Hellobee Boards

Renting a car seat is never advised by techs since you cannot assure the history of the seat is clean, that the seat you get isn't expired (until you actually get it & they may not have others available if it is infact expired), and you can't be sure you have all the pieces necessary along with the manual, to install it.

The biggest tip I've seen when traveling solo is to use a luggage cart to tote your stuff (seat included) and wear baby, or if your luggage has wheels on it & your seat is a convertible you can attach your seat to the cart & even let baby ride that way through the airport. Then you can easily just install the seat on the plane.

http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?p=2183168
http://www.car-seat.org/showthread.php?t=129834

We have rented them a whole bunch of times. From car rental places and 'gear' rental places. For the most part it has been fine, BUT there was once...
We were flying on a Friday for my brother's wedding, and arrived to the airport to discover the car rental place was out of car seats. And we didn't have one. Sh*t. So they kept saying they would sort something out, over and over. TWO hours later, screaming kids and all, they ended up having to get one sent from a downtown location, we waited another hour for it to arrive and then we made it to the rehearsal dinner with about 2 minutes to spare.
We have since rented with no problems.
But the moral of the story is that it isn't a guarantee. You can request it, but in the end, it is a first come, first serve arrangement. Gear rental places have, in my experience, had superior quality and superior service than the car rental people!

We've rented car seats through rental car companies (only through National) and each time the expiration date of the seat was written (by the rental company) in permanent marker on the car seat. The seats have all been in great condition and easy enough to install. We double checked for installation just by checking the website of the car seat on our phones, or via YouTube videos for the specific seat. Was super easy.

The times we have brought our own car seat, we checked the seat at the ticket counter and picked up at baggage claim, which was also easy. For a trip of just a few days, I'd probably rent a seat, for longer than that, I'd bring my own.

@runsyellowlites: Yes, and additionally, in big bold marker had the date written on them so there was no question about whether the seat was expired or not.

Yes, we just finished renting one- it went very well!

If you have AAA and rent through Hertz, the car seat rental is free for one kid. I think everywhere else we looked averaged $50 for the week. We were debating buying a cheaper one for travel since we didn't want to take our own out of the car, but free won out.

It was good quality, clean, had the correct labeling, and had easy to follow instructions. The install was super easy, I sent my son and husband to go for a walk while I installed it, and I was done and playing on my phone well before they returned. I would definitely do it again. We just made sure to call and confirm a few days ahead, they said they only ever have shortages during Thanksgiving and Christmas.