We're going to England in March with family, including my 8-month old grandson. Renting a cottage in Dorset, and an Avis car thru BA (best rate). My DIL would prefer a rear-facing infant seat for the car, and apparently Avis only offers front facing. Is that correct? Aren't they dodgy for babies?

Anyway, after some 'net research she found Tots2Go, a UK site that rents baby equipment. They will deliver a rear-facing seat to us on arrival at Heathrow, and pick up when we leave. Has anyone used their services? Any feedback/experiences to share?

TTT -- any information?

Is the baby flying over as a lap baby? If not, I would take the car seat on the plane and then have for the trip. You can also check the car seat as checked luggage (you can buy covers for the car seat for this purpose).

Sorry, no experience with Tots2Go.

We are taking our daughter over in Sept and that is our plan (what dreamer said). We are taking her as a lap baby but will carry on the car seat in case of an empty seat. WE will also have a backpack carrier AND a pack n/ play to check, along with our luggage. I'm off to check the website for BA to see if we can check all of that stuff!

I think this service sounds great! We've certainly lugged plenty of seats overseas, and occasionally rented them from the car rental. IMO renting them from the car rental is expensive although they've always been excellent seats -- one time Thrifty UK had to go and buy the seats while we waited because they didn't have them available. I'm always leary of reserving them through the car places, I don't know that all agencies would be so nice to go buy them, if they weren't available. So a service to provide them sounds wonderful!

If there are no seats you can 'gate check' the car seat. In addition, I would leave the pack & play @ home. I have never stayed anywhere in Europe that did not have a crib for my daughter.

sprin: I rented a car seat from a rental company once...ONCE. and it was in the US-I'll never do it again it was horrible and old and a pain in the ass to install. PLUS, if there are spare seats on the plane it is the safest place for the baby to be-in his/her own seat with a car seat.
SAnParis:
I've been warned that the cots in use in most hotels are shoddy and rickety and could be potentially unsafe as the standards in the UK are not the same as int he US (although I wouldn't use a hotel one here, either). I was all set to use one at the hotels but was given much warning against, esp. since my daughter will be 1.5 at the time (bigger and more capable of getting out).

I would definitely take my own car seat AND portable crib. Your daughter will know how to use her car seat safely but may not be familiar with the UK models. If possible, use the car seat on the plane as it is the best way to keep the baby safe.