Travel blogger Debbie Dubrow made some waves in February about Advantage Rent-A-Car's poor excuse for a car seat rental program, and an ABC News story and wide blog coverage (including here on ZRecs) led to a promise by Advantage that they had cleaned up their act. So when Dubrow heard from a reader about similar problems at Advantage's LAX rental office, she flew there herself to check it out. She was offered vomit-stained, user-unfriendly, expired car seats that do not meet state requirements for the mandatory program. The fact that the foul-smelling car seat, which did not include instructions for installation, had been bagged in the manner now called for by Advantage to indicate that a car seat has been cleaned and sanitized was just the icing on the cake.
The right changes have been made at the corporate level, at least on paper. Click on the image below for a larger view of the clause in Advantages' updated policy [PDF] that gives local offices pretty much all the authority they need to make sure that safe car seats are available for use at all times.
Looks like somebody isn't doing their job.
We have had mixed experiences renting car seats, mostly with issues of availability, and carry our Radian 80 with us when we travel. It's heavy but folds up tightly and has a nice shoulder bag available from a third-party manufacturer.
Have you had problems with car seat rentals at Advantage or other agencies? Or do you bring your own car seat, or have another solution?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Advantage Rent-A-Car's Highly Disadvantageous Car Seat Rental Practices
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
17 comments:
We bring our own car seat, no matter where we go. In fact, we carry it on the plane for my son to sit in while we travel. Yes, it's a pain, but far more comfortable and secure for him both on the plane and when we arrive. We use the Pac-Back strap from One Step Ahead, and just wear it on our back walking through the airport and onto the plane (it's a Britax Marathon). And I've also done it traveling by myself with our son as well, so no excuses about it's too hard with one person! My son's 2 now, and probably sometime next year we'll start checking the car seat and letting him sit on the plane himself, but we'll always travel with the seat- I've seen too many yucky car seats sitting near airport rental counters!
I bring my own seat, and to make it easier, I use the Go Go Kidz attachment, so I can stroll my son (or our stuff) through the airport! Then we take it on board when we purchase our son a seat (when he travels with daddy or on LONG trips). If not, we gate check it.
We rented carseats once and we never will again. They gave us the wrong types of seats for our kids' sizes. I sent them back and waited for other seats which wouldn't safely fit in the rental car. This happened over and over again for 3 hours in the hot Florida summer sun.
The infant seat they brought never did fit correctly in vehicle and it was an older model that baffled me. The 5 point harness came together on the bottom in such a way that it crushed my poor little guy's legs and boy parts.
The helpful hint suggested by the fine folks at the rental company was, "Go to Babies R Us and buy one then."
Oh and I was told it was my fault because it was the weekend. I actually turned to that rep and said, "So it's okay for you to put my kids at risk because it's a Saturday?"
Never again!
When I was 18, I worked for a rental car company. We had ZERO training concerning the proper use and installation for the carseats available for rental... and I was in the position of suppling the seats to the customers when requested. Due to certain lack of training, I'm not surprised by the employee's responses that Reiza mentions. Those comments reflect the attitude that was present in my workplace at that time. Looking back now as a parent, I'm HORRIFIED by the "service" we provided. The seats were old, dirty, and usually BROKEN. Sometimes we didn't even have one available to rent when a family was counting on it. When we plan on traveling, my husband usually brings up the option of renting a seat. Absolutely never.
We usually gate check out seat, though I have carried my Radian 65 in its Radian bag on one flight. I put the infant seat on the plane when my baby was an infant, but once he outgrew that, he refused to sit in the seat on the plane and I like having the extra room.
We just flew from Korea to Hawaii and decided to rent a seat because I am in the nausea phase of pregnancy and wanted one less thing to deal with. Online you could choose from an infant seat, toddler seat or booster. However, when we got to the rental place, the people said,"There's only one type." Luckily, it was the toddler seat, what we needed. It was fine, however, I don't think I will rent from a car rental place again. Hawaii has several stand along rental places where you can rent Britax carseats, strollers, etc. I might do that, but will probably just bring my own and gate check.
We have only flown once so far with our son but we made sure to bring our own car seat and base. We bought a ticket for him, so he could have a carry-on and a personal item, and we were able to get everything on board.
After reading this, there's no way I wouldn't travel with my son's own things. Eek.
We had a HORRIBLE experience with renting a car seat at Hertz, and I hope we never have to rent a car seat again. We now have a Radian folding car seat that we bring with us when we travel.
We flew into Hamilton, Ontario and drove into Toronto last summer. We rented a car from Hertz because of a recommendation by CAA and the promise of having an infant seat provided at no charge and having it installed by "special trained personnel" (http://ww1.aaa.com/misc/HertzCAAMemberBenefits.html?association=CAA&clb_id=277#hertz3
In addition to the installation, CAA touts the "safety, security and convenience", and says that "Hertz field personnel have been extensively trained on the proper installation, cleaning and inspection of the car seats and will install the seats in the vehicle". HA!!!! Our experience contradicted all of that!
We reserved our infant seat weeks ahead of time, and when we picked up the rental, we were given a car seat to install ourselves. The employee wouldn't install it for us, and didn't have an instruction manual. My husband mentioned to the clerk that their website said that the seat would be installed by trained personnel. She said that she had taken the course for installation but said she "wanted nothing to do with it". She said that she didn't want to end up in court if we got in an accident!
She (and Hertz corporate, when we later contacted them) said that they would be changing the website information shortly, but they still haven't changed their policies.
And even worse than all of that, the seat was FILTHY. I've never seen a car seat so dirty. There was rust all over the bottom of the seat and some in the car base as well. We didn't feel safe using the seat for our baby, so we asked for a replacement, and were told that there were no other car seats. The employee also refused to call another location to reserve a seat for us to pick up.
Thankfully, when we drove to the Toronto airport location the next day, they gave us a brand new car seat with an instruction manual (which we again had to install ourselves), but that didn't make up for the inexcusable service and condition of the original car seat, which we had to use, driving for an hour on Canada's busiest highway!
My advice: BRING YOUR OWN CAR SEAT WHEN YOU TRAVEL.
There is NO WAY I would ever consider renting a car seat from a rental car company. I worked for a major rental company for years and know firsthand that the mostly young and childless employees don’t know and don’t care about car seats. Plus, renters can be very vague about how damage occurred to their rental car so there is no way to know if those car seats have been in an accident. We’ll be taking our first plane trip with our 11 mo daughter in a couple of weeks and we purchased a seat for her. Yes, it was expensive but I want her safely secured for the flight and the drive afterward in her own car seat that I spent hours researching before buying. The best part - having her safely strapped into her car seat on the plane means I don’t have to try to hold my wiggly ball of energy for 3+ hours! I’m not even comfortable checking her seat as baggage. I’m pretty sure that the baggage handlers don’t care any more about car seats than they do about any of the other luggage so the odds of the car seat being tossed around (and damaged) are very high. Maybe I’m just being overly cautious but what’s a couple hundred dollars for another ticket compared to my daughter’s safety and my sanity?
I had a disaster with renting a car and car seat when my son was about 5 months old. I can't remember which company it was, unfortunately. With it being my first time travelling alone with my son I didn't even think about complaining.
I was traveling alone just with my 5 month old. We were on our way to visit a close friend who had an aneurysm and was unconscious in the hospital. It was an emotional, spur of the moment trip. No stroller, I was wearing my son in the Ergo. They weren't prepared for my seat request even though I had put it in the reservation.
They brought out a convertible seat, it was older and stained, but worst of all for me they had lost the LATCH belts and they had no directions and I had NO idea how to install it. At the counter they told me that it is against their rules for anyone to help me install it. I tried my best to figure it out. It was hard, an unfamiliar car, unfamiliar seat, me trying to install it rearfacing in the middle back seat with a now crying 5 month old on my front. I asked for help once again and was told that they weren't allowed to help me. There were 2 families nearby waiting for their cars and neither of them had the courtesy to offer help. Finally yet another employee came by, this time I was lucky and he offered to help. It was a bit like the blind leading the blind, but after about 30 minutes of trying to figure it out we finally got it in as good as it was going to get. I am ashamed to admit that it wasn't as secure as it should have been, yet I drove it to my friends house anyhow. I later was able to tighten it up sufficiently.
The whole thing was a nightmare for me. I know enough now to insist on something better than the ratty old seat they gave me, however I still think the "rules" about helping to install are ridiculous. What does a person do traveling alone with a babe in arms? It can't take too much to train a few employees on proper installation.
Are there any guidelines for the safety of cribs in hotels? We just had our first experience, and while they were happy to provide a crib at no additional charge, I was not comfortable allowing my son to sleep in it.
For those of you who are complaining that the rental car agent won’t help you install the car seat then ask them hold your child. If you don’t feel comfortable letting them just hold your kiddo how could you possibly trust them enough to install the seat? It is a liability issue for them and I think any smart company wouldn’t offer car seats at all. I agree the rental company should have the proper installation instruction for every seat but if they aren’t available then you should go to the car seat manufacturer’s web site where you can download/print the instructions. Please don’t leave your child’s safety to strangers who really don’t care! A better option would be renting safe and clean children’s equipment (car seats, cribs, strollers) from a company that specializes in this service. Many of these companies will meet you at the airport or at your final destination.
My kids are booster seats so I check them with our luggage. I always checked their carseats as well.
I made carrying bags for the carseats myself. I would pack the kiddos clothing and whatnot in a drawstring bag that went in the seat of the carseat before putting it in the carrying bag. This way I didn't have to pay for extra bags or lose valuable space for packing.
So I'm retarded and posted a link to the same story... stress is not my friend. LOL! ;)
we just got back from a trip with 3 and 1 year old girls. I felt SUPER fortunate to not have to lug their car seats through the airport, particularly when we were hustling bunnies to make our connections. This time we were visiting family with other littles, and they had spare car seats for us to use. Sweet.
We flew with our 1- and 5-year-olds for a cousin's wedding, and as the husband is a bit broken, we tried to travel as light as possible. We bought a seat for the older daughter and an on-the-lap restraint for the younger one. We figured we'd take advantage of that great service we saw advertised in our AAA magazine and rent car seats from Hertz.
When we got the rental car, the seats were wrapped in plastic and not at all installed. When I went back inside and asked the counter people for some help, they responded, "We can't install the seats for liability reasons." Nor could they provide me with an owner's manual, citing the same "liability" issue. We struggled to figure out how to install the convertible seat rear-facing (our youngest is tiny but mighty!), and at some point, the manager stood outside watching us. (Maybe it was the loud grumblings from me?) A passerby offered his assistance, but eventually walked away sadly, apologizing that he couldn't be more help with the "plastic crap" we rented.
The manager eventually came over and offered us a different seat, the infant carrier. I explained that the baby was simply too tall to safely sit in the carrier, but he dispatched someone to retrieve it anyway and seemed annoyed that I didn't want it.
After much struggling and some under-my-breath cursing, we got the seat in and went on our way. But I doubt we'll be renting seats again. Thankfully, flying is a rare occurrence for us.
To the last anonymous poster:
I'm the person who posted above about bad service from Hertz in Canada. We didn't receive an instruction manual either, because they apparently didn't have it anymore. I can't believe they refused to give you a manual, citing "liability reasons"! They're risking all kinds of liability issues by refusing to give you a manual so that you can install the car seat properly!
Some car seats are really tricky to install, and for rental companies to expect parents to blindly figure out how to install them safely is just ludicrous. Although they're obviously not very concerned about child safety, so why should I really be surprised?...
Check out my blog, and also some posts on BlogHer for more on this discussion!
Post a Comment