over 5 - which seems mad when you have to have a seat for much longer than that.

stationary

Haw just read your update, good lord woman how can you roll over on this? A parent’s “right” to a nice holiday does not trump a young baby’s right to have parents doing the best to protect them. Doing this without knowing in advance that a suitable infant carrier is available is negligent and you need to get some balls were your husband is concerned