Should I take my own car seats or use car hire's?

[cktwo]

Also can I actually book car seats for babies and toddlers. Some of the car hire firms say they can't guarantee there will be seats available.
Has anyone found a car hire place that does guarantee them????
Help please. if i have to GOOGLE CAR HIRE IN SPAIN ONE MOTE TIME I THINK i'M GOING TO SCREAM.......

I have used car hire seats twice abroad. The one in Florida was okay but not fantastic. The one in France was appalling. The seat was totally inappropriate for DD, who was 2y at the time. And it was a nightmare trying to get the car hire it change it for one more suitable.

Never again!

We always take our own now. I am taking 5yo DD's booster seat (with back) to France next month. At least that way I get a decent safe seat.

Message withdrawn

We take our own too.

Thanks for your replies. My gutfeeling is to take them but I just worries about the amount of baggage. DD1 will be 2.5 and DD2 will be 8 months so we'll have 2 buggies aswell as the normal luggage. But we're only flying from Blackpool to Gerona so its not far. Flew to malaga when DD1 was 11 months and it was a really positive experience (apart from the 2 stinky inflight poos )

Arrrgh, sounds like a nightmare, however they should take the carseats off you at check-in ... but even still it can be nightmarish enough getting that far.

I always take our own since hire ones have always been horrible, the wrong size, and/or dirty. Possibly depends on the hire company though.

Sorry to hijack thread but are you talking about taking a stage 2 car seat? I can see us taking a stage 1 (the tiny baby carry ones) but DD's stage 2 (she's 17mths) is HUGE! I've got a dilemma this weekend, hiring one for 2 days from Gatwick is costing £25 (yeah I know not much but it's all adding up!), I just think her stage 2 is too big to take along but if you all do it maybe I'll think again?

Also, do the airlines put the car seats in the baggage hold? If yes, do they wrap them and has anyone ever had any damage to a car seat?

**Hijack over, sorry cktwo.

bump Loucee, I'm wondering the same thing, I don't really want to hire one at Paris for money/quality reasons, but surely a stage 2 is too big to take with us. And if its checked in it'll be thrown all over the place, how do you its not damaged?

really don't want to stick my oar in - but here goes ....

Stage 2 car seats go in the hold. Sitting in the lounge at Chicago airport last month we saw 3 stage 2 car seats being loaded into the hold - all of them were thrown onto the belt thingy and all of them fell off from a height of about 10 feet straight onto the tarmac below.
We reported it to the cabin crew, but have no idea whether the message was passed on - so the car seats have been damaged and the parents may not even know

We are taking our own booster seat to the US. The sole reason is that the hire car company charges $10 per day, which will amount to $140, for something that costs about $15. We are quite happy to abandon it stateside, and DD will be responsible for carrying it in Heathrow.

Take your own, much cheaper, you know what your getting/using IYSWIM and you can check them into the hold for free in addition to suitcases.

Always taken my own, I tend to pop them in a bin liner or even not at all. I've travelled alot and nver had one lost/damaged.

DEFINATLY take your own. You can check with your airline as to whether you will be charged extra baggage for a car seat. some airlines you have to include the weight of the seat in the childs baggage allowance if they are over 2 years old. otherwise there may be a charge. we had the most appauling car seats included in our car hire with carjet in majorca. took us over an hour of struggling at the airport just to fit them properly and to stop the straps jamming up. this time we're taking our own car seat!

cktwo - take your own. I have seen the hire ones offered in Spain and they were rubbish.

Loucee - you have to wrap the seats yourself. Clear plastic is best as then the baggage folk can see it is a car seat.
We have flown with a stage 2 seat 3-4 times. It got cracked once and we had to claim on the insurance.

If you are looking for good quality car seats try www.holitots.com if they do not cover your area they may know someone who does.

First holiday abroad with one year old two weeks ago to France. From now on will always bring our own seat. We pre-ordered one from Hertz. It was awful. Just handed to us with no instructions. We struggled for 30 mins trying to fit it, then 2 Hertz staff had a go, with one wrapping the seat belt around the head-rest of the car and then saying "its okay now" to me. We got it fitted in the end but I know it wasnt fitted properly. Felt sick every time we used the car.

We've nto had them guaranteed, but never had any problems. If worst came to worst we'd jsut buy cheap ones from carrefour. This year tho, we are renting through holitots.

we've hired 2x and both times regretted it. never again

We usually take our own stage 1 and hire stage 2/boosters. The one time we took our own booster seats with us one of them did come off broken Of course then had to drive home from the airport with a broken car seat

Top tip; if you take your own, make sure you leave another in your car at the airport if you possibly can get hold of a spare. That way, if your luggage is lost or delayed you are not stranded at the airport when you get home!!! Saved us waiting 4 hours in Gatwick at the end of a long journey...

Thanks Spockster, never thought of that.
After considering everyone's posts I'm taking Grandma's tatty old stage 2 seat for toddler rather than our swanky M&P's seat. Will leave that one in car.
And I'm going to take the baby's stage 1 seat. Its been through four babies so its not in the best of conditions and we'll be getting a new seat for her on return.
Won't care if any of those seats don't make it back!