what size car rental - car seats and stroller

[mailelynn]

Hi everyone - We are taking our 2 kids (newborn and toddler) to Orlando in November and I was needing some advice on what the smallest car rental size I could get.

We need to fit both car seats in easily (one infant seat and one convertable) and have room in the trunk for 2 large suitcases and a travel system stroller.

I have a good rate for a compact car, but I am afraid that everything won't fit in the trunk...

TIA...

 

[CleoPahd]

The trunks are usually soooo small in a compact, not to mention there is very little room in the back seat. You'll be lucky if you can even get the 2 large suitcases in. The last time we needed a rental car we thought we'd be thrify since it was an unexpected quick trip and went with a compact. There were 3 of us. We tried 3 cars and couldn't get the suitcases to fit. We had 2 large suitcases and one carry on sized one. Luckily, my husband noticed that for whatever reason they had a Chevy HHR in the compact aisle so we quickly ran over to it and managed to squish our stuff into that. I'm not sure what we would have done if not for the HHR. Personally, I'd be too nervous to take that chance again. Especially where your kids are in car seats so they will be taking up the majority of the room in the backseat so you wouldn't be able to squish in what doesn't fit in the trunk.

 

[mareed]

In our experience, the smallest that you'll fit in would be a full-size car. And then, you'll find that the trunk space would be fairly tight. No way would you fit in a compact or even an intermediate. We just rented an intermediate and our one large and one medium suitcase filled up the trunk.

 

[wmharley]

get a full size and then at the counter ask to upgrade to minivan..

2 large bags AND a travel system?? in a full size or less? good luck... unles syou leave the trunk open...

we got a compact suv in Puerto rico and it wasn't going to work.. I took it back, asked how much to upgrade and was told just $3 a day.. if I would have rented a minivan from the getgo.. it would have been hundreds more.