Car Seats in Hire Car's Advice pls

[Groovee]

We're hiring a car when we land at Sanford. The car seat laws in the UK are about to change and children will need to be in a booster seat until they are 4ft 5 or age 11. I'm totally confused as to whether or not I need a car seat for my dd who will be 7 when we travel or if I can get away without one (but will buy one once we arrive). I'm also thinking about taking a booster seat for ds who will be 4 but probably under the 40lb limit.

Would be grateful for some advice.

Love Louise xx

 

[belle&beast]

We're hiring a car when we land at Sanford. The car seat laws in the UK are about to change and children will need to be in a booster seat until they are 4ft 5 or age 11. I'm totally confused as to whether or not I need a car seat for my dd who will be 7 when we travel or if I can get away without one (but will buy one once we arrive). I'm also thinking about taking a booster seat for ds who will be 4 but probably under the 40lb limit.

Would be grateful for some advice.

Love Louise xx

Hopefully someone from Florida will be able to give you their state laws. Our state (Indiana) requires that children between 4 and 8 be in boosters as long as they are 40 pounds. If a child is 4 and still under 40 pounds, she will still need to be in a 5 point harness carseat (that was the case in our house.) DD just turned 5 and is finally in a booster. Like I said, every state is different, but you may need to be prepared to have something for each child.

 

[CowboyCO]

Florida state law requires car seats for children under the age of 4, with no weight restrictions. There are no booster requirements for children 4 & older, just recommendations for boosters.

More info at www.buckleupflorida.com

 

[Groovee]

Thanks for that. I reckon we'll take 1 booster as my friend has just told me the hire car they had had inbuilt boosters. So don't want to lug 2 with us. If not we'll hop into a shop and buy one once we are there.

 

[familydisney]

I wouldn't risk it on the built in booster. Very few cars/vans in US have built-in boosters, and the one you get doesn't, the car hire company will charge you $10 US per day. Also, it is VERY common that the type of vehicle you reserved will be unavailable. They will generally upgrade you, but it will be a different type of car. Hope this helps!

 

[Groovee]

I wouldn't risk it on the built in booster. Very few cars/vans in US have built-in boosters, and the one you get doesn't, the car hire company will charge you $10 US per day. Also, it is VERY common that the type of vehicle you reserved will be unavailable. They will generally upgrade you, but it will be a different type of car. Hope this helps!

I'm thinking of taking my own for ds who will be 4 and then once we get there and there isn't a built in booster for dd 7, then we'll buy one as I'd rather follow the british law on her being in a car seat!

 

[katytrott]

I'm thinking of taking my own for ds who will be 4 and then once we get there and there isn't a built in booster for dd 7, then we'll buy one as I'd rather follow the british law on her being in a car seat!

I'm thinking of taking our car seat instead of renting. Do you know if our UK seats are allowed in the states, or if they even fit?

 

[all4fun]

I'm thinking of taking our car seat instead of renting. Do you know if our UK seats are allowed in the states, or if they even fit?

You can use your car seat here legally if you are on Holiday. Only US residents are not allowed to use car seats that are not tested to US Standards & approved by our gov't (NHTSA).

Now I did read that some people had problems with seatbelt installs because the vehicle belts were too short. I also think that you use ISOFIX instead of LATCH and don't think you can use an ISOFIX installation in a car that has LATCH anchors if that makes sense. I'm not a car seat tech though so I could be wrong.

If for some reason you find yourself needing to buy one, the Cosco Scenera w/5-pt harness is usually a good deal at about $40-50 (Walmart/Kmart/Target sell them). It harnesses to 40lbs (about 18kg). Hth.

 

[NotUrsula]

Now I did read that some people had problems with seatbelt installs because the vehicle belts were too short.

In my experience (lots of visiting cousins from the UK), this problem usually only happens with rear-facing carseats. The seatbelts should be plenty long enough for front-facing UK carseats.

 

[kathi29]

Isofix differs from LATCH only regardin the top tether. Isofix uses only the bottom anchors. So and Isofix seat should install just fine with our lower anchors.

 

[katytrott]

Thankyou everyone. You've put my mind at rest. My car seat is IOFIX but also works just with a seat belt. Like someone said I would be surprised if the seat belt wasn't long enough as there is hardly any distance for it to go.

 

[Sazuburns]

I would make sure you know how to spot 'buckle crunch' though, in case you need to use the seat belt instead of Isofix.

Basically, if the buckle of the seat belt is resting on the plastic or metal base of the car seat, it can shatter in a crash. The shorter the buckle end, the better.

 

[becca011906]

great place to get car seat info is www.car-seat.org there are mama's from other countries and techs on there from us and canada that can help with questions.... as for you oldest and a booster just b/c the alway in FL says a 4 year old doesn't need a booster, in reality almost all kinds under 8 or 9 usally need a booster for a seat belt to fit properly, you could even get just a booster seat by cosco at walmart once here for your older child to use in the car.