Buying a car seat for the first time

[supernana]

WE are new grandparents and will be buying a car seat for our granddaughter when she turns 9 months old. I have a Corsa three door car. My husband has a Vauxhall Astra. We want to buy a car seat which is VERY easy to put in and take out of each car. Basically one that clicks in. Would appreciate advice. Have been told to go to Halfords to get car seat there but want info in advance.

Speak to your son/daughter and see what they have and what they recommend.

I wouldn't go for a second hand car seat .. it is just not worth it safety wise ..

You don't want an iso-fix one - but I would suggest getting one that will be able to be adjusted as your granddaughter grows up.

There is a section on carseats on MN and I wouldn't take the Halfords advice as gospel. Shop around ...

Sorry - Good luck!!

Why do I not want to buy an iso-fix one. My daughter says that is the type she wants to get. She will have her own car seat in her car. We wont be buying second hand anyway as we would want a warranty type thing.

Sorry - I'm a bit thick today - it is an iso-fix one you want!! You won't want one that can be fitted using a seatbelt ..

Thank you that now makes sense. Would you recommend any particular brand or would that be too close to advertising!
Can I just say here that this is the first time I have used mumsnet as I had heard about it so often from my aughter. I reckon I qualified even though I am the nana now!
I love the way you get a quick answer.

I think with an isofix, you need to bolt the isofix metal frame to the car's structure (not something you want to do everytime as would take far too long), then you can just pop the car seat onto it each time you use it.

However, the isofix car seat can also be used with a regular seat belt - (although not as safe). So it would be handy to used regularly with one car with the permanant isofix base, and sporadically with the seat belt method.
We have the recaro - the isofix base raises the chair up quite high on our corsa, making it a bit of a tight squeeze getting kids in and out. But on the plus side, the dc can easily see out the window!
hth

WE assumed that you would be able to buy two isofix metal frames so that we would have one for each car. Then we would be able to transfer the car seat to whichever car we were using on the day. We are watching our granddaughter for two days a week but would not always be using the same car.

Isofix can be put into different cars but it is a faff to fit them each time. You may be thinking of the infant style seats where you have bases bolted into the car and the seat clicks onto it but that doesn't apply in a 9kg+ seat. Isofix ones aren't cheap but Britax and Maxi Cosi are the more popular makes. Britax's website has a section to look for compatible seats to various cars.

do plenty of research

personally i would not be happy with a 9 month old going in a forward facing seat, so you need to speak to your daughter about that

rear-facing seats are far safer. read the link loopysmummy has given below!

I would recommend a rear facing seat too. 9 months is too tiny to be safe forward facing. I have the KISS car seat which is isofix and can be installed with isofix or a seat belt, and when rf seat belts are just as safe as isofix although it is quicker to install. My parents and ilso like it as it is so easy to move about. I would also shop around as I have read some strange advice from halfords on here!

:)