Renting carseats?

LSU628

Anyone have experience renting car seats? We will be going to Cape Cod and Boston this summer. I'd bring ours, but we are turning in the rental car once we get into Boston. The idea of lugging/wheeling 2 car seats, suitcases and a stroller to the train/airport is a bit overwhelming. I'm considering renting carseats and a pack n play but am hesitant due to safety concerns. I found the carseats to be cheaper (and Britax) through a private rental company vs the car rental agency. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

TriciaandSean

I would buy a cheap car seat for the trip and you can just donate to he rental company when you leave.  I would personally never rent a car seat.  I've heard too many horror stories.

jc&cat

I agree that I would bring your own seat b/c it's a gamble. If you do want to rent baby stuff including a crib or pnp, i highly recommend using this service in the Boston area. https://www.basicbabyrentals.com/

We have rented cribs from them numerous times (like 10x) over the past 5 years since all of DH's familiy is in that area. My kids never successfully slept in a pnp so we rented cribs for our weekend visits. Brandi is the owner operator and is very good. We have been very very happy with the equipment and service.

Another thing we did once or twice when flying and didn't have enough hands for kids, stroller, car seats and suitcase was to ship our clothing to our destination. This takes a bit of planning but it worked out perfectly when we went to FLA last year. It cost about $30 for the shipping but really, you are likely paying that in baggage fees for an airline. I went over to old navy and asked them if they had any large boxes and they gave me one no problem. I packed it up and UPS did the rest. Highly recommend.

LSU628

jc&cat said:

I agree that I would bring your own seat b/c it's a gamble. If you do want to rent baby stuff including a crib or pnp, i highly recommend using this service in the Boston area. https://www.basicbabyrentals.com/

We have rented cribs from them numerous times (like 10x) over the past 5 years since all of DH's familiy is in that area. My kids never successfully slept in a pnp so we rented cribs for our weekend visits. Brandi is the owner operator and is very good. We have been very very happy with the equipment and service.

Another thing we did once or twice when flying and didn't have enough hands for kids, stroller, car seats and suitcase was to ship our clothing to our destination. This takes a bit of planning but it worked out perfectly when we went to FLA last year. It cost about $30 for the shipping but really, you are likely paying that in baggage fees for an airline. I went over to old navy and asked them if they had any large boxes and they gave me one no problem. I packed it up and UPS did the rest. Highly recommend.

Thanks for the recommendation. That was actually the company I was considering renting the crib and carseats from. I'm going to rent a crib while on the Cape and use the crib at the hotel, so that's one logistical thing I've been able to solve. I'd really like to have DD's carseat on the plane b/c she always falls asleep on the plane, plus she's safer and less fidgety. I'm just trying to figure out how to get the rest of the stuff down to the gate! I guess my other option is to rent a stroller there so that's one less thing for us to struggle with. DD can walk and we can use the gogo kids travelmate thing to push DS through the airport. I can't wait till the kids are older and we don't have to travel with 50 million pounds of stuff!!

Court0026

We had bad luck the one time we tried to rent from the car rental.  Maybe a private place would be a better bet.  So hard to know in advance though!

ASmallWonder

What are they flying in?  I absolutely wouldn't rent from anyone.  You have no way of knowing the history of the seats or how they were cleaned or cared for.  Too much of a gamble.

LSU628

We bought one seat for DD so we can bring her carseat onboard. DS will still be a lap child so either I have to gate check his seat or rent one when we get there. The biggest concern is bringing all of that stuff on the train and to and from the airport once we get to Boston.

ASmallWonder

You can't gate check the seat and know it's safe on the other end, unfortunately.  Can you your son his own seat on the plane so he can ride safely?  If not, can someone meet you when you land with an inexpensive Cosco Scenera to use for your trip?