Rent car seats or check them in?

When you are traveling with kids and renting a car at another airport, do you take your car seats with you or do you rent them with your car? 

We travel a lot (back when we could travel) and have tried both options. Over time though, we have moved towards taking the car seats with us almost every trip. Now it's just a booster seat for the younger one and is not much trouble to check that in. 

First question for us has always been the cost. Is the airline going to charge for the extra check in bags? If so, then how does that cost compare with what the rental company is charging? If you are on any of the super budget airlines, make sure to read through their fine print and baggage size policies. 

Your 'status' with the rental car company is also another factor to consider. If you are used to regularly seeing your name up on the board with the car location and you just get in and drive out, then be prepared to spend some extra time at the airport getting car seats. I've never had a car ready to go with seats waiting for me with any rental company here or abroad. Once we even thought about taking the car and buying a seat at a local store while waiting for rental car folk to find us seats. 

If you are taking the car seats with you, you do have the option to take it on the aircraft if the kid has a seat booked. We have never tried this option, so I will leave it at that. I would definitely factor what all you are carrying through security and the airport (including kids and carry on bags) before adding another item to that list. 

If you are checking the car seat, here are some considerations: 

 - Protection: Some airlines bag the car seat. Some just load it as is. In heavy rain, we have had the seats come drenched out for an hour drive and the kids sat on those all the way. If you are flying into some locations (India for us), expect some dirt added to the mix. A car seat bag can help quite a bit (link to the one we use below).

 - Baggage Claim: At some airports, car seats will come out on a different baggage belt along with special items. Just ask at the baggage service desk of your airline if you get your other bags first and not your car seats.   

 - Carrying the Seats: It is usually a short haul from car to check in and baggage to rental car. However with 2 kids and quite a few other bags, we often found ourselves short handed. Kids are usually quite helpful at the beginning of a trip, but quite a handful towards the end of the trip! Again a car seat bag can help with extra straps and even shoulder straps to carry like a backpack. See how it fits in your overall bags and kids carry scheme. What goes on whose shoulder or roller suitcase. 

This is the only carry bag we ever tried. (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M2A4IK1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Not the best looking one, just a big nylon bag. By the time we decided to get a car seat bag, we just had one infant seat and one booster seat. Both fit into one bag. The sheer size of it looked odd on my back, but it was lightweight with the seats in it.