Renting a car with a carseat

[tripletsmama]

Is it possible to rent a car and a carseat or do we just need to check ours? The baby will be 5 months when we travel. We definitely like having a car to get around more easily and enjoy some off site restaurants. I've never rented a car when my other kids were carseat aged and wasn't sure how it worked. Thanks for any input.

 

[gmeh1]

Is it possible to rent a car and a carseat or do we just need to check ours? The baby will be 5 months when we travel. We definitely like having a car to get around more easily and enjoy some off site restaurants. I've never rented a car when my other kids were carseat aged and wasn't sure how it worked. Thanks for any input.

Yes, you can rent a carseat.

 

[ktpc2005]

Each car rental company has car seats, with a daily rental cost that can be seen on their site.

A tip: If you have AAA, you can get a free car seat with Hertz.

 

[JavArmy]

As others have posted, you can rent a car seat. If you choose to check yours it will be FREE. You may want to look into this. If you check it, my suggestion would be to put it in a thick garbage bag so it doesn't get wet if it rains and all the straps don't get caught in stuff. We bought car seat covers specificly for flying (we fly quite a bit) at Babies R Us that were super thick and nice. I reccomend bringing your own. I'm sure the ones that you rent are perfectly fine and I'm sure they have to be up to some standard, but it always made me feel better using my own. Good luck!

 

[lisa-upnorth]

take one!! we did and it was WAY cheaper than renting from the car rental I believe they get about $65 to rent a car seat!!!!!

 

[jcarwash]

As mentioned above, if you have AAA I would definitely look into using their rate with Hertz for the free car seat. Renting a seat is typically really expensive.

I have limited experience with car seats in Florida, but at both Hertz at MCO and Avis out at Cape Canaveral, I was able to choose my own car seat from a rack of seats. In other cities I've experienced that the rental seat is placed in the vehicle and so you get whatever is picked -- which is fine, but picking your own seat I found to be a nice option.

 

[tripletsmama]

Thanks for all the great information! We do have AAA so that would work nicely. I guess it would really be just as easy to check our own. We have a Graco travel system for the baby, so the carseat goes into the stroller so I guess he/she could just sit in that until we get to the gate. Does anyone know if we would have to take the baby out of the seat and the seat out of the stroller to go through security? Traveling with an infant is brand new to me!

 

[HoosierDisneyDad]

Thanks for all the great information! We do have AAA so that would work nicely. I guess it would really be just as easy to check our own. We have a Graco travel system for the baby, so the carseat goes into the stroller so I guess he/she could just sit in that until we get to the gate. Does anyone know if we would have to take the baby out of the seat and the seat out of the stroller to go through security? Traveling with an infant is brand new to me!

Yes, you'll need to take the infant out of the seat or stroller to go through security. That's what I had to do last month when flying to and from Orlando. Here's what the TSA website says:

"Passengers cannot leave babies in an infant carrier and attempt to put it through the X-ray machine. Babies should be carried through a walk through metal detector by a parent or guardian."

And I much prefer to bring my own car seat. I rented one from Alamo once and it was clean and in good shape, but it didn't seem as safe or as comfortable as my Britax.

 

[tripletsmama]

Yes, you'll need to take the infant out of the seat or stroller to go through security. That's what I had to do last month when flying to and from Orlando. Here's what the TSA website says:

"Passengers cannot leave babies in an infant carrier and attempt to put it through the X-ray machine. Babies should be carried through a walk through metal detector by a parent or guardian."

And I much prefer to bring my own car seat. I rented one from Alamo once and it was clean and in good shape, but it didn't seem as safe or as comfortable as my Britax.

Now hold on...do people really try to leave the baby in the seat and put it through the x-ray machine?! I meant could I leave the baby in the seat and then push the seat (in the stroller) through the metal detector! Thanks for the input on the carseat.

Anyone know about a sling? Could I leave the baby in the sling and walk through the metal detector?

 

[jcarwash]

Thanks for all the great information! We do have AAA so that would work nicely. I guess it would really be just as easy to check our own. We have a Graco travel system for the baby, so the carseat goes into the stroller so I guess he/she could just sit in that until we get to the gate. Does anyone know if we would have to take the baby out of the seat and the seat out of the stroller to go through security? Traveling with an infant is brand new to me!

The stroller needs to be folded down and put on the belt to go through the x-ray machine. So the Graco seat will need to come out too for the stroller to be folded, and the seat will need to go through on the belt separately.

We don't have experience with security and baby sling, but I would bet you can't do that either, that you need to just carry the baby without anything extra. Not sure though.

Also on traveling to the gate with a stroller -- it's a good idea to get a gate check tag for the stroller before you line up to board the plane. It's typically the first thing I try to do at the gate counter once we get to the gate.

When you board the plane, you'll take the stroller down the gate ramp and leave it at the end and it will be put underneath with the bags. When you exit the plane, you pick up your stroller again right as you exit the plane door. Sometimes you have to wait, sometimes the strollers are already there.