Hiring car seat in France

pompom · 2003-06-03T15:31:33+00:00

We are going on a two-week holiday in France and have booked a car seat for our 2 year old daughter. Some friends have suggested to me that it is safer to bring your own. Any advice on the reliability of rental (quality of seat/suitability for age etc....) I would welcome some advice and personal experiences on that as i am getting unsure as to what to do now. Thank you

wiltshirelass · 03/06/2003 16:33

just done it last week, through avis in nice airport. booster seat for 5 yo and 2nd stage car seat for 2.5yo, both there, both working, both fine...

if you go for avis and hertz you'll prob be fine, I always have been. not sure about others like holiday autos though

Original poster

pompom · 03/06/2003 16:48

Thank you for the propmpt answer; it is holiday autos and we are picking our car up from Toulouse airport. I suppose I can try to find out through them what brand of car seat it is. I will remind them it 's a second stage I need (daughter is 2 years and 3months when we get there)Have you had a bad experience with Holiday Autos?

OP posts:

ThomCat · 03/06/2003 16:50

Lastyear we flew into Mairsailles (spelt wrong!) and the car seat we were promised wasn't there. We spent about 3 hours trying to get one and it ended with me in tears saying if someone didn't provide me with a seat for my 6month old I was going to cause a scene. I was begging them to realise that at 1am, on a foreign road in a new car, (to us) I was not going to risk the 2 hour drive to our villa without a seat, so no I wouldn't/couldn't come back the next day. Anyway someone rang someone else at home who had the only key to the shed that stored them all(!) and we got there after 4 hours or so!!!!
However I'm flying to Nice this Sunday and am going to put my trust in Avis this time and hope they don't let me down like Budget did. There's too much to carry as it is, so I'll risk it one mor time, and if I get let down again then i'll always take my own.
PS Budget did compensate us with about £200 in the end but ....
have a lovely holiday and good luck with the car seat.

wiltshirelass · 03/06/2003 16:52

no, never used holiday autos, I just expect that the very big international companies will have large stocks of these things, not run out, have them locked in some blokes shed etc etc!
Thomcat that sounds like a nightmare, surprised with budget. I'd imagine one has fewer problems if one is landing in the day rather than at night when anyone with any authority or intelligence has usually gone to bed.

ThomCat · 03/06/2003 17:03

Lastyear we flew into Mairsailles (spelt wrong!) and the car seat we were promised wasn't there. We spent about 3 hours trying to get one and it ended with me in tears saying if someone didn't provide me with a seat for my 6month old I was going to cause a scene. I was begging them to realise that at 1am, on a foreign road in a new car, (to us) I was not going to risk the 2 hour drive to our villa without a seat, so no I wouldn't/couldn't come back the next day. Anyway someone rang someone else at home who had the only key to the shed that stored them all(!) and we got there after 4 hours or so!!!!
However I'm flying to Nice this Sunday and am going to put my trust in Avis this time and hope they don't let me down like Budget did. There's too much to carry as it is, so I'll risk it one mor time, and if I get let down again then i'll always take my own.
PS Budget did compensate us with about £200 in the end but ....
have a lovely holiday and good luck with the car seat.

ThomCat · 03/06/2003 17:04

Ohhh sorry, didn't mean to post twice.

Bossanova · 03/06/2003 17:16

We took our own car seat for ds as easycar don't do 'extras' (though how they class a safety issue as an extra I don't know!). Anyway we had a taxi to the airport and used it in there as well. It really wasn't a problem, we just checked it in with the luggage.