Renting a car seat abroad

[goldenslumbers1]

Afternoon,

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

We fly in three days 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.

Can anyone help please?

I have done this twice and it was fine.

When DD1 was 2yrs we visited my BIL in Alaska. For part of our stay we went to another town and used taxis. On request, the taxi drivers brought a carseat for DD to use.

When DD1 was 3yrs we went to Corfu for 2 weeks and hired a car + toddler seat for one. It worked great. The hire company delivered a car w/carseat to our village. It was really convenient and so nice not to have to lug a heavy seat around the airport.

When DDs were in rear-facing we brought those b/c the babies could sit in them on the plane. Your DH is right about damage. Baggage handlers seem to take extra care to bash carseats.

We've hired twice for our DD (aged 18m and 2.5) and it was fine both times. We're hiring one again next week, although taking DS infant seat as I'd rather know where that one's been.

I’ve always hired a seat and have used several of the big car rental companies to do so. The seats have always been in excellent condition and they’re very easy to fit with the seatbelt, instructions are usually printed on the side of the seat. I’m with your DH on this one, I think a car seat is much more likely to get damaged on the plane/by the baggage handlers than a major rental company is to pull one out of wreck and re-use it to save some cash, plus you can’t argue with the convenience of not having to take yours.

Sorry but after taking ours a couple of times we vowed never again and took our own ever time.
The seats were dirty and didn’t look safe but maybe we were unlucky