Advice on infant car seats please!

Just to say that our charity shop does not accept/sell car seats because of the risk that they may have been in an accident/damaged.

I have a car seat for my GS that I lend to my friend when her Aussie GD comes to stay.
I then use DD's seat for the few occasions that I need it(he's at school now)
Obviously I wouldn't offer it if it was'dodgy'. Don't you know anyone like me!

unless it was from someone I knew and trusted ...and/or you had an experienced, fussy mechanically minded grandad who could carefully check it over!

Our local FB buy-and-sell group is highly reputable. I guess it depends on where you live.

Of course the little blighters learn to undo the buckles, so that's another thing to worry about!

Really good advice from Sloeginny! Just what I was going to say!

There are groups for each age/weight range, so you need to know what your grandchildren's weights are. We've just bought 123 seats with isofix fixing for our grandchildren, they will do them from now (aged 1 and 3) until they are 12 years old apparently. They were £79 each from kiddicare, whose service was excellent. The isofix system is standard on modern cars and makes the seats really easy to get in and out.

Personally, I wouldn't risk my grandchildren by buying such safety-critical equipment second hand, unless it was from someone I knew and trusted.

swji1 - hello and welcome to GN if you're new.

I'd also check to see if there's a Facebook Mums group local to you, (usually listed by postcode). I'm on one and buying and selling of "as new" stuff goes on every day, including car seats. And as sales are Mum to Mum (or Gran) people are aware to specify "smoke and pet free home, no accidents" etc.

I know my grandson also will be in a rear facing seat until age 4, poor little thing gets car sick too.

I would check what the parents are happy with too. Our DGD is rear facing till 4, or whenever she outgrows the car seat so we've had to have the same in our car. Could you possibly borrow them for the duration??? Charity shop? Local sales on Facebook?

For toddler beds, apparently the blow-up ones are brilliant and come with wee sleeping bags too so no actual bedding is needed.

Maybe visit some charity shops and get some toys too. We picked up a perfect wee Fisher Price pram complete with dolly for £4 and it cost £40 new. You can always return them after the kids go home as you have no more locally.

Don't buy from eBay unless you're certain they're brand new. Anything used could have been involved in an accident and then fail catastrophically if you had an accident.

We've done the same as you, bought seats for our GC visiting from America. We haven't sold them on as they've been used on repeat visits and by our other GC.

As long as the seats you choose are of good quality I would go with the Halfords idea. We had the same problem when our son visited this year , he ordered one from Amazon an isofix and we had the Devils own job to fit it although I will say I think isofix type are safer than the seat belt type fitting. We have kept it as they will no doubt be visiting again . It will be much easier for you to get Halfords to fit it.

Also the £40 seats on halfords are for babies. Child seat start at around £70 each ;-

www.mothercare.com/highback-boosters-with-harness-group-1-2-3/britax-evolva-123-highback-booster-car-seat/LR0782.html?dwvar_LR0782_color=Black%20Thunder&cgid=car_hbb_withharness#start=1

try eBay, our daughter just sold hers on there. But make sure they are to current regulations.They are easy to fit, either iso fix or simpler seat belt fixing.