Avis - Car Seats

Hello All,

I did a search on this & didnt find anything so I thought I would ask.

Has anyone rented a car seat (for 1yr old) from avis? If so, what are the conditions of the seats (old, missing pieces, unsafe, etc)?

I would hate to leave my car seat at home & be unsatisfied when I arrive, but I really don't want to lug anything extra through the airport.

Thanks!

At $8/day/seat the costs tends to add up rather fast. We always brought clear plastic bags (or got them from the airline) to put our seats in and we checked them. We only had a problem once when CO lost 2 of our 3 bags. They provided us with a free loaner seat until they delivered our bags the next day.

Another reason to use your own seat is that you know how the seat works and how to install it. One of the biggest problems with seats is that they are installed incorrectly!

Finally, from this web site (http://www.esafety.com/esafety_cfmfiles/esafety.cfm?N=828) comes this excellent advice:

If you must buy or borrow a used car seat, do so with caution and be sure it meets federal motor vehicle safety standards. Used car seats may have been damaged in a crash and may have hidden flaws. Also, make sure that the seat comes with its original user's manual or instruction booklet. Follow these instructions and the car owner's manual without fail.

So true, xyzzy. You have to be careful with renting a car seat or purchasing one second hand.

Whenever we leave home, we always ask for an extra plastic bag, in case there is not one available on the return flight. That has saved us many times.

Why would you NOT take it with you? You have to transport Johnny in it to the airport. It's not an inconvenience to take it with you. On AC, the car seat, stroller, etc does NOT count as part of your baggage allowance.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by IsleTraveller:
Why would you NOT take it with you? You have to transport Johnny in it to the airport. It's not an inconvenience to take it with you. On AC, the car seat, stroller, etc does NOT count as part of your baggage allowance.</font>

Thanks both for the reply. This will be my daughters first trip & we are really looking forward to it.

Now, as to why I would not take it along. Here is the reasoning behind my question. I will be leaving for business on Monday, wife & child will be flying down to stay the weekend and will be flying back alone while I stay another week for business. So, the less my wife has to lug around the better. That is why I asked if the child safety seats were okay. I would prefer to use our own seat, but if they had up-to-date equipment that was as safe as ours, it would be redundant to bring ours along as my company will be paying for the seat rental.

Again, thanks for the replys!