Charging for baby seats/booster seats when hiring a car

CarH_2

Our daughter is coming over from Ireland with her 7 yr old and will be hiring a car from the airport. Some car hire firms are asking £50 for child booster seats, others make a daily charge of anything from £10 per day to £15 per day. As it is a legal requirement to have child seats and/or booster seats in a car for kids could we argue this point and say it should be provided automatically and for free? - after all seats belts are a legal requirement and they don't charge for them when you hire a car. Guess it comes down to the hire companies making as much money on top of the hire price as they can - a bit like the budget airlines with their cheap flights, until you add on all the extras.

Has anyone ever haggled to get child seats for free??

joerugby

I don't have young kids and I don't think I should be paying for yours

benjus

She could just drive straight to the nearest retail park and buy a cheap one for the duration she is here. Halfords do a booster seat for £5...

shellsuit

Can someone not meet her at the car hire place with a booster seat bought from a shop?

You can get them for under a tenner!

But No, to answer your question, I don't think they should be free. It's a legal requirement for the driver of the car to have one for a child, not a requirement for the hire company.

photome

Why should they be free? As others have said I dont need a booster seat when I hire a car so why should I pay for yours.

I have had to use one in a hire car in the past and I took my own to the USA, so your daughter could surely bring her own from Ireland

balancelife

does she not have one that she can bring over with her to use in the car?

I remember we had to pay for a baby seat when we went away but I would just take one now she's older. you can even buy an inflatable one called "bubblebum" and theres another one thats part of a rucksack.

at home we are always having to cart the booster seat around for our 5 year old, if she wants to go to a friends after school or to her grandparents etc.