Child Safety Equipment Hire Pricing & Information

Use the 'Comments' field on the booking form to indicate the age and height & weight of the children requiring baby and/or booster seats. This will ensure that the hire company is as best prepared for your arrival and vehicle pick-up as possible.

NOTE - Child safety seating and equipment is on REQUEST and subject to Supplier availability.

Prices shown in NZ$

Baby & Booster Seats for CAR HIRE $35 per hire Enquire with pick-up branch $28.13 per hire $30 per hire $11 per day or maximum $77 per hire $20 per hire (minimum 3 day hire)

Baby & Booster Seats for CAMPERVAN HIRE $20 per hire $25 per hire $25 per hire $20 per hire $25 per hire NOTE - Baby and/or Booster Seats cannot be fitted in the smaller campervans (hi-top, 2 berths etc). 4-berth and 6-berth campervans can accommodate a maximum of 2 child seats (1 baby seat, 1 booster seat OR 2 baby seats). Check the vehicle details page for more information about child safety seats in the campervan you are looking to hire.

Child Restraint Information
Safety belts are designed for adult bodies. You must put your child in an approved child restraint until they are old enough to wear an adult safety belt.

Approved child restraints include:

- infant restraints for young babies (often called baby capsules)
- restraints for older babies and toddlers (often called car seats)
- harnesses and booster seats for preschool and school-aged children

Your responsibilities as the driver
As the driver, you must make sure that any child under five years is properly restrained by an approved child restraint. They must not travel in the car if you can't put them in an approved child restraint.

Children aged five to seven years must use a child restraint if there's one available. Otherwise they must use a safety belt if one is available. If there are no child restraints or safety belts available, they must travel in the back seat.

Children aged 8 to 14 years must use a safety belt if one is available. Otherwise, they must travel in the back seat.

Note: A child under 15 years old may sit beside the driver only if the child is restrained by a child restraint or safety belt (whichever is appropriate for their age).

As a general rule, if your child's head is higher than the back of the child restraint, it's time to move them into the next type of child restraint. (A child can wear an adult safety belt when the belt crosses their pelvis, not their tummy.)

Please note:

Some restraints fit the shape of some vehicle seats better than others. Make sure the child restraint you rent or buy fits your vehicle seats properly, and ask if you can return it if you find it doesn't fit properly.

The Plunket Society recommends that you keep your baby in a rear-facing restraint until they are one year old. This is the safest position for them, and many child restraints now allow for this.

Using safety belts correctly
Safety belts are designed to hold one adult. Never put a safety belt around two or more children, and never put a child on an adult's lap with the belt around them both.

Standards markings
A child restraint must meet an approved standard. Child restraints certified for use in New Zealand will show an 'S' mark (New Zealand Standard NZS 1754), or a tick (Australian Standard AS 1754), or an 'E' mark (European Standard ECE 44). Restraints that comply with the United States Standard (FMVSS 213) must, in addition to any other markings, display the New Zealand Standard 'S' mark, to show they have been certified for use in New Zealand.

Airbag information
It's important that you never put a child, in a rear-facing child restraint, in the front seat of a car that has a passenger airbag. The child could be seriously injured or killed if the airbag is activated.

All child restraints, including forward-facing restraints, are best installed in the rear passenger seat (not in the front). If you must use a forward-facing child restraint in the front passenger seat (eg, because there aren't any rear seats), move the passenger seat back as far as it will go. If you can switch the front passenger airbag off in your vehicle then do this, but remember to switch it on again when the seat is used by an adult.

Exceptions to the law
If you are picking up your vehicle from an off-airport depot/hire-location and will be travelling in a taxi with your child, we hope that this information may be useful.

A child doesn't have to be in an approved child restraint if they're travelling in a passenger service vehicle (eg, taxi, shuttle, bus) that isn't fitted with safety belts. However, where a safety belt is available in any of these vehicles, the child must be restrained, and where an approved child restraint is available, it must be used (where appropriate for the child's age and weight).

Taxi companies will probably provide child restraints if you give them reasonable notice.

Note that the driver of a passenger service vehicle, such as a bus or taxi, is not legally responsible for ensuring seat belts are used (if fitted). It's up to the person in charge of the child to make sure they are used.