dollar car minivans and car seats

[spacemtn1971]

hello. i was wondering about people who have rented minivans from dollar in fl. have you seen them with the integrated child car seats in the middle seat.

we have twin girls and i don't really want to pay $11 a day for the seats.

we rented last year and got a caravan with the intregrated seats and they were great.

has anybody had any experience with or without them in the minivans?

thanks!

jwb

[holidaybarb]

Yep, we had 2 minvans from Dollar the last week in June and both had the integrated car seats. We didn't expect them and had lugged along a seat from home. (It was useful on the plane though.)

[3AmigosMom]

I'm not familiar with the integrated seats?? Can someone explain--are they a carseat type devise already present in the minivan?? And if so how many are in the minivans, and did you have to reserve this type of vehicle ahead of time from Dollar?? I already have a Dollar minivan booked for our Sept. trip.
Thanks

[MulanMom]

We counted on having the integrated car seats in our Dollar minivan last year. I was told they could not guarantee a minivan with the seats. When we arrived, midafternoon on a Saturday, the minivan we were assigned DID NOT have the integrated seats. Fortunately, the attendant in the garage was able to switch us to another minivan that did have the seats.

3AmigosMom...the integrated seats we had were located in the middle row, bench seat. The a portion of the seat back folds down revealing restraint harnesses for two children. What was uncomfortable for my two is that their legs stuck straight out in front of them. The position they were in prevented them from bending their legs.

We will be renting a minivan from Dollar for our trip next month. I plan to still bring our backless booster for our eldest daughter and the regular car seat for our 4 yr. old, though I'm considering getting him a backless booster as well. OTOH, legally, my daughter can just be in a regular seat with a seat belt, so we may bring a backless booster for my son and a little gadget that'll adjust the shoulder belt so it's properly fitted for my daughter.

HTH!

[3AmigosMom]

Thanks for the clarification. Doesn't sound like I should rely on getting a van with those, or from what you've posted--even want to use them if they were uncomfortable for the kids. Thanks for the tip about the 4 yo tho. If I do that for mine, then it's only 2 carseats to bring down instead of 3 (yipee)!!!