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Original poster

Test drives with a toddler

9 replies

JessieThom · 30/09/2015 15:12

DP and I are going to test drive some VWs from the showroom this evening and I was wondering if anyone had any tips on taking our LO along, she's 20 months so still needs a car seat. Would they be able to fit her car seat into their models or have models with car seats already fitted? It will be around her usual bath time so ideally we wouldn't take her along anyway, but I'd like both DP and I to test the cars so that we can make a decision together, since it will be our only family car, and I'll probably do most of the driving over the next year or so.

OP posts:

0ddsocks · 30/09/2015 15:21

Can't you take test drives separately - i.e one after the other.

fieldfare · 30/09/2015 15:24

Take turns

LettuceLaughton · 30/09/2015 15:26

Yy. I'd be terrified of a snot explosion or somesuch toddler speciality causing me to have to pay a fortune in cleaning costs. Not to mention the distraction.

Laquila · 30/09/2015 15:51

I'd have thought you'd need to take along your own car seat, and of course there's no guarantee that it will fit in their cars. In fact, it might be worth checking whether they're insured for children in car seats? Sounds daft but you never know!

FlopIsMyParentingGuru · 30/09/2015 15:55

When we were doing test drives they were always happy for us to put our children in the back (20 months and 6 years at the time). We personally choose to test drive separately so we could concentrate.

WMittens · 30/09/2015 16:50

I'd have thought you'd need to take along your own car seat, and of course there's no guarantee that it will fit in their cars.

I think that's a good reason to take her (and the car seat you'll be using) - it's a good opportunity to see how easy and practical it is to fit and remove a child seat, strapping her into the seat, etc. A test drive might as well take in as much of the car's operation (not just the driving part) as possible.

TeamBacon · 30/09/2015 16:57

I've done this. I just took my own seat and installed it myself. Check first that it fits the models you want to drive. I did check with them first as I was on my own and didn't have the option to leave her with anybody,

Make sure you have a timed appointment. The showroom I went to left me waiting for over half an hour with 2yo DD to entertain.

BrandNewAndImproved · 30/09/2015 16:58

I had my dc in the cars while test driving them. They're old enough to only need a booster seat though.

ThatsNotMyHouseItIsTooClean · 30/09/2015 17:44

We did test drives last year when DC1 was 2.5 and in the 9mth - 4yrs car seat. We'd checked on the Maxi Cosi website that the seat we had was appropriate for the cars we wanted to test drive. We have an iso fix car seat so it was easy enough to just slot it in.
DS did fall asleep in one of the test drives so we just left him on the forecourt when we chatted to the salesman. Another couple were a bit surprised when they looked in & spotted him there!

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