HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

I'd love a bit of advice please - we've been here 2 years now and loving it :) - (even after making a maaajor property purchase mistake and lost nearly $100,000 - yes we panic bought an awful house in an area we didn't know, spent thousands renovating it, paying the mortgage before deciding enough was enough and we sold at not much more than we paid for it - cos of the area.......costly lesson but we know where we want to be now and are waiting till the right house turns up whilst house-sitting!)

Anyway, i am maybe an over-protective mother but i am not impressed with the safety standard of child car seats for children of age 7 onwards over here compared to the uk/european safety standard ones. We have a 7 year old little boy whos tall but skinny and in a car crash with a normal seat belt on would not come out too well - going by all the safety stuff from european testing.

He's been in a Britax 5 point harness seat up until now but he is nearly grown out of it - after looking at the ones here i looked on mothercare site (where we bought our current model) and they have the next size up that is a high back booster and lasts till the child is 11 years old or 35kg (my son is only 25kg so will last a long time!)

I was a passenger in 6 write offs before i learnt to drive so i am a lot more aware of safety with cars and i am probably more over the top than i should be but i have lasting back and neck damage that 15 years on is deteriorating and will eventually involve major surgery to correct

I have a friend coming back over from the uk soon and the airline said that they would be happy to have the carseat as luggage - with no child accompanying adult traveller - but at 8.7kg it'll take up nearly half of the luggage allowance :(. They are bringing loads of clothes back with them so not able to leave stuff behind unfortunately. Excess baggage is $69 PER KILO!!!!!!!!!!!

Any idea how to get a carseat over here cheaply? Is anyone coming over to Brisbane with not much luggage and would bring it with them? Or anyone with a shipping container not full to the brim able to put it in a corner? It would be sent direct to them from Mothercare.

Otherwise does anyone know how on earth i'm going to get a 8.7kg car seat over here???????????? Any help/suggestions very gratefully received :)

:thumbsup:

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Hi

I hear what you are saying, but the UK seats are not legal here, so if you were in an accident and your son was injured you could be proescuted for not having him in a legal seat. I know the UK ones are stonger and better, but it MUST be an Australian approved model here.

Love

Rudi
x

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

It matters not your opinion I am afraid, if your child, 7 or under, is NOT in an Australian Standard car seat and an accident occurs, not only will you have the trauma of dealing with the accident but also possible prosecution.

I have found this web site which may help you.

http://www.bubhub.com.au/infocarseats.php

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

I'd rather be prosecuted for using a non australian carseat and my son being more protected in an accident than than risk my son being injured by a carseat which wouldn't pass any european safety standards i'm afraid.

The car seat my son is currently using was the best model we could buy and we paid 249 pounds at the time for it after researching the safety features and testing and there was a child in an accident in that same model carseat that survived with not even a scratch on him and the car was completely crushed but the carseat protected him - some of the ones over here i've looked at are so flimsy that even i could snap the head part off and i have rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and nerve damage :blink:

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Each to their own, I certainly wouldn't want a manslaughter charge laid at my feet if the worst was to happen. I also have a 7 year old - she probably weighs less than 25KGs and I am more than happy with her Aussie standard car seat and find it safe.

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Are there standards for child seat for this age group?

I know baby capsules and toddler seats are sold here to aus standards and the risk of prosecution if discovered.

But as children of this age/size aren't required to be in a booster seat at all I wonder what the legal situation is?

Obviously on a safety front any booster seat that makes the belt fit properly is better than none but legally???

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

As far as I understand it, as the law lies at the moment, children do not legally need to be in an actual car seat (http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roa...restraints.pdf) However, if they are, it MUST meet Australian Standards - page 15 of the above publication.

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

80 quid for Parcelforce for a 9kg package. Private couriers can probably do it for a bit less.

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

That would require the OP's act (using a non-approved, higher quality car seat) to have caused the death AND for that act to be criminally negligent i.e. where the likely result of the act would be death. If you can concoct any vaguely credible hypothetical scenario in the OP's circumstances then a career at the bar awaits you.

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

The rules for children and car seats are changing in Nov- so all children under 7 must be in properly fitted/suitable seating.
I guess this means for your lighter than average 7 year old, you will be able to find a better choice of seating.

When mine gets to that age, I will use a booster with a 5 point harness.

For what it is worth- the additional anchor point here for car seats reassures me much more than the UK ones which merely attach through the adult seat belt. I like the double security.

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

If it got to that point i have a high court judge who's married to my cousin back in the uk who's legally able to represent me in court in australia :)

I think if i got one of the highest quality, safest carseats in the world and did get pulled over by the police and charged i'd go to court and appeal it with the reason that my sons safety is the most important thing in the world to me and i wasn't just breaking the law on a whim/negligent

i will speak to a jp over here and see what they say ;)

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Had a look at Safe-n-Sound, which is the Australian equivalent of Britax, and the max any of their seats/boosters go to is 26kg. I guess after 7yo/26kg the child is expected to just use a normal seat belt! Seems to be the same with other makes.

Which model of car seat were you looking at?

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Britax evolva 123 plus

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Unfortunately, for a parcel the size of a car seat they would calculate it by volumetric weight, which would be around 40kg and 250+ pounds.

Only worth it if you can stuff other valuable items, like Jaffa Cakes, into the same box.:D

Re: HELP! How do I get a carseat from the UK to Brisbane cheaply?
 

Safe n Sound is actually a brand name of Britax.

http://www.britax.com.au

Do the UK car seats fix to the anchor points in Australian cars ?