Car seats and private transfer help

[Lavender14]

So recently booked a holiday via Thomas Cooke and decided to upgrade to a private transfer as it'll just be me and ds (2.5) and I'm thinking it'll be a lot to manage him, case, bags and pram. So I've asked for help to arrange a carseat in the private transfer which they said was no problem. However, when I asked if they need details as to ds height and weight they said no.... but then how do we know ds will fit in the car seat provided? He's really big for his age and I've just had to get a new car seat as he's grown out of his old one as he's over 18kg?

I just don't want to pay £100 to arrange this to then get there and it not suit him? Any advice? Everything is by instant message/email and I can't seem to just talk to an actual person on the phone.

Did you arrange the private transfer via Thomas Cook?
To be honest it might be better and cheaper to cancel and arrange a private transfer with a local company. We always do that and have always been very happy! Have always had excellent communication, also regarding car seats.

Yes I was going through Thomas Cook.

Can you not take your own car seat? The airline will carry it free of charge.

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In theory I could, but it's a pain to install plus heavy and massive as ds is so big for his age and I'm already worried about juggling a toddler plus pram, suitcase and bags alone so I don't want to add to that.

Where are you gong OP?

There are MANY seats which "grow" (and "shrink" as it were) with kids. My kid is 12 now and doesn't use a seat, but he came out of his birth seat at about 1 and went in to his seat that he used till he was 9 and a smaller child could have used till they were 12/13. Even with the new rules about rear facing etc, there are many seats that can be used both FF&RF and adapt to age. My guess is that the driver is bringing a seat which is 1-10, so unless you've failed to tell him your child like has a massive growth deficiency and is like a 10-12 MONTH old, the seat will adapt to be fine!

I’d say car seats are a lot more basic abroad in taxis in my experience. You tend to get baby, toddler or basically a booster seat.

Spain, classic tourist resort about 20 minutes drive from airport.

@stichguru thanks that's really reassuring!! I think I'm just overly aware because I've been caught going by suggested age rather than his actual projected age and he grew out of his current car seat I thought would do him to 4, at just after 2.

@Lavender14 if it's Mallorca I can tell you who I've booked our private transfer plus car seat with. He comes highly recommended on about three different Facebook groups I'm on!

They are highly likely to supply either one of those cheap all-stages seats which will have a harness limit of 18kg, or just a backless booster, which would be legal but arguably not safe for an 18kg 2 year old.

Unfortunately I do think the kind of seat stitchguru refers to will have a harness limit of 18kg as well. Some i-size versions have a slightly higher harness limit but it is unlikely they will have the manual to check.

So sort of depends if you're happy for him to use a booster seat really. A booster is definitely safer than just a seatbelt, and you might be comfortable with this on a 20 minute transfer but if not, you might have to look at some other ideas.

What about getting a cheaper 25kg limit forward facing seat like this https://www.thenurserystore.com/p/puggle-safe-fit-gro-group-123-car-seat-black-9-months-12-years

or Cozy n Safe Hudson (not the i-size version) is similar and lighter.

Or if he is under 105cm and 20kg, Cosatto On the Go is worth a try although presumably would be a lot of money to use it once.

If you can get delivered to an amazon locker at the airport, Kinderkraft FIX2GO is similar, cheaper, available in Europe (but not UK) and also has a 105cm height limit, though no mentioned weight limit. Since it's isofix the effective weight limit is likely 26kg - I think that would be extremely unlikely for a child to reach 26kg before 105cm.