Babysitter's car, car seats

[AngB]

I am in school FT and am going to need to get 2 car seats for our 3 days a week babysitter's car, something rearfacing for our tiny 17 month old and something FF'ing for our petite 4yo (like 30%ile). (We are planning/hoping to use her through this year if not even longer after I graduate in December and hopefully find a job.) She will drive them once a week or so but possibly more if DS2 qualifies for special ed services. She drives a Dodge Dart and we may need her to fit 3 across this summer with a Bubblebum for DS1 (who will be 6 in April.) Diono's are out mostly because of the price point, the sometimes complicated install, the weight, and I understand from google this car has a short'ish front to back space.

I am thinking the Maestro for DS2 FF'ing and the Cosco NEXT scenara are our best bets for our budget, being narrow'ish, and both boys should be able to use LATCH with them for the year. My only concern is how easy they will be to install and if they will be easy enough if she needs to install them weekly on her own? (Right now we have Britax seats in my car which are super easy to install but I don't think they'd fit well in her car and we really don't want to spend a ton since we've already put car seats in my mom's car and DH's car, so this will be our freaking 4th set of car seats.) Any other seats I should consider?

Also would it be crazy for me to ask her to take them to a CPST to teach her to install them (she babysits 2 school aged kids on weekends and often drives them to soccer so the seats will have to be reinstalled most likely pretty regularly), or are they easy enough that this would be overkill? (She's a 20 yo college student and doesn't have much experience with car seat installs.)

Thanks!

[gymnbomb]

I'm not sure how wide the Maestro is, but if it turns out to be too wide the Harmony Defender is narrow and around $100. Scenera NEXT is quite narrow and is what I would choose for the youngest. I think arranging for the two of you to meet together with a CPST to make sure you are both comfortable with the installation of the seats in her car is a very reasonable thing to do.

[Philly Mom]

I would encourage a seatbelt install for both. I get a much tighter, easier install with those seats using the seat belt.


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