You've Been Warned: Do Not Rent A Car Seat With Your Rental Car

If you've got kids, planning a trip can take a huge amount of effort and a heightened level of meticulousness. You'd definitely want to guarantee that you've adequately packed everyone's essentials. This can range from ample clothing and snacks to gadgets that'll keep restless young travelers sufficiently calm and comfortable for the duration of the trip.

Traveling to a destination that requires airplane travel and renting a vehicle is an even bigger endeavor. Apart from ensuring that every individual in your group has up-to-date identification for travel, you'll want to make sure that the car you're renting is suitable for young passengers to ride in. You have the choice of bringing your child's own car seat with you, or renting one through the rental car company along with your chosen vehicle.

As a parent of two young kids and a part of a family that travels a lot, let me tell you why in most cases, the former is the better option to pick.

Finding the right car seat for your kid ensures that they are not only snug and secure for the entire time they're in transit, but comfortable and at ease as well. There are different types of car seats, and in most places, the local traffic safety administration will have specific car seat recommendations based on your child's height, weight, and age.

When you rent a car, you get to pick what type, make, or model you end up with. It's not always the same for child safety seats. Since not every vehicle renter needs one, this piece of equipment is considered an add-on, and in most cases, the rental company won't have a selection of car seat brands or designs to choose from.

Depending on how old your child is, they may be hugely accustomed to the feel of the car seat that they use back home. If you put a kid with particular preferences in an unfamiliar environment — especially for a prolonged period — brace yourself for potential tantrums brought on by restless and anxious energy.

Of course, there is a certain level of expectation that car rental companies keep their vehicles visibly pristine and sanitized, and the same should apply to child seat rentals. Having said that, you can't really know for sure how thoroughly the car seat assigned to you was clean. If you have a younger child or one that has sensitivities to contaminants, you're just better off having a child car seat that you cleaned yourself at home.

You also have no real way of confirming the history of the car seat that'll be assigned to you. For all you know, it may have been involved in a tiny enough accident that it wasn't removed from circulation. It may also have sustained some damage that isn't easy to spot with the naked eye. 

In either case, your rental company may give you assurances that their car seats pass safety standards, and you may be inclined to believe them. However, when it comes to the protection of your child, it's better to be safe than sorry. It's better to know with 100% certainty that the equipment you're using is up to par and road ready.

Most rental car companies may claim that they have a variety of car seat types available suitable for your child's age range, height, or weight. However, you may notice that the language used on these car rental websites tend to be vague. For instance, on Enterprise, it says, "You may choose from the following car seats at many of our rental locations: infant seat, child, seat, booster seat." While it's great that there's a wide variety of options to choose from, you may miss the part that says you get to pick which one you get at a rental location.

There are many potential hindrances that can occur once you get to the car rental counter. There may be a limited number of car seats available per seat type, and there's a high chance that they observe a "first come, first serve" policy. If you have a late arrival time, you may be out of luck and out of options.

If you end up requesting a car seat for your kid when you show up to pick up your rental car, at that point, you're at the mercy of the rental car agent's expediency in procuring your equipment. This can tack on a significant amount of time to your rental process. Based on experience, this is especially true if the place you're renting from is on the premises of a particularly busy airport.

Finally, if you're travelling internationally, you have to take into consideration that not all locations have similar child car seat requirements. Even if you look up a country's legislation online, and it confirms the existence of child car seat laws, you can't guarantee that locals abide by them religiously. Rather than find yourself in a situation where child car seat use isn't a popular option, you definitely should bring your own for your own peace of mind.

Renting a car can already incur a substantial cost by itself. Throw in a car seat add-on, and you're looking at spending an extra $13-$15 per day, maybe more overseas. If your trip has you renting for an extended period of time, you can just bring your own car seat, which will cost you a total of zero dollars.

If your trip includes airplane travel, most airlines typically allow passengers traveling with children to check a car seat with no added cost. The car seat will be considered a separate free item and won't be counted against your baggage allowance.

If lugging an extra piece of equipment doesn't sound super appealing to you, you may consider buying a child car seat at your intended destination. Depending on where you're going and how long your trip is for, it can sometimes be less expensive to just buy a new one on the other side of your flight and leave it behind at the end of your trip, if you have to. This is a solution that my family has opted for on more than one occasion — my husband picked up our rental car and went to grab affordable car seats at a local department store, while our kids and I killed time at a coffee shop in the airport. We were away for a long enough period of time that the total cost of the two brand-new car seats was lower than what it would have been to rent them.

At the end of the day, the overall safety and comfort of your kid should be a top priority. By bringing your own car seat, you ensure that you're 100% familiar with how to properly and safely secure it to your rental car — you don't have to worry about messing anything up in the installation process.

You can pretty much guarantee that your child will be familiar with your own car seat's size and design and feel more at home in it. Similarly, as the person who purchased it and routinely maintains it, you can rest assured that the car seat is up to proper standards, both in terms of cleanliness and safety.

My husband and I traveled pretty frequently before we became parents. I also was born and raised in the Philippines, so we'd regularly take long-haul flights. While we were mostly accustomed to being in transit for hours at a time with little hassle, traveling with kids is a whole different ball game. Depending on the kids' ages, being on the road can even become tedious and may require lots of distractions and breaks. From one parent to another, do yourself a solid and remove renting a car seat for your child from your list of worrisome travel to-dos. You'll thank me later.