Help with child car seats and car rental companies

[pharmlivin]

I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for a car rental co. at Orlando International that rents child safety seats. After reading many horror stories about unsafe seats, dirty seats and poorly installed seats I was wondering if anyone could recommend a car rental co. that does the best job concerning child safety seats. (I am a new grandma and want the family to come down to Disney with the little ones, but safe traveling is most important) Thanks in advance for any advice.

[CarpeDisney]

I haven't rented car seats from car rental companies for some of the reasons you mentioned in your e-mail. However, there are some people who have positive experiences with doing this.

My wife and I invested in a great car seat carrier that we use for our trips. It is a heavy canvas bag, contoured to the shape of the car seat, with shoulder straps similar to a back pack. We carry the car seat on our back from our car to the airport check in, check the carrier as a bag, and claim it when we arrive at our destination. Some people prefer to not check car seats with baggage, so instead they "gate check" their car seats just before they board the plane. This way, it can be given back to them immediately when they get off the plane.

Additionally, there are also people who use their car seats on the plane as a means of child restraint rather than just the airplane's seat belts. This is an option that will allow the family to travel without checking the car seat at all (the trade off is that this option requires the purchase of a seat on the plane for the child).

One last option.....do you have any friends where you are who have young children or grandchildren? They may have an extra car seat that you can borrow for the duration of the family's visit.

Good luck!

[bumbershoot]

We have always simply brought ours. We gate checked it (after watching his Roundabout SLAM onto the carousel and realizing the horrible forces that were probably put on it behind the scenes through the airport). It's nice to have your OWN seat, so at least something is familiar. Hard enough to install a known seat in a new car, let alone a new seat in a new car while just trying to get to your destination!

[TSMMANIAC]

I can't help with the car seat except to say we always used ours on the plane so we had it for the car rental. We use Dollar Rental at the airport and have never had a problem.

[luckyman_apd]

We flew to the west coast in June for Disneyland, and I have one of those canvas travel bags as well. We used our car seat on the plane for my 3 year old to keep him "contained". I did not want to pay an extra fee to the car rental company for a few reason (not just because I'm cheap). I don't believe the rental company will even install a seat because of liability. It is up to you to install it. Sorry, but I don't know of any rentals other than through a car rental.

[CarolMN]

Moved from DVC Boards

[mummabear]

Never had any luck with renting them and its free to take them so I don't see the point in paying to rent them.....Is there a reason you don't want to take yours?

[chris31997]

The one I saw several years ago was $65 a day for the car seat on top of the car and you had to get a car through them. They were not the cheapest for the car. Forget that. Deal with bring the car seat or if you are using your car than buy a car seat to use.

[pharmlivin]

seems like taking your own is the best idea. I was just thinking of getting through the airports with 2 toddlers, 2 car seats, maybe a stroller, carry on and whatever else, but I will look for those canvas carriers-thanks so much for your advice.

[CanuckTraveller]

Originally Posted by pharmlivin

seems like taking your own is the best idea. I was just thinking of getting through the airports with 2 toddlers, 2 car seats, maybe a stroller, carry on and whatever else, but I will look for those canvas carriers-thanks so much for your advice.

From one who has been there
How many adults do you have? If you are alone this could be tricky, but if you have at least one other adult this is do-able. There are devices that attach certain car seats to your rolling carry on, turning it into a stroller. Alternately, you can pile two car seats onto a stroller (one inverted on top of the other), with one adult pushing this while the other has the two children. Try to keep your carry ons to a minimum, back packs work well (they keep your hands free!), or rolling carry ons that you can easily push or pull. I love using a baby carrier, so up until this year our youngest was worn back pack style through airports. We practice carrying and holding everything at home to make sure our plans will work, yes we look funny walking around the living room pulling luggage, but it's better to figure out the plans at home than at the airport.

[ghtx]

We just had a trip with two adults and three kids (including a newborn) and we checked three car seats. It was a little tricky getting them to the check-in. We didn't gate check them, that would have been crazy. I agree that you should bring your own. They will be fine. In fact, even if you rent them from the car rental company, they will be fine. Some people are just a little bit picky...

[Lydia91]

Are you meeting them at the airport?

There are some very affordable seats out there -- for example, Walmart has the Cosco - Scenera 5-Point Convertible Car Seat for about 54 bucks. You could purchase the seat and bring it with you to the airport.

As it is cheaper, it might not have all the bells and whistles of their regular seats but it will be safe (meet federal regulations) and they don't have to worry about hauling/damaging their regular seats.

[jenifferf00]

I used to work for a car rental company, and we did not rent them or install personal seats for liability reasons. Also, most cars are vacuumed, dusted and sent back out. I would guess that's the same with carseats, they're likely not washing those covers ever; leaky diapers, spilled milk, old food, NO THANKS!

[ghtx]

Originally Posted by jenifferf00

I used to work for a car rental company, and we did not rent them or install personal seats for liability reasons. Also, most cars are vacuumed, dusted and sent back out. I would guess that's the same with carseats, they're likely not washing those covers ever; leaky diapers, spilled milk, old food, NO THANKS!

Ummm... do you have kids? I don't think there's a car seat in America that isn't covered with the spilled contents of diapers and food and drink containers.

[mommy2jack]

We rented a rental car from Alamo back in May from Orlando airport along with 2 car seats. I debated back and forth with myself over whether to just rent them or bring our own. Flying with a toddler and a baby, plus a stroller, diaper bag, carry ons and 2 large suitcases I just couldn't see how we were going to juggle 2 huge car seats too. So we oppted to rent. When we got to the Alamo rental area they had a ton of car seats all packaged in plastic bags and piled up in a area away from the cars. We had to pick our own and install them ourselves (for liability, but I felt safer doing that anyway!). The seats we got appeared clean... no stains, tears, or funky smells and they were in good condition. We had no problem installing them and they worked fine for my kids. I honestly would rent them again with out hesitation.

Have a great trip!