Carseats in the Commuter Car?

amyd · Sep 7, 2010

We're expecting #2 in the spring and will be purchasing a minivan or SUV of some sort before baby arrives. We won't be trading in our Civic. DH wants to keep it as a commuter vehicle. If you have a family vehicle & a commuter vehicle, do you have seats in both? DH thinks his car doesn't need seats. I think it's going to be a PITA to move the seats if necessary and/or inconvenient when we haven't thought to move when I need him to take the kids, pick DS up from preschool, etc. if he doesn't have seats in his car. He thinks I just want an excuse to buy more seats (which isn't too far from the truth

).

Dillipop · Sep 7, 2010

We have 2 vehicles with seats in both for both kids (soon to be 3 in both.) However, our situation is slightly different. I work on Sat, Sun, and Wed. DH picks the kids up from my mom on Wed and obviously has them all day on Sat and Sun. He could take my car on the weekend, but he definitely needs seats for Wed.

My mom also has a full backseat of seats. She has the kids every Wed and sometimes after church on Sundays. My dad has a booster in his truck to be able to take 1 kid with him on small errands while they are at his house.

If dh is ever going to have to do an emergency pickup- ds gets sick and you are out of touch- or if he'll need to take the kids at all, it'd be worth it, imo, to have seats in both cars. You could easily do it for about $120- scenera for the little one ($39 at Target right now) and a Maestro for ds (about $80, I believe).

Mommy2Marcus · Sep 7, 2010

Both my DH & I have seats in our cars. Both are used for our primary cars. IE: He drives his back & forth to work, I do the same plus I run the errands, go buy groceries Ect ect. My car is used the most & Marcus rides in it more often. However it is a huge PITB to move seats alot. We did that when Marcus first went into a convertible & I will never do it again. Even once to twice a week was a PITB to me. Plus there were times I used it in DH's car the day before & forgot to get it out to go somewhere with my mom & then we were stuck not being able to go b/c I did not have a seat for Marcus.

So in the end I purchased a seat for every car he rode in on a regular basis. I used a Scenera in my car as it was the least used car at the time. You could get 2 Sceneras or a Scenera & a Meastro if your oldest is FF. But me personally I would always have a seat there for JIC. Yu just never know when you might need it.

amyd · Sep 7, 2010

Thanks. I'm in Canada so seats are a little bit more $$, but we'd only need one extra seat for the first little while. We've got an XTSL, TF & SR22. I was thinking of getting a MR65 for the baby. Or maybe a Frontier for DS. That's what I want next for him & he'll be 3 when the baby is born. I think I'd be okay with him FFing occasionally at 3. He'll be RFing in the XT in my car until he's 4 or outgrows it, whichever comes first. I'd still need to get the MR or something else for RFing, as I'm assuming the baby will outgrow the SR before DS is 4. DS outgrew it around 6 months.

hesgimenez · Sep 7, 2010

My DH's car didn't have a carseat in for about three and half years. It wasn't until I bought a Regent and we moved the Decathalon into his car that he got one. My car was always used when K was going somewhere. If I was running errands and DH and K stayed home, sometimes I would take my car and sometimes DH's. We never had any problems.

tl01 · Sep 7, 2010

I am a SAHM and DH's car has a set of seats. I take the kids everywhere but you never know what will happen. Also, on the weekend DH occasionally takes DS1 somewhere so it just makes sense.

wendytthomas · Sep 7, 2010

I think Laine's seat for Nathan's car is currently in his trunk. He keeps a booster in his car for Piper, but she rides with him about 30% of the time. Laine is with me about 99% of the time. In fact, she didn't ride in his car until she was about eight months old. However, we don't need to use his car. We can walk or take a bus instead. So if he didn't have a seat, not a big deal. But I have a second seat for her, it's a travel seat, and it lives in his car when we're not traveling. It may be in his trunk, but it's usually in his car.

Wendy

pj2rc · Sep 7, 2010

I have a set of seats in my vehicle, DH's and my moms. DH and I rotate our shifts so someone is always home, so we both need seats. We could probably just trade vehicles.... but I don't want to drive his huge truck on a regular basis. He actually doesn't mind the minivan (scary, he really likes it) but needs the truck sometimes for errands when he is home. My mom takes the kids quite often to help us get things done (appointments, or just a break). Besides .... if there was ever an emergency or type of situation that someone else needed to pick up the kids -- I need to KNOW they have seats and regardless DH and my mom would be at a loss installing (DH not so bad, my mom -- I would be terrified).

NVMBR02 · Sep 7, 2010

Currently we have seats for the older two in dh;s car but not the baby. For now, whoever has the baby has the "family car" and if you don't have have the other car. I do have a spare seat for the baby in the house that I can install if dh takes the wrong car and I need to go somewhere but it is cramped in his car so I would rather not have the seat in there all the time. (In the past year the baby has ridden in the car one time)

natysr · Sep 7, 2010

We have seats for both boys in both cars, then more spares in the garage.

luvsviola · Sep 8, 2010

I have seats for my kiddos in my car, DH's car, daycare's car, and one for DD in my grandfather's car because he occasionally picks her up from daycare to take her to gymnastics if I get caught up a work, and he's 81, so installing one is not possible for him. I also have a spare seat no one is using at the moment at home. They are all the same level of seat--Radians, TrueFits, and Britax seats.

I don't ever leave my kiddos anywhere without a carseat. Even if they are just staying with a friend for a couple hours, I uninstall the seats and leave them for her. If something happened, I want whoever has them to be able to transport them wherever.

christineka · Sep 8, 2010

Dh has a car used to commute. It only seats 4 people aside from the driver, so we most definitely do not have seats for all of our children in the car. When I drove the baby in it, I just moved over the infant seat. We had a keyfit, which is super duper easy to install. My older 4 children can ride in booster seats. I often keep a spare booster in the car for just in case since dh doesn't like to touch car seats. If a rfing child needs to ride in dh's car, it is usually very planned out with lots of advanced notice. I just move the seat from the van out to the car. Dh's car does not have tinted windows, nor is it ever parked in a shaded area, therefore, I must cover the car seats in it or else they will fade and badly. I mainly keep car seats in his car as storage more than out of necessity.

We don't do a kid drop-off, pick up shuffle routine, though.

vonfirmath · Sep 8, 2010

It depends on how you use the cars/split the kids/etc.

We lived with car seats in only one car until DS was 16 months old. Then we needed to be able to one drop off and one pick up and didn't have the infant seat to leave behind for those occasions.

We just had whoever had the kids take the car with the car seats in it.

Jeanum · Sep 8, 2010

We have carseats in both vehicles in case DH needs to bail me out if I'm stuck somewhere or if the school can't reach me first in an illness or other pressing situation where I'd need to fetch someone, etc. Technically our Scion xB is DH's commuter car, but he works from home on occasion and I typically drive the xB on those days around town for errands/appointments when I don't need our Sienna's larger cargo room or additional seating capacity. He also drives the kids out and about to the park or book store on occasion and hates driving the Sienna, another reason for us to have carseats always installed in the xB. It's also more fun to drive the xB for me vs. the minivan, easier to park in tight spots, and it saves on gas, so I swipe it from DH whenever possible.

Back when I was less likely to use his commuter car when DD1 was younger and our only child, we tended to switch a carseat back and forth into his car as needed.

amyd · Sep 8, 2010

Jeanum said:
We have carseats in both vehicles in case DH needs to bail me out if I'm stuck somewhere or if the school can't reach me first in an illness or other pressing situation where I'd need to fetch someone, etc. Technically our Scion xB is DH's commuter car, but he works from home on occasion and I typically drive the xB on those days around town for errands/appointments when I don't need our Sienna's larger cargo room or additional seating capacity. He also drives the kids out and about to the park or book store on occasion and hates driving the Sienna, another reason for us to have carseats always installed in the xB. It's also more fun to drive the xB for me vs. the minivan, easier to park in tight spots, and it saves on gas, so I swipe it from DH whenever possible. Back when I was less likely to use his commuter car when DD1 was younger and our only child, we tended to switch a carseat back and forth into his car as needed.

My DH also works from home (twice a week regularly) so I would like the option of still driving the Civic. Perhaps the possibility of saving on gas is the best argument yet

. Thanks!

Mom2FiveGirls · Sep 8, 2010

All my girls won't fit in DH's car, so he never goes anywhere with all of them. We have a nautilus installed in his car for DD#4 and a scenera for DD#5. Then there is a nbb in there that DD#1 uses if she rides with him. If DD#2 or DD#3 ride with him, they take their HBBs out of my truck and use them in his car. We've thought about getting an extra HBB to keep at home just in case, and I might if I come across a really good deal, but I don't think really needed. There have only been a couple times when he picked them up unexpectedly and both times he was able to come by the house (when the truck wouldn't start) or the hospital (when DD#3 had to be admitted and the seats were all in my truck) and grab the seats before picking them up. I like having a seat installed for DD#4 and DD#5 in his car though. He has them more often than the bigger girls so its worth it for us to keep seats installed in his car.

amylynne01 · Sep 8, 2010

I also have seats in both cars for both girls. I don't want to install and uninstall them, and we use both cars equally. I use our Expedition when it's me and the girls, and we use our Camry for family trips and longer trips for the fuel efficiency. It is pricey to buy that many seats, but it was something that was important (and convenient) for us.

aeormsby · Sep 8, 2010

We've had seats in both vehicles most of the time. Up until DD was about 5 months old we just had a seat in 1 vehicle. Then for a while when DS had outgrown the infant seat we only had 1 seat in our 2nd vehicle. That way if we each took one of the kids for errands or something we didn't need to move seats.

I do like having seats in both vehicles. We've had a situation where I had to take DD to the ER when she fell at a park. I was with a friend so just called DH to come pick up DS so I didn't have to deal with both kids at the ER.

flutie128 · Sep 8, 2010

Well, up until Monday we only owned 1 seat for DD. It was in my van and if we drove in a different car I just moved it. Now my MIL is going to watch her once a week so I bought a second seat since DH will be picking her up. It will primarily live in the house and be installed once a week in MIL's van and then installed in DH's car and removed once he gets home. DS has a HBB in DH's and MIL's car. DH's picks him up from the bus stop 3 times a week and does things with him and MIL picks him up a few times per month to spend time with him. She will now be picking him up once a week since I will not get home in time to get him off the bus.

Carseats in the Commuter Car?

New member

Well-known member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Admin - CPST Instructor

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

New member

Admin - CPS Technician Emeritus

New member

Active member

New member

New member

New member

Car-Seat.Org Facebook Group

Sponsors

Forum statistics