Car seat for a long visit

[Sunshinedahlias]

My sister lives overseas and is visiting the U.K. for six weeks with my niece. The baby will be 9 months old.

I have no experience with car seats and have got a bit overwhelmed looking at options.

I need something that would ideally move between two cars, one a Vauxhall mokka and the other a Citroen c1. As well as the space issue, I'm not looking to spend £££s as she may or not may not visit again next year! But if there was a good budget option that might last, that could be a good choice. Also not sure if I should be looking at the seatbelt style or a separate base.

Thanks !

The Joie 360 i-spin is very good and feels very safe. We have the Halfords version, £160. You can get the Joie 360 Spin (not i rated which is an extra certificate for side impact testing) for £99 in Tesco with a club card.
They both need isofix connections, not sure if those cars have them!

Many thanks for the advice ! I can't see that Tesco do any Joie car seats at the moment, just lots of other brands that I don't recognise !

If the baby is only 9 months old ask you friends and friends friends if they have a group 0 car seat. Your not supposed to resell car seats so people tend to give them to friends. Then there is face book market place

X

Graco Turn2Me is the same as the original Joie 360 Spin and is £115 on amazon - that's the cheapest place for it at the moment.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08YB5G5ZW

It is a great seat and will last up to approx age 4, however I don't think it's the easiest thing to move between cars, because it's heavy and the support leg flaps around with no way to easily secure it.

I'd probably get the Graco Extend R129 instead, as it's seatbelt fitted so much lighter to move between cars. This is about £100 at various places - Boots, Halfords, etc. At 9 months the baby would use it rear facing, and the rear facing mode can continue to be used as long as the parents want (again, up to around age 4) but it also has a forward facing mode from 15 months minimum.

There is no point getting an infant carrier IMO if she is likely to visit again in the future. When you store the seat, I would probably take the covers off and wash them in case of any spilled milk/food/drool/etc, then make sure they are totally dry (they are usually air dry, check the manual) before you store the seat to protect against mould.

@BertieBotts thank you so much, really helpful.

You're welcome :)

If you did like the idea of the Joie/Graco spin ones, because the spin is quite nice, the cars you mention will have isofix no problem. All new cars since 2013 have isofix, and most new cars since the mid 00s have it.

If you want to see how easy the seats are to fit, look on youtube for installation videos.