Car hire and car seats

[minxpinx]

We have just come back from Italy where we hired a car for the day. The car hire was £35 and the car seat hire was £45! I thought that was a bit of a rip off. The seat was also really grubby and the people at the company had no idea how to fit it properly.
has anyone else had a similar experience?

I have always taken my own (booster seats or when younger light weight polystyrene single piece seats).

My main concern is not fitting or cleanliness, just they I have no way of knowing the history of any car seat I hire, if it has been damaged either in an accident, or more likely somebody else who doesn't know how to fit it and has forced something to go where it shouldn't.