Travel with Children - rental car and car seat

I'll be in LA in three weeks and had planned to rent a car and use an agency-provided car seat. Does anyone have suggestions as to a reliably good agency that has up-to-date, clean car seats? I've read horror stories about Advantage in particular.

My LO will be 5 months old, and her car seat has a base plus the seat itself, so bringing it along isn't really an option (it's part of a Chicco travel system and is really heavy too!).

Or, if I have to buy one for the trip, any recommendations for a cheap but good one?

Thanks for your help.

Not only are rental car company car seats dodgy, but they can be expensive. A Cosco Scenera can cost as little as $40-50. You can order it on line and have it delivered to your destination. Some parents buy these and simply leave them behind when they're done. It can even be donated it to a women's shelter or other charity, collected at the hotel after you leave.

Another option would be to use a baby equipment company. This is a lesser of the evils. Why would their seats be better? These companies are usually run by parents who know more on the subject of baby equipment in general. You can also call them and ask all the nitty-gritty questions; what brands they have, the year of the car seat, how they clean it, etc. Also, their reputation is based on the quality of their baby equipment whereas a car rental company's purpose is to rent cars. Providing car seats is an extra.

The only problem would be getting the car seat to the airport for your arrival. There are a number of ways around this and easier if you have friends or family in the area who can help.

You can call the car rental company yourself but often, you can only get the national number. If you still want to use their seats, call the actual agency, if possible. You may get some kid who doesn't know much on the subject. They also wont be obligated to any information given over the phone.

Most agencies only have a few seats available so if another client extends their contract, you'd be out of luck, as I was once.

Just as an extra tip, if you want to bring your own seat, you might want to look into getting a stroller frame to transport your infant seat instead of the bulky travel system. I used one and it was really useful for travel. It folds up really small and can be gate-checked. You can use the car seat on board if the flight isn't full.

The cheapest Sceneras are available at Wal-Mart for $39 with free shipping to a Wal-Mart store:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/13004563

They're nice and light and pretty easy to install. And there's a decent chance that's what you'd get if you rented one anyway. Unfortunately the nearest Wal-Mart to LAX is about 20 minutes away, which may make it difficult to pick up at the destination. If you're planning to bring it with you, get a bag like this one (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004L2JJ9G). A friend got a very similar one at TJ Max the other day for really cheap.

My LO will be 5 months old, and her car seat has a base plus the seat itself, so bringing it along isn't really an option (it's part of a Chicco travel system and is really heavy too!).

Are you sure that your seat doesn't have a base-less install option? We have a Chicco Key Fit 30 (I think that's the name of it) and it can be installed with a seat belt. It is obviously easier for every day use to have the base but I found it worked just fine on a recent trip to use the belt option when I was going to be in and out of different vehicles. It took me a while to realize that there were options for installing it without the base.

Most infant seats specially aren't supposed to be used with the base on an airplane. I asked this once on a car seat site and no one could come up with one that required or even recommended it.

Bringing the base is optional. Depending on how much car travel you'll be doing, especially in-and-out type trips, it might just be easier to get comfortable with the seat belt installation and leave the bulky base at home.

If you still want to bring the base, put it in a suitcase, surrounded by soft clothes. Why is it okay to check a base and not a car seat? If your suitcase isn't there when you arrive, you'll still be able to safely transport your child from the airport.

If you go with the Scenera option, you might want to consider skipping the rental on the first day depending on your plans. Sometimes, all a parent whose just tackled a long flight with an infant wants to do is drive to the hotel and relax. Many of the hotels have shuttle buses anyway. Save money on the rental and have only one parent go and collect the car and the car seat at the nearest retailer.

I've gotten a car seat from Avis before. It was brand new still in the plastic. I had to install it myself, was kind of a pain. At least it was clean and modern. It was expensive, like $16 a day. While on that same trip my wife and I saw the same car seat in Walmart for sale and basically for the price of the rental we could have bought one. Ever since then we just travel with the car seat we have and check it. We wrap it in plastic to keep it clean, plus to identify it easier at baggage claim.

Are you sure that your seat doesn't have a base-less install option? We have a Chicco Key Fit 30 (I think that's the name of it) and it can be installed with a seat belt. It is obviously easier for every day use to have the base but I found it worked just fine on a recent trip to use the belt option when I was going to be in and out of different vehicles. It took me a while to realize that there were options for installing it without the base.

When my daughter was an infant, we used the Chicco Key Fit 30 on a couple of trips using just the seat, leaving the base in my wife's car. It's easy to use without the base.

First time we flew after she grew out of that seat, I thought we could use a rental car company-provided car seat. I ended up leaving it and going and buying a seat. Was not willing to take that risk.

Edit: I bought one of these http://www.amazon.com/Childress-Ultimate-Seat-Travel-Black/dp/B0009RNXNA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317179308&sr=8-1 , which makes it super-easy to travel with the car seat.

Not only are rental car company car seats dodgy, but they can be expensive.
...

:rolleyes:

This weekend we had a rented car seat from hertz that was

A) free with AAA CDP code (an ongoing promo I posted about on this thread earlier)
B) clean and in good condition, delivered to our car wrapped in plastic - according to hertz rep they wash them after each use

I have no experience with other agencies but I have not had any issues with hertz and plan to continue using their seats.

Be careful of the way they're washed. Some companies use bleach on the straps. Be sure to ask about this.

Also, what will you do the time they don't have one when you arrive?

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Also, what will you do the time they don't have one when you arrive?

Buy one and get a significant voucher out of Hertz customer service. Or book on the spot with another agency. I can imagine some scenarios with limited alternatives (late night arrival of a delayed flight, small station and still lots of driving to do etc) but those are quite unusual.

I have no interest in convincing anyone but the facts are that those options exist and they are IME perfectly acceptable and quite convenient. YMMV.

Different parents have different standards. My neighbors think I'm silly to use car seats at all. They pointed out to me that they're good drivers, when I offered one of mine, as their stuffed their children, without even seat belts, into their car.

I was told too bad by a rental car company, no car seat and there was no way to buy one. I've also checked out car seats in many of the rental car companies I've rented from since and while they might be acceptable for some parents, I wouldn't put my children in them. No way.

Also, many parents still rear-face their children well over the 1 year, 20lbs limit while the car rental company usually only offer forward facing convertibles. Plus, many rental car companies expect you to put any child over 40lbs in a booster. So you are warned as your child grows older.