Hi,

Going on holiday soon with the family. Car hire £200, car seat hire £100. Heck that’s expensive.

First boy is nearly one, second is nearly three?

Hertz wants nearly £350 with additional insurance included
Easy Car want £200 with additional insurance included but won’t guarantee the child seats! So a bit nervous of Easy Car not willing to guarantee the seats but it’s much cheaper.

Any ideas?

WipeOut

Hertz does free child seat rental if you rent using a AAA (US equivalent of RAC) travel code for your booking. They never check for AAA membership ime. Don’t know if that applies for rentals in the US only though.

Also, ime, the problem with rented child seats is that no-one ever washes them – which means they *stink* of hot child piss.

Cheaper to just take them with you, isn’t it? Or are you going LCC that will charge you for that, too?

Considered just driving…?

Not a direct answer to your original question, but it’s worth checking with other providers of additional insurance (Super-CDW).

People like Insurance4CarHire can be much cheaper than the rental company’s insurance. Basically you pay the excess (if you have an accident), then claim from the insurer.

It normally works out much cheaper.

when we went to the states a few years back, we bought a car seat there rather than pay the insane rates to hire one, then left it in a charity shop at the end.

We’ve always just taken our own seats out of the car at the airport and taken them with us, it’s never been a problem, just luggage tagged them like a bag. First time we did it we put all three seats in a huge cheap duffel bag but airline staff said no need. We’ve mostly used those lightweight seat types which are basically a shaped lump of polystrene foam with a cloth cover so no real weight penalty for flying, plus easy to clean. Is your older boy just in a booster seat now? Could be time to switch if he isn’t.

Edit: Just spotted the Girona bit, I’d opt for the big duffle bag option if it’s a charter or low cost airline as it’ll be less items to check in and they’ll just get treated like a suitcase.

WHen we flew into Malaga with Easyjet last year I figured that it was only £30 mnore to buy another seat and sit our lad’s car seat, with him in it, on the plane. Saved us from having to keep him still on our knees, which you can do until they’re 2. If you’ve already got seats for the kids then I think airlines encourage you to take a car seat on board for them. You also know that the seta hasn’t been puked/sh*t on or been in an accident already.

Just check the seat measurements to see if they will fit the plane, I thought it would be touch and go looking at it but there was plenty of space.