Installing carseats in rental mini-van?

[riggins]

Hi guys-
We're renting a mini-van from National for our trip next month. I need help knowing what to expect when the time comes to install our carseats. I'm bringing our Britax Roundabout seats from home, so I'm comfortable with the seats themselves, but I've never installed a seat in a mini-van (FWIW, National typically rents GM vehicles).

Are there LATCH connectors in both the 2nd and 3rd row seats? If so, is one row better than another? Where are the teather connectors? Anything special I should know?

Thanks
Leslie

 

[bubbasmom99]

We picked a Dodge Caravan Sport off the Emerald Aisle when we went last May. My daughter Marathon has LATCH connectors and was very easy to install. Both kids went in the 2nd row. The tether attachment point is right behind the 2nd row on the floor -very easy to find. I don't know what attachment points there are for the 3rd row, but you might be able to find out from the Dodge website. We have seen both Caravans and Chevy Ventures on the Aisle...

 

[pamole]

As long as your children are not infants, you may want to call the rental company to find out if the vans come equipped with built-in car seats. 2 years ago we went from CT to AZ w/DD 2, DS 1, had to bring so much stuff, including seats. Got to airport, found out DD didn't need it on plane -- only our son needed it. Then got into the rental van in AZ after lugging 2 seats 3000 miles, and found car equipped with them -- the seats we brought from home stayed in the hotel closet all week!

Hope this helps!

 

[lovesdumbo]

I would take your own car seat. You can't be sure the mini van will have an integrated car seat. But you likely will find the LATCH system as the rentals are relatively new. We rented from Alamo and one of their guys helped us install 2 car seats. He said we could go look for a van with integrated seats but he didn't see one close by. I didn't notice any tether bolts.

When I rented from National I used EA and picked a car, got DD's seat installed and then could get into the drivers seat. I was 6 months pregnant and the seat was pulled all the way up. I couldn't figure out how to move the seat and got a National employee to help. Turns out the car's battery was dead so we had to install the car seat again and move all the luggage. Like I said I was 6 months pregnant traveling with DD(3) and a girl friend. The National employee just walked away from us-didn't help us find a car that worked or move luggage.

edited to add: despite my "problem" with National. If I got a good rate with them I would rent with them over Alamo. They were much quicker and Alamo charged me an extra driver fee to add my husband which I didn't expect as I was a "True Blue" or whatever the membership is called.

 

[dijid]

We just got back a week ago, and rented from National. They had tons of different minivans to choose from - and not one with an integrated seat. Most manufacturers stopped making them standard or part of packages. Anyways, the LATCH anchors are almost always just on the 2nd row. The tether point is either on the floor behind the seat, or possibly on the seat. On our Honda Odyssey, they are actually under the seat. Be sure to check whether the head reasts of the seats move. They didn't on one rental we looked at and it interfered with a tight fit of the carseat. We also use Britax RAs and find that if you get a minivan with captains chairs in the second row you'll almost definitely get a great fit.

The third row anchors are often on the floor behind the seats. This seriously impacts luggage capacity.