How to check if a car seat will fit in a car?

[littlefrog]

Ok, I guess you'd normally take the car along when you buy the car seat.
Except we don't have a car, and I want to buy a basic 0+&1 seat to go in a grand-parental car (to be used probably only 3-4 times a year, for the 7 mile trip from station to house).
Will all 0+&1 seats fit all cars? Is there a way I can find out before buying? (Am thinking of getting a cheap one from Argos) And am I right in thinking that ALL car seats have to be safe in order to be certified, so it's ok to get a cheap one?
Thanks!

They all have to pass a bS standard but many are condemend by more rigorous testing. They aren't a universal fit and the reversible ones (which I think you mean) are notoriously awkward.

Just because they are on sale does not mean they are safe. Go on to Parentslounge.co.uk and ask on there. They are the best for advice. Or contact Britax and they will tell you which seats will go in the car.

Wow, that was quick! Thanks!
Nab, will Britax tell me about non-Britax seats, do you think?
LIZS - that's exactly the kind I mean, and given that it needs to go in a two-door car (nissan micra), it'll be a nightmare if it's really awkward.

I doubt it!

seat belts in a nissan are truely apalling- never long enough and have a very strange adjustment.

Oh lord, I don't know what to do at all now! Looked at the Britax site, and basically it said that it would recommend NONE of its seats in the back, and only in the front with the airbag off (no idea if this is possible, and anyway I thought children were safer in the back seat!)

see- this is the point- you need to fit it for that specific car, lord knows i spent a fortune on car seats only to have to change them again when i got a new car!

no the Britax site isn't even comprehensive about its own seats let alone anyone else's.

Not all car seats are safe (unfortunately)

some are MUCH safer than others...

geenrally combination car seats are less safe because they are trying to do too many things.

Seats desigend for 1 group are generally safer BUT some seats for just 1 group are pretty rubbish as well!

Its ture not all car seats fir in all cars...

volvos are really bad for 0+ ish car seats cause their belts are too short in the back... and my dads vectra is a nightmare cause the buckles are too long for most car seats and cause buckle crunch.

Thanks everyone for your help, though I've got no idea what we're going to do now. Grandparents wanted us just to order something (so no hassle for them), but it sounds like that just isn't possible, and they'll have to go to (Halfords? Mothercare? Any special recommendations?) to get one fitted themselves. Thing is, if it's just a Group 0 car seat then DS may just use it 2 or 3 times, which is why we wanted to get one that did Group 1 as well.
The alternative to what is turning into something of a family upset is, quite legally, to get a taxi from the station to my parents-in-law's house, with no child restraint at all...

I understand your dilemma but you could probably get a perfectly ok infant carrier and stage 1 seat separately for the cost of a reversible one. Also could use the infant carrier as a seat at the gp's house.

also are you sure you will never ever need to travel with your baby in a car?

Do u have any friends at todler groups / music etc where the baby has outgrown the 0+ car seat and could just lend it to you for 2 or 3 journeys.

Personally i would NEVER travel with a baby without a car seat... you would never forgive your self if you were in a crash for the sake of

Well, the next complication in this whole business is that the super-ancient volvo that they have will take NONE I repeat NONE of the Group 0 or Group 0&1 carseats that Mothercare stock - seatbelts too short...
So what the parents-in-law saw, I think, as irritating daughter-in-law making work for them by insisting that they go and get the seat fitted themselves has been vindicated. They're going to see if anything will fit the micra tomorrow.
NB NannyL - completely agree, I'd never travel with DS in a car without a car seat; although that said I have been, quite legally, on both buses and in taxis with him without one... Thanks for the tip on the mothercare seat.