Seatbelt won’t fit

[Corncoby]

we have a joie 360 in my husbands car but as I don’t drive we need a spare car seat for family and friends when I go out with them. We purchased the joie every stages after seeing it recommended. Told it was ok for our car and assumed it would be ok for majority of other cars. It won’t fit in 3 of the cars that I tried. I tried the trick of tilting the seat up and not buckling it in before I put round the back of the seat. It still is too tight for
the belt. Does any one have any tips or a different seat I could get baby is 6 months budget is limited as seat will only be used once a month.

Have you got an infant carrier? I would use that for as long as possible, it is convenient as they tend to fit on a buggy as well. If you can squeeze DC into the infant carrier until they are over age 2 then you might be able to fit a forward facing seat - not ideal but better than nothing.

We have tried he’s outgrown it he’s 99 percentile though

Any other recommendations for car seats

They won't have outgrown the infant carrier, have you removed the inserts and the newborn support wedge, this creates a lot of extra space. My ds was always off the centile chairs and squeezed into the infant carrier until 9 months. His feel we're over the edge but that's okay, it's just the head tipping the top of the seat you need to watch for.

He’s 12.5kg already and it only lasts till 13 as it was the joie I juva there is no insert and headrest can’t be removed

His big head is so squished

I’d have a look at an Extended Rear Facing seat. If he’s 12.5kg at 6 months, he’s likely to outgrow the Every Stage before he’s ready to safely forward face anyway. The Britax SafeWay M or MaxSafe Pro might be a good option. They have a low seat belt path, so shouldn’t be an issue with the shorter seat belts you mention.

There isn't really another seat on a budget which will fit everything you want it to do. All seats around that price point have the same belt path and the ones which have a different belt path usually need tethers which is no good if you're getting a lift from somebody.

You might be able to put the Joie Stages / Every stage whichever one it is in the front seat, if the airbag can be disabled.

If the person giving you a lift can pick you up then perhaps you can just put the Joie 360 Spin in their car. You might want to think ahead though to the point that your LO outgrows the Joie, because the weight limit on that is 18kg.

12.5kg at 6 months? Are you sure?