Carseat rental from car rental company at airport

[Anonymous]

We are going to be flying into Sacramento in October with a 4-year-old. We are planning to rent a car at the airport and leave several days later from San Francisco, dropping the car off at the airport there. We usually rent a car through a priceline bid so we won't know which agency we will get until the deal is done. My questions are: 1) What is the (general) cost of renting a booster seat, 2) Will all companies guarantee that the car seat will be there when we arrive, and 3) Is it OK to pick up a carseat at one location and drop it off at another (like we will be doing for the car)?

Thanks for your help!

[Anonymous]

From reading numerous prior posts on this issue, it seems that the general consensus is to not rent carseats because (1) they often tend to be old and nasty and dirty and (2) there really is no guarantee they will have it when you get there (I recall someone posted being in a bind because the promised carseat was not there). Especially with priceline, I would bet that some of the smaller car rentals do not keep carseats in stock, so I just wouldn't risk it.

[Anonymous]

We've rented cars with convertible car seats probably a dozen times at this point, and have not had problems yet. We usually rent through Hertz, and with AAA, the car seat is free. The Priceline aspect of your question gives me pause though, as you really need to research those questions with the particular rental company that you work with, and wouldn't have that opportunity if you are going through priceline. I'd consider renting directly through a rental company so you can be aware of their policies in advance, or being prepared to bring your own booster along in case it doesn't work out with whomever priceline hooks you up with.

[Anonymous]

FYI, most airlines will check your carseat/booster seat for free. Even though they say one item per person (as JetBlue allows for free), they don't count that as a check baggage. It was nice b/c we just flew JetBlue to Miami and had 3 bags and booster seat all checked at not cost.