Advice on infant car seats please!

National Childbirth Trust has good nearly new sales of all kinds of equipment as well as clothes and toys. You don't have to be a member to go and NCT have branches all over the country.

The title of this thread is confusing, the OP is wanting seats for 2.5 year old children, that age is not classed as infant and the seats are very different.

Is it not as easy for someone installing a 'seat belt' seat to do it incorrectly? The ISO fix brackets when properly installed have a colour point on the bracket that changes from red to green when it is locked securely.
I bow to your superior knowledge when it comes to the anchor points maybe this should be pointed out to the bodies that ratify these International standards.

Granarchist, by its very nature, you cannot see any damage that is invisible to the naked eye. Also, it isn't just the shell of the seat. The webbing straps may also be weaned in an accident, that why seat belts the,elves should be replaced after an accident, let alone child seats. If the child is uninjured, the seat has done its job and it should be discarded.

I speak From some experience, our daughter has both ISO fix ans seat belt types. I find the seat belt one she has very easy, whereas on the leather seats of my car the ISO fix one is difficult to insert securely and takes several attempts to get it to lock. The softer cloth sets in her car are easier.

At the end of the day it is what you are most comfortable with fitting and how confident you are with your system. I would be happier with ISO fix if I were not frequently putting the seats in/out.

I agree with SueDonim and would not buy from Ebay.

We did buy a second hand baby seat from a neighbour because we knew its history and trusted her absolutely.
If you don't know the history of a second-hand car seat it could have been in an accident and that would compromise its effectiveness if you had an accident.

We used 'belt and braces' ie Isofix and the seatbelt.

I think it comes down to what you can, or are prepared to, afford for just three weeks use considering reselling can be difficult. It might be best to wait until the parents are here to see what they consider safe for their babies and also be sure of getting the right size seats.

Some people will buy second-hand ones and, if they are still as new then you can sell them with a clear conscience.

I am amazed that they are charging £10 per day each for hiring them - daylight robbery!

Thanks again for all this advice - it really shows how complicated the whole car seat business is! Sorry to confuse Wobbybits, the GC are definitely two and a half but I wasn't sure what the proper name for the right car seat was - so I used infant instead of baby. I should have used the term toddler car seat! I can't 'wait' till the family come here as we need to pick them up at the local airport. However I am going over to see them today though flight cancelled so waiting for change details . I will check all this out with them and get something sorted. Why is life so complicated these days???

The law regarding child car seats is a bit of a minefield, tbh

Have a read of this - www.gov.uk/child-car-seats-the-rules/using-a-child-car-seat-or-booster-seat

Personally, I would never put my grandchildren in anything other than professionally fitted car seats. Professional fitting is essential, because not every seat will fit every car correctly and safely. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you may end up driving your grandchildren round with next to no protection, even though they are in age/height appropriate seats.