Will you be travelling this summer? Will you be renting a car? How about a car seat – will you need one? Wouldn’t it be nice if you were able to see what car rental companies offered like if they provide car seat in your car rental? Well, there is a website that provides you this information and I am excited to tell you more.
DriveNow allows you to look at the options that are available for including a car seat with your car rental.
WHO is DriveNow?
Good question – they provide online booking facilities for last-minute and year round car rentals in Brisbane Airport and other major destinations throughout Australia, New Zealand, Europe, North America and the UK.
Our mission is to offer flexible travellers a quick and easy way to get better deals on Motor Vehicle Rental.
For our family including a car seat is an absolute essential part of any vacation we are planning. If you follow my blog you’ll know that we are very serious about car seats and car seat safety. While making vacation plans it is not always easy to drag your car seat along with you, that is why I wanted to share with you the service provided by DriveNow, but also to share with you some information regarding which car seat your child requires.
While we are strong advocates for extended rear facing and always recommend it, it is important to know the laws around car seats if you are travelling outside of your home state and outside of your country. When you’re checking out the DriveNow website you’ll be able to read up on requirements in the countries they provide this service for.
Below are some general guidelines for helping to keep your child safe in the car while on vacation, while outside of the USA;
- 0-6 months: Infants must be secured in an approved rear-facing child restraint a baby capsule.
- 6 months – 4 years: Children must be in an approved rear-facing or forward-facing child restraint with built-in harness.
- 4 – 7 years: Children must be in an approved forward facing child restraint or booster seat equipped with adjusted and fastened harness of sea belt. The type of restraint will depend upon the child’s size.
- 7 – 16 years: Children aged between seven years old and 16 years old must use a booster seat if they are too small to be restrained by a seatbelt properly adjusted and fastened
The guidelines above are a good start, but again I highly recommend you do your homework and make the best decision for your family. Be sure to use the services provided by DriveNow to make sure you are able to reserve the correct car seat or booster to keep your kids safe.
If you took your car seat safety seriously you would not be advocating renting a car seat. You should never, ever rent a car seat. You have no idea what kind of history that seat has, rental companies are notorious for providing expired car seats. Not to mention the fact that children under 4 should be using their seat on the plane as recommended by the FAA. And borders do not change physics, just because it is legal to FF in AU doesn’t mean you should. The safest and best option is to take your seat with you, use it on the plane and at your destination. It is legal for you to use your seat in another country as a visitor. All of this information can be verified by any CPST, in the future please consult one before providing any more “useful” tips on car seat usage. Simply saying “do your homework” in your blog post does not relive you of the responsibility of providing accurate information.