Car seat question - to hire or buy?

[notquitesobigfatpumpkinmummy]

Me again!

Yet another question about our holiday in florida.

We were going to hire car seats but am rather dubious about what condition they will be in and also at how much it will cost!

After doing some research on the net for Walmart/Kmart etc, we could buy two car seats for much the same as we could hire them for. We will need two new car seats anyway (we have two cars at home regularly used by the kids), as my DD is on the verge of outgrowing her current one and will be needing new ones here. So what we thought was to buy them there and bring them back on the plane as part of our baggage allowance (flying Virgin so it's quite a bit as kids both get quota of allowance aswell).

Sorry, I'm really waffling here aren't I!! My question is: has anyone else done this? Also, the ones that I've been looking at are the Graco ones and although they are not identical to the ones here, it's a brand that I am happy with. However, would they have the BS kite mark standard thingy and as it's Graco (ie, a know make over here) would it matter as I would assume they have the same testing???

Any ideas anyone - and sorry this is so waffly, i'm exhausted but my brains in overdrive, never a good combination

Thanks all, hope this makes sense.

PS - in case anyone was wondering - we've been given an old booster seat and car seat that we thought we'd take with us and use untill we get the new ones and then bin the old ones. (the old ones are fine, but a bit "worn" iykwim)

Why don't you use the old ones during the holidays & then bin them & save on luggage coming back

Basically because they are pretty tatty and I'd rather not use them for longer than we need to. Plus, we need two new seats anyway and they are WAY cheaper out there than over here, so it kind of makes sense (in my world anyway)!

I'd be a bit worried about them getting damaged on the plane back - we took an infant carrier with us to spain and despite it being bubble wrapped it still got damaged. I think they just chuck luggage about.