Where can we get our car seat fitted??

[Tubbychook]

Hi i was wondering if any of the brisbane mums out there know of the best place to get their car seat fitted? We brought ours on the weekend and after looking at the instructions decided that we would get it fitted by someone who was trained to do it we are not sure who would do it.

Thanks Shannon

[melfunction]

We got ours fitted by the Ambulance service at Spring Hill at no charge. Can't remember phone number, but it'll be in the phonebook.

[annsam]

contact your local babies galore or what ever is around you, they usually have names and numbers of businesses that do it.

[LouLou]

Hi we got ours fitted at Kidsafe at herston (near royal childrens hospital) bramston tce, they showed us how to fit it then took it out and then supervised us fitting the car seat as well, they also had a great set up of a house with all the potential "accidents" and other items like magentic locks or cupboard locks and lots of ideas for making a home safe for babies and children. it was 4 years ago that we got the seat fitted and I think I paid $5.

[cosmic]

Can I ask another, kind of related question??

Do most new-ish cars have the anchor points for the carseats?? I have a 1993 Laser hatchback (just realised it's getting OLD!) and I'm wondering where to find them. We found 3 screw holes (one in middle and 2 either side) in the back near where the tail-lights are. Is that them?? :confused: How do we find out??

[cwsmum]

Cosmic - your car should definatly have anchor points...our 2 cars are '83 & '89 models and both have them. Our '89 model car is a hatchback and the anchor points are along the back, where you say you found screw holes, so that is probably them...one of my sisters has a very new hatchback and it has anchor points on the back of the back seat, they are not screw holes tho, they are the part that the carseat strap hooks onto so you don't even need the anchor bolt coz it's already done :) Most new cars are like this I this I think.
Try calling the ambulance people or maybe even ask someone in a baby store, they usually have an idea. I have also seen car seat checking stations, set up by the ambulance service, in the carpark of shopping centres...

[cosmic]

Thanks, cwsmum! I figured that must be them. I forgot to mention that the plastic 'lining' in the back of our car broke when I pulled out a big box one day, so the wiring and everything for the tail-lights is exposed (lovely!).. which is why it was a little hard to determine if these screw holes were what I was looking for!!

Another question... the seat sits in the backset, the strap stretches across the 'boot' of the car (since it's a hatchback) to be screwed in to the anchor point.. is this right so far? So I'm imagining the strap runs straight across the middle of the boot?? How do we get a pram in there? :confused: Or am I not visualising space very well (always a possibility!)

C.

[melfunction]

Hi Cosmic,

We had a Mazda hatchback and I'm hearing what you are saying!! :D
Look in your car manual if you have one, it'll tell you where the anchor points are. Yes the straps will go right across the middle of the boot and you may need to buy an extension for the strap like we did. They can be bought from a baby shop or we got ours from kmart. In relation to getting a pram in the boot, we had to put k's seat on the side right next to the door, so we could fit the pram in.
Hope this helps :)

[Tubbychook]

Thanks for the advice i will give the aberlance service a call and i was also told to check with RACQ so i will do that as well.

Cosmic your owners manual should tell you exactly where the carseat anchour points are but with hatches they are usually along the back where you described thats where ours are and we have a hatch back too i was also wondering if the car seat strap was going to be in the road as we are planning on getting the seat installed in the center of the car if this is allowed as i feel that its the safest place for bubba to be less chance of injury if he/she is away from the doors.


Shannon

[cwsmum]

The anchor strap does get in the way when you are putting the pram in, you kinda have to put it in under the anchor strap first then lay it down...that make sense?
Being as small as hatchbacks usually are, if you install the carseat in the middle then you have the problem of both front seats needing to be quite far foward to make room for the car seat, not a good thing when one of you is over 6 foot tall. We had ours on the passenger side.
I also found that the carseat sat on a funny angle if we put it in the middle...in our car anyway.
You might not need an extension strap, try the seat first, we didn't need one with our carseat...we still had strap to spare...

[cosmic]

Thanks everyone. It all makes perfect sense to me now! Perhaps the passenger side option might be best for us too - we will see how we go with size and space. My personal preference of course would be to get a new car before the bub comes :rolleyes: but it might not be a possibility, darn it! :o