Car rental for families

Hi all,
When you go to visit family in the US (or any other country really) and have a family with small kids what do you do?  I imagine some have family with a van or SUV that can take a couple car seats and various buggies, bags, etc.  But for those without or just going on holiday somewhere where do you rent from?  I'm looking at going to the US next Spring and for the 4 of us:  2 adults, 2yo, 3mo, we're looking at least £400 for 5 seat SUV or over £500 for 7 seater minivan.

What works best for you, minivan, SUV, keeping in mind 2 kids with full child seats, possibly 2 buggies or double buggy, various bags and accoutrements plus any bags we adults have.  Space is a real issue.

When we visited last summer when it was just 2yo and us adults we were picked up by family as we could barely fit in their car.  We found a rental place in the city that were doing minivan deals for half the airport price.  But because we'd need a car right from the airport to even get to parents' house we're forced to rent there at the higher prices.

Do people rent and ask for child car seats?  Do they usually have them readily available and can be pre-ordered?  I'd hate to get there and find they didn't have any available - not sure what we'd do!  Or if they are any good car seats or just the cheapest on the market.

Any help is much appreciated.

You should check on non-airport locations' ability to pick you up, via shuttle or whatever.  If they don't offer free pick up, you should also check the cab companies' fares in the area: even if it's $20 to get from the airport to the car rental, that's just a two-time cost, versus every single day you're there paying a higher rate.  I haven't a clue about baby seats in rented cars; just call or email the places you're thinking about renting from and ask them if they have those available at all.

Hopefully someone will be along with experience with kids who might shed some light on which vehicle to choose, but it does sound to me like you're leaning towards the minivan.  How long are you staying? 

Also, is it an option to have more than one vehicle come to pick you up from the airport, if you're going to visit family/friends, and drop you off at a non-airport car rental place?  Just an idea.

First of all...take your car seats with you. The car places charge you by the day to rent them. If you have it for more than a couple of days you have pretty much paid for them.

Secondly...your kids are young. You can use the space at their feet for bags. When we visited FL last spring, we rented (I think) a mid-sized, but it might have even been the size smaller. I know it was not the smallest...the next one up. There were 3 adults...a 6 yo and a 2 yo. We drove from FL to SC (8 to 9 hours). And we had lots of bags...a small pram. There are two reasons I suggest this. 1) The cost is lots less...about half. 2) The cost of gas/petrol. SUVs and vans use a lot more gas.

We would be there approximately 16 days.  Thanks for the tip, terriponeale, on bringing car seats, now that I think about it they allow you them for free on the plane, don't they?

We'd have a 2 1/2 yo and 3 month old so there'd probably be slightly more stuff than a 6 yo and 2yo (especially compared to 6yo).  Lots of buggy,nappy bag, etc equipment.

A smallish car rental is just not possible.  We went to the lake district when our eldest was 1 and had a Zafira which is minivan-ish and we literally had millimeters of space left.  The amount of stuff will probably increase exponentially with the 2nd baby.

The 2 car idea is ok for picking up at the airport but isn't an option for traveling around over the 16 days.
The cab to rental place wouldn't fly with DW (or probably myself) now that I think about it, way too much hassle.  I think we may just have to eat the cost and find whatever is the cheapest deal at the airport rentals.  I was hoping with a downturn in flying due to credit-crunch conditions that there might be a lot more deals going next year not only on flights but car rentals and vacation stuff in general.  Here's hoping!

Good thing I wasn't suggesting it as a mode of transport for any length of time, then.   

Good luck, and hopefully you'll figure out the solution that works best for you.

No idea on car rental, as we went with family and had several family members with us to help schlep stuff about on the way to and from the airport & borrowed a family memers car to get around, but then there's only 2 adults and DD.     Also, we bought a combi carseat to keep over there for everytime we visit, but that's just us.


Couple thing to bear in mind with bringing your own car seats with your 2 kids is that you may need to check with your airline to see if:
1 your carseats are compatible (some airlines only allow certain models / brands to be used), and
2 because you said you've got your 2 yo (you'll already be buying a seat for), but for the 3 mo if you're bringing the car seat you'll need to decide if you want to risk baggage control guys mucking it about or front up the extra cost for the 3mo to have their own seat, so they can be in their carseat...

Just some things to consider and don't take my words as gospel.     Hopefully it all works out well for you!

Don't know where you're flying to, but there are several companies that will rent out baby stuff to you, thus eliminating the need to travel with it all.

For example, www.thetravelingbabyco.com/ProductList.aspx?loc=DC001

SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE A 3 MONTH OLD???  I know it hasn't been a year since we've seen you guys, so clearly you were keeping something from us when we last saw you!

Haha, Anne, no, no 3 month old yet but baby due on 1 February so come May he/she will be 3 months old.  I guess it has been a while since we saw you guys!

sevans, thanks for the tip on the baby rental, it looks like they cover BWI which is where we'd fly into.  Having looked at the prices ($60/week for car seat) and with us potentially being there over 2 weeks it is probably more cost efficient to buy one in the States (or have my parents buy it for us before we arrive).

Having spoken to DW and after receiving some great advice here, it may be best for my parents to bring the 1 carseat they currently have and to bring the 2nd carseat we'd buy in one of their cars and meet us at the airport and then we'd rent a larger sized car and put those 2 seats in it.  This way we wouldn't have to bother bringing a carseat all the way across the Atlantic and we'd save considerably on the cost of renting at the airport.  The van or SUV we'd need will be pricey enough as it is!  I'm hoping there are some good sales on flights and car rental if fewer people are flying.  We'll have to think about how long a trip we want to take as the rental price goes up a fair bit especially if you are not doing a 1 or 2 week rental - it seems there's little different between a 6 or 7 day rental (might as well go whole week) verses a week + 1 or 2 days where they tack on that daily rate.

Because my family have fairly smallish cars, my dad has always had to pick up all of us and our stuff which means my mom can never go to or from airport without taking another car.  This means they can both go in their car, throw the 2 seats in the back and then plonk them into the rental.  My biggest fear would be that we'd get to the airport and they'd run out of carseats or the seats they have wouldn't fit the vehicle.