[whereintheworld]

Has any one done this lately??? The baby and I will be travelling next week, and I don't want to take his carseat, when I will already have a suitcase, stroller and packnplay. Some of the car rental companies have infant seats (labelled 5-20lbs) and toddler seats (20-40 lbs). Do you think it is safe to assume that the toddler seats are convertible and can be placed rear-facing? My almost-9 month old is over 22 lbs.

If you have any good, or bad experiences with particular rental car companies and carseats, please feel free to pm me!

[pvellozo]

i recently travelled and took along my convertible rearfacing carseat. the airline allowed me to check it in without counting it as a piece of luggage.
it was good having a familiar seat rather than counting on the rental agency.
if the car rental company seat had not worked we would be stranded in a foriegn country.

[CareBears82]

I would call the rental company directally and ask them. Expeically make sure they actally have teh seats at that spefic site and they aren't already checked out. I worked for Orbitz and when people would call to ask us we'd refer them to the rental company for those reasons. Only they are the ones that know what type of seat it is, and only they know if it will be avaliable for you.

[CLHsilent]

We do this all the time since we always seem to be traveling to visit family (we live in NY and my family lives in NC and SC). Anyway, when we rent the car, we tell them that we need one booster seat for my 3 year old son and one toddler seat for my daughter (who is not 15 months). It has worked great for her. Yes, it is a convertible seat that can be forward or rear facing (at least, with Avis). When she was younger, we asked for an infant seat specifically (which was more like the Graco snugride). Avis had three different sizes. Other rental places may just have two different sizes. But you can call and ask. Sometimes they have them already installed for us and other times, we have needed to install them.

Hope that helps.

Christie
Mom to Ana Maria, home Nov. 10, 2005

[DeeVee]

Every rental car company is different. Make sure you speak to someone who is actually at the branch you are using. I have reserved car seats in the past, only to find out that they didn't have the car seat that I need at that particular office when I arrived.

Also, booster seats are different from convertible toddler /infant seats. Sometimes a booster is just a small platform with armrests to make the seatbelt fit snugly.

You should be able to find something that fits your needs, just call ahead.