The full guide to child car seats and transport options on a family holiday abroad
How do you keep your children safe while travelling abroad – we give you all the options
It can be a major dilemma, you’re heading abroad but what do you about car seats for your children?
You could rent them, take your own or rely on taxis and public transport. We assess all the options.
Renting car seats along with your hire car
Pros
*The benefit of this is ease and simplicity, you pick the car up at the airport, pop the seats in (once you figure out how they work) and off you go.
*It can work really well as it did when we used Auto Reisen in the Canary Islands recently, the seat was brand new and it was included in the price. If you can get that abroad, it is probably the simplest option.
Cons
*The standard of child car seats varies hugely, we have seen some truly horrible seats on offer and you don’t know what you’re going to get until you arrive.
And even then, you don’t know if the seat has hidden damage rendering it unsafe, how it has been stored, if that model has been recalled, if it has parts missing. And you don’t know how to properly fit it unless you have the manual.
*The cost is also a complete lottery. We’ve been quoted an expensive £90 per seat for a week, because the car rental companies think you don’t have a choice.
Conclusion
We would carefully consider the total cost of renting a car including the car hire price and seats instead of just going with the cheapest headline rate. And make sure you read company reviews to see if the seats they rent are generally of a good standard.
If you are not happy with the seat you are given when you get there, ask if you can change it for another one.
Bring your own
We have tried this and it works pretty well.
Pros
*In the long-term, it will probably be the cheapest option. We have even bought new seats to use for just for this purpose – we didn’t want to risk our day-to-day seats getting knocked about and potentially damaged and made unsafe.
*Most airlines will now let you take a car seat in the hold for free – it doesn’t come out of your luggage allowance or cost extra. Both British Airways and Ryanair allowed us to do this recently.
*Some airlines let you take the car seat with you to the gate, it can be bulky to carry around but reduces the risk of damage.
*You may also be able to take the car seat on the plane for your baby or child to sit in, if it is FAA-approved. Check ahead with your airline and know the measurements.
*You have peace of mind that the seats are safe and clean.
Cons
*The seats may take a battering travelling through the airport and on to the plane. Some people send them on the plane as they are, but they risk getting damaged.
We used to take our children’s car seats in their original boxes or a padded box to try to give them some protection but it is a hassle to pack and unpack the seats and collapse the boxes for car journeys either side.
Now, we use special bags which have made life much easier – the Venture Car Seat Travel Bag has long carry straps and now our two are much easier to carry around. The bags also prevent our seats from getting scuffed or ripped.
Using the Venture car seat travel bags
*For more information about taking car seats on a plane, see this article.
Hire at your location
Increasingly, popular tourist destinations have outlets where you can hire seats from the airport. We tried one at Malaga Airport with Tots Store.
Pros
*With a specialist supplier the seats are more certain to be good quality and cheaper.
This is the entire business for a company like Tots Stores and they wouldn’t last long offering substandard seats at inflated prices like car hire companies can get away with.
*We found the service excellent, the seats were really good quality and they explained the fitting well. The staff were efficient meeting us and it was quick and easy to take the seats back at the end of the holiday.
*You don’t have to risk damaging your own seats.
Cons
*On arrival you have to head for a different part of the airport to collect the seats, which does add a little bit of time to your airport experience.
On drop-off, you can head for the departures area but it is impossible to carry all your luggage and two car seats in one trip so this could be tricky if there is only one adult.
*The cost is likely to be less than hiring from the car hire company but more expensive than bringing your own.
Taxis and public transport
Pros
*Using public transport or taxis means less to worry about. Instead of panicking about scratches on the hire car, navigation, parking in tight spots, driving on the wrong side of the road and all the rest that goes into driving abroad – you can relax a bit more.
*The key to this approach is where you are going. Driving around some busy cities is best avoided in favour of trains, buses or taxis. In other areas, you need your own car to get around.
*Public transport will be cheapest and can be the best option in big cities. On our visit to London it was great to get around via the tube, train or bus. It made for an adventure.
Taxis with car seats can be hard to find
Cons
*We have never found a taxi abroad which has a proper child’s car seat. The best you can hope for is probably a booster seat but it is very hit and miss. You can try to pre-book a taxi with seats but we have never been successful and the whole point of taking cabs is that it is quick and easy and relatively spontaneous.
*The standard of driving is so variable too, we had one particularly hair-raising trip around Florence in a taxi.
*The cost of taking regular taxis will likely be more than a hire car – unless you are paying a huge parking fee each day.
Taxi laws
In the UK, if the driver doesn’t provide the correct child car seat, children can travel without one on and will not be fined. They must be on a rear seat. If they are three or over they need to wear a seatbelt but no seatbelt for under-threes (see gov.uk for more information). The law in other countries and areas varies.
However experts advise that it is always safer to use a child car seat. Using a travel booster seat or seatbelt adjustor may be safer than nothing.
In conclusion
There are a lot of options to weigh up, consider the location and what will work best for you and let us know your thoughts, tips and ideas in the comments.
*For a full guide to flying with a baby or infant under two click here. For our 10 top tips to flying with toddlers and young children click here.