belleandscone

Seems a lot of hassle but has anyone taken their child seats with them and are they counted in on the weight of luggage. We will only hopefully be taking one which is a booster with the back on. Or do we need to rent one - in regards to safety standards in Oz, against our safety standards here for child seats.

Any info would be greatly appreciated, as we have booked our car hire but they didnt seems to offer child seats just baby seats.

Thanks again in advance.
Clairex

Caroline G

I've always taken my child's car seat on holidays with me. The airline should let you check in your car seat and a stroller without taking this into account when working out your luggage allowance. Air NZ have been the only flight company to start making a fuss but the check in guy looked like a trainee and when I started making a fuss the supervisor came along and told him to just put it through without any hassle.

The main difference from the UK baby car seats to Australian baby car seats are that the Oz ones have a central anchor point which attaches to a bolt which is fitted in the car (Usually seen in the centre of the parcel shelf and attached to the back of the back seats). However, I used my Britax Eclipse baby seat which uses the seat belt only. I know the history of the baby seat and felt happier knowing my child is comfortable in it and that it hasn't been in a crash.

The vic roads driving guide states all car seats should have a Australia safety standard & that it's the drivers responsiblilty to ensure all children are harnessed securely but it's a little bit woolly about the actual law. Luckily, we didn't have any car accidents and I'm unsure how the insurers would deal with a claim if a non Oz baby seat was used. The general advice they give is hire a seat with the car.

I emailed Britax direct to see if my UK safety number could 'translate' to an Oz version and was told no, you cannot compare. I know Britax trade in Oz as 'Safe n Sound'. My son has grown out of the baby seat and now has a booster seat. The booster seat was recently purchased in Australia and has the appropriate safety standard etc. It has no central anchor point and uses the seat belt only. Therefore, I would say bring your booster seat as there's probably no difference just a different safety standard mark on it. The Oz booster seats aren't centrally anchored like the baby car seats. Mines a 'Safe n Sound' - model 'Pegasus' Here's a link detailing how it works so you can compare. It's the first seat featured.

http://www.britax.com.au/websites/Br...KG%20TO%2026KG

Hope that helps a little
Caroline

ClareBear

Hi Claire
It cost us very little to hire a car seat with our hire car, saved a lot of hassle with lugging one about, and also gave us peace of mind about the laws - would be horrendous to have an accident then be prosecuted for using the wrong child seat... not sure if they would actually take things that far but didn't seem worth the risk.
That said, we'll be taking our Isofix seat out with us, and have read in a few places that these are the only UK seats you can legally use in Aus.
All seems to be fairly pedantic and frustrating to me, I don't think the Aus seats are any safer!
Enjoy your holiday!
Clare x

belleandscone

Thank you both for your replys. Glad it doesnt count with luggage allowance, we only need to take the one so think we'll take it. Does it need to be packaged specifically or just tagged like the bags - sorry for the questions total nubbie to all this. Can't wait for our holiday and finally decide where we are going to live when we get there for real.
Thanks again.
Clairex

Caroline G

I wrote my name and address on a sticker that was already stuck to the base of the seat. The check in person should tag it like the bags & usually it will just go off with the bags. Air NZ offered to put ours in a large see through plastic bag which I wish we had done as a bit of the white padding was ripped off it. Probably as it was going along the luggage conveyor.

However, the car seats and strollers don't usually come out on the luggage belt after the flight. There's normally a car seat & stroller retrieval area or they are left to the side on the floor in the luggage hall.

Make sure check-in don't forget to put a tag on your stroller too. We had to wait at a gate before now because the check-in person forget to do this and they had run out of labels at the departure gate. They will want to x-ray your stroller too when you go through customs etc. so don't stuff it full of things as this will make it more difficult to collapse.

Know where you're coming from with the questions as a happy child makes it a much more enjoyable travel experience.

belleandscone

Thanks for the info Caroline, you've been a grand help.
Clairex

toon williams

It doesnt count in your luggage allowance firstly.

But more importantly we were told that if you do have a car accident your insurance is invalid if your car seat isnt to Oz Standards!! And as nearly all the UK ones are not to the standard they require then is it really worth taking?? Not when you can hire one so cheap!! I know I wouldnt risk either of my kids for a few pounds!! Sure you are the same!!

curly

Yes totally agree, but as OP said the car hire company doesn't hire booster seats, as neither does the one I've booked with, what do we do in this case

Caroline G

Neither would I! I felt happier having my own UK car seat as I know it's a good one and very safe. Bringing mine wasn't a case of saving some money it was peace of mind. I'ld rather have a quality one I've carefully selected. After all it works by threading through a seatbelt. The seatbelts in Oz work the same as in the UK so I can't see why is would suddenly become less efficient?????

Having an Australian safetly mark doesn't make the seat any safer than a UK one. It means that it is rated as being a recommended, safe product for sale in Australia. A guide for consumers.

The problem seems to be understanding different countries safety rating standards. I guess it's easier for the Aussie interested parties to say if it hasn't got an Aussie safety number they can't be positive it is....

RayZor

FYI - I got this replay when emailing them direct....

Ray

Thank you for your email on child restraints.

I referred your email to KidsSafe and have received the following reply:-


It is extremely unlikely that a child car seat (restraint) purchased in the UK will meet the appropriate Australian Standard (AS 1754). Therefore from a Kidsafe perspective, it would not be practicable to bring any child seat from overseas into Australia. Many of the o/s child seats do not have appropriate top tethers and if they do the fittings are most likely to be non-compliant with cars sold here in Australia. I have attached a copy of our Fact Sheet on Child Restraints which maybe of interest. We have indicated in the Fact Sheet that it would be illegal to use an imported child seat here.

Please contact me if you require additional information. We also have a website which also contains child road safety information; www.kidsafensw.org

Regards
Greg Stead
Executive Officer
Kidsafe NSW
(02) 9845 0894 (Ph)
(02) 9845 0895 (Fax)
[email protected] (email)



I hope this is of some help to you.

Regards.




Carol Charman
Information and Coordination
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (02) 6274 7678
Fax: (02) 6247 3117

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ridds

Are you sure they don't offer them? I had a similar situation last year - no option to book an appropriate seat online, so I booked the car and then emailed them separately with my request, quoting my booking reference number, child weight etc. It was all sorted out in a two emails, I just had to pay a bit extra when we picked the car up.