[Helsandfamily]

What did you do with car seats for the kids. I noticed on a previous thread that the rules in NZ are more relaxed and we have a 4 yr old and a 7 yer old, they are both tall for their age, and I am happy for the older one to just have a booster seat, but the younger one needs a chair if he falls asleep. has anyone had issues with taking it as luggage? We are travelling with SA via singapore... any advice should we try to take them with us or buy when we are out there we will be without our stuff for quite a while as we are storing it here until we choose between Auckland and Wellington.

Any advice would be appreciated. :)

Hels

[nippa&pippa]

Bring it with you! just put in the hold while you flying by simple hand the car seats in at airport and pick it up at other end :D that what we did!

I didn't like the car rental's car seats as didn't look good when we came over for reccie made me to bring our car seats with us :no

Also car seats here is pricey and not got very good range, I still prefer UK's ranges of car seats.

[andrewp]

Hi Hels,

We are in the same position. I've done a few comparisons and it looks like seats are so much cheaper here in SA (I need to buy one for our 8 month old who is out-growing his baby one). Our plan is to take the seats and have them wrapped with the cling-film stuff they do before we check-in. That way it will be protected. I have specifically bought light weight car seats over the last year with this in mind.

In fact, we are off to Switzerland for a break this Thursday and are doing exactly the same. We've been told that some airlines don't include the weight of car seats in your allowance, so it's worth asking.

[Chiba]

Maybe rent from Plunket in the interim? We did. They're cheap, and they're very helpful:

http://www.plunket.org.nz/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Car_Seat_Rental_Schemes

[Helsandfamily]

Thanks folks.

[YouMeAndThree]

Hels, I've been incontact with the Plunket Car Rental Scheme as I'm trying to decided what to do about my 3 children.

This is the information I received in respect of Howick, Auckland.

$20 Bond per seat
$30 Rental per seat for up to 12 weeks

So for me that works out at $150 in total for 12 weeks (3 seats), of which $60 is refundable. That, to me, seems quite a reasonable fee:nice1.

I'm not sure if other areas charge different fees, but at least this gives an idea.

I've got opening times/days/telephone number if you require them.

HTH

Lx

[Chiba]

Not only will they rent out the seats, but they'll fit them for you too. They take the safety of your kids very seriously. I got a telling off for not having proper child seat anchor points in the boot of my car (it's a Japanese import), so had to use the cargo tie-downs. The recommendations here seem stricter than back in Japan (or the UK for that matter).