Rental car company car seats

[cdlamis]

We are travelling to Hawaii this Friday with our 7 mo. old daughter. The rental car company rents the car seat and installs it in the car.
Has anyone done this? We have so many things to bring with us as baggage (stroller, etc) that this would be nice not to have to bring. Also, since this was a last minute trip, the flight is sold out so there probably will not be any empty seats for her on the plane so no use for the car seat there.

Does anyone have good exp with a certain company? We have a Britax RA but it was installed by a car seat technician and we don't want to have to take it out of the car- it took forever to install with the tethers!

Also- this is our first trip with her. Any suggestions of what not to forget? I know all the basics but is there anything you wish you would have brought but didn't think of? We will be in a hotel in Oahu for a week.
Any thoughts? TIA~
Daniella

[Joolsplus2]

Bring a lot of diapers! they cost a fortune, unless you go to walmart or kmart....and when you use them up, then you'll have room for souvenirs :). What car rental company are you using? Avis has prominent advertising for LATCH cars and seats, which might be helpful. Anyway the best you can do is make absolutely sure you are getting a rearfacing convertible seat...would she still fit in an infant seat? because you might get one...find out the brand and model you are getting ...just really pressure them to make sure you aren't getting a FF-only combo seat or an infant seat she may have outgrown. As for your current seat, you really really should learn to install it yourself...I think it's rather unprofessional of a Tech to do it and not teach you how to do it...it is actually easy to learn, and you will have to do it many, many times over the years. It's a big benefit to your child to have parents who can install a carseat :). Aloha, and have fun in Hawaii (take lots of sunscreen, too...those equatorial rays will burn you to a quick crisp if you're not careful)

[cdlamis]

Thank you for all the advice. I will definitely make sure the rental co. puts in a RF convert.
The car seat technician installed it with us and taught us everything so we do know how to do it but dont want to have to re-install it unless necessary. It was kind of difficult and the car seat is so tight right now that I would hate to unlatch it. We will be buying a 2nd car seat for cases like this. But thank you for your advice.
Off to call Avis.
Daniella

[sarsah]

Call the location of the rental car co. you are using and make sure they have a convertable seat which can be used rear facing. We ran into this problem with DS was a baby. He was too big for an infant seat, but not 1 year old. The only rear facing car seat Hertz in Atlanta had was an infant seat. This was in early 2001, so things may have changed. I ended up bringing our RA with us. It's very easy to install!

Sarah.......