Is a booster seat necessary when driving in France

[wisteriawoman]

We're off to France next week and am not sure if we need to take the booster seat for the hire car. Is it a legal requirement in France to have one for a 6 year old. DD is as tall as the average 7/8 year old. Would I be insane not to take one?

For under 10's according to AA. Was just checking what documentation was needed to take with us for the car, does anyone remember please ?

registration doc, certificate of insurance, driving licence plus counterpart paper bit, passport - think that is all. I was on aa site this morning and think this what is needed.

Thanks for the link to the AA site, I was unsure because the site says a child over 15kg and under 10 "can" use a booster seat. Does that mean a booster seat is compulsory??? BTW what age / height do kids in the UK have to use booster seats?? (I think its 11/12).

Thanks

The hire car company should supply one easily enough. When dd was 4.5 we rented a car in the South of France and they had a heap of them in the office. To me, it's not like car seats, where you need to worry about the "quality", more that your dd is the right height for the seatbelt to fit safely.....

In UK it is 135cm/aged 12, other areas of EU can be 150cm and restrict front seat travel, so worth checking if you plan to do day trips cross borders.

Wonderful advice - thank you.
Perhaps we'll leave booster seat at home and get one from the hire car company - which will free up some valuable space in the (bulging) suitcase!

Hi, I think French law may be as Swiss which is car seats compulsary for up to 12 or 150cm whichever comes first. Under 8's need a car seat with a back unless they are too tall/heavy for it which is when they move to a booster. Most airlines will take car seats or boosters in the hold free of charge. You should be able to hire one from the car company, I would email them first to make the request, but we've had some really dodgy ones that way. Since they are free to transport we now always take our own and just put it in a black binbag at the airport to put through with our luggage, then we know we have a suitable safety seat.