“There are a few ways to rent car seats while traveling, one of the easiest ways is by adding it on to a car rental. Most car rental agencies have car seats available for adding on to your car rental reservation. Typically adding on a car seat will cost about $8 to $12 per day and some car rental agencies will have a weekly discount available. AAA members can receive one free car seat rental per reservation when booking through Hertz.”
Possible Car Seat Tip When Traveling With a Smaller Child
Some useful tips pertaining to whether or not you should bring a car seat when traveling with a smaller child are imparted in this article which was written by Carly Stewart of Live and Let’s Fly; but I might have one more useful tip which could benefit you if you travel with a child.
I am a member of several frequent renter loyalty programs of rental car companies — joining them is typically free of charge — some of which allow you to choose your own vehicle when you arrive; while others give you access to the vehicle of your choice at a special rate when reserving it.
For a family gathering some years ago, I needed to rent a vehicle which could accommodate both an infant and at least one elderly person in addition to a couple of other people — as well as me, as I would be the driver of this vehicle.
I loathe minivans in general; but I remembered from a previous rental with which I had no children to transport — and no other choice of vehicle was available — that something caught my eye as I was inspecting the minivan prior to leaving the facility. There was a soft loop of some type in the back seat; so I pulled it and out popped a car seat which was built into the seat. I decided to remember this in case I needed to transport any children in the future — and this feature came in very handy for that gathering of family members.
As a member of Emerald Club with National Car Rental, I chose a Dodge Caravan minivan from the selection of vehicles which were available in the Emerald Aisle from an airport location after traveling by airplane. The rate remains the same regardless of which vehicle is chosen from the Emerald Aisle; so I did not pay a penny extra to rent the minivan.
That built-in child seat — some minivans are equipped with two of them — came in handy for a variety of reasons:
- No one had to carry or purchase a child seat
- A child seat did not have to be rented — one was already available in the minivan at no extra cost
- No concern or worry that the car seat is properly anchored in the car itself
- Because it is built into the rear seat itself, there is purportedly a lesser chance that the child seat could be inoperable, faulty or damaged
Summary
This tip is admittedly not foolproof or obvious, which is why it does not qualify for the Stupid Tip of the Day series of articles — there is no guarantee that a minivan will automatically be equipped with a built-in car seat or that one will be available on the day you arrive; or that you will pay a rate for the minivan similar to that of a regular car…
…but if you can benefit from it at least once and save some money in the process without compromising safety, then writing this article will have been more than worth it.
Photograph ©2016 by Brian Cohen.
