Rent Car Seats at DTD Alamo?

[MNMom2009]

Has anyone rented car seats from the Alamo that is located in Downtown Disney? We are taking a quick day trip to Newport Beach when we visit next month. We plan to rent a car for this. Because we are taking the bus to the resort from the airport, we would need our kids' car seats only for this quick day trip to the beach. If the car seats are acceptable (and guaranteed to be there), we will likely leave ours at home to ease travels and then rent from Alamo. However, if we have any questions about the car seats, or if anyone has had a bad experience, we will probably bring ours. Kids are ages 4 (convertible seat) and 5 (high-back booster seat).

 

[thatgrljme]

Renting car seats from a car rental agency is never a good idea. There are a myriad of reasons why but most of the time the seats or expired are just plain filthy because they don't clean them.

On top of that if they've been in any type of accident you wil never know.

If you are planning any type of car travel it is always safer to bring your own seats with you.

 

[DharmaLou]

If you are planning any type of car travel it is always safer to bring your own seats with you.

I highly disagree. The amount of damage inflicted by baggage handlers on a car seat while throwing them around to load and unload the plane would equal the impact received during a car accident.

Yes, the Alamo does have car seats to rent. I would recommend checking the expiration date on any one you would rent to insure it is safe in that aspect.

As a CPST, car seat safety is highly important to me. The lesser of the evils in this situation is to rent a car seat, rather than have your personal seat damaged and have to replace them.

 

[KalamityJane]

I highly disagree. The amount of damage inflicted by baggage handlers on a car seat while throwing them around to load and unload the plane would equal the impact received during a car accident. Yes, the Alamo does have car seats to rent. I would recommend checking the expiration date on any one you would rent to insure it is safe in that aspect. As a CPST, car seat safety is highly important to me. The lesser of the evils in this situation is to rent a car seat, rather than have your personal seat damaged and have to replace them.

Actually the safest way is to bring their seats on the plane and have the child use them. A backless booster can be packed in luggage with clothes around it or a Bubblebum would be a good option for the older if you think they would sit correctly.

 

[ImarriedGrumpy]

I can't speak for Alamo, or for every car rental location, but I do have a friend who works for a Hertz rental location in Northern CA and she says it is in the rental company's best interest to make sure the car seats they rent out are NOT expired, are free from defects, and are clean. She says that they do not want to get sued if someone is in a car accident and a child gets hurt because the rental agency was negligent in renting out a damaged or expired carseat. At her location, they clean each car seat when it comes in, just like they clean the cars. Any car seat reported to be in an accident is disposed of, and they replace car seats a year before the expiration date. She told me that the biggest issue is that they can't install them for their customers (liability again), so she's seen people not put them in correctly. It bugs her a ton, but for legal reasons she isn't allowed to install it, so she can only give them advice and make sure they read the manual. They also don't stock very many car seats because they take a loss on them if they aren't rented out enough times during the life of the seat, so sometimes they don't have one when someone wants it.

Her advice to us when we were traveling was to make sure we were comfortable installing the type of carseat we would be renting from the agency, and to call the specific location we would be renting from to ask about their policy for cleaning and replacing the carseats. She said they should be able to tell us the exact brand and model of car seat they have available and what year they were purchased, although sometimes it takes a couple calls to get the person who knows where to find the paperwork on it since it isn't a question most people ask.

 

[thatgrljme]

I highly disagree. The amount of damage inflicted by baggage handlers on a car seat while throwing them around to load and unload the plane would equal the impact received during a car accident.

Correct, however, I never said check your car seat! I travel with mine all the time and it ALWAYS comes on the plane with us. My son is 3 and needs his own seat and does much better in his car seat which is familiar to him than he would ever do in just the seat on the plane.

I would never counter check or gate check a seat, ever. I would also never rent a seat from a rental car company.