Are the toddler car seats bad on Budget rental cars?

[lilasmom]

We're renting a minivan from Budget at MCO and it's been suggested here that we bring along our car seat instead of renting one, because of the condition the rental seat may be in. What are some of the experiences you guys have had if you rented from Budget and used one of their seats ? From a finacial stand point, it's $35. cheaper to bring our own, but if theirs are ok I'd gladly pay that not to listen to my husband complain about lugging ours around.

 

[safetymom]

I would take your own seat. You don't know the history of the car seat they are providing. The start of your vacation is not the time to inspect the car seat, read the manual to make sure you are using the seat correctly. How do you know the seat hasn't been in an accident?

 

[lilasmom]

Does anyone else have an opinion ? Has anyone ever used their car seats ?

 

[Halle]

I think that a rental car company would not place a car seat back into use if it had been in a vehicle that had been in an accident, too much liability.

 

[maciec]

I have never rented one through Budget or any other car rental company before because I can't trust the integrity of the seat. The only way I would rent one is if it came out of the box brand new infront of me.

Most major carriers will let you baggage check or gate check your car seat for free if you didn't buy your baby a seat. Bring yours with you for peace of mind.

 

[crystaldawn]

We are bringing our own after a good friend of mine decided NOT to take hers last year. She has 6 kids and 4 are in carseats so it was not an easy task to lug them all through the airport... so anyway she immediately texted me from the rental car saying she could not believe the shape the seats were in. She said the straps were twisted and sticky and the seats were dirty and overall just not in good shape.

We are lugging two carseats through the airport but figure at least we know that they will be safe in them We decided to borrow the smallest seats we could from friends so that at least they are not our huge boulevards. GL