Law on Child seats in Cars

[BarCo]

Can anyone please advise as to the law on the requirements for the use of child seats in Portugal

[Unhappy Mother]

Can't advise as to the laws, but if you require a child seat my advice would be to take your own. I had pre-arranged a child seat (for a 20 month old) through a car hire company last year, and it was a shockingly bad fit. After my husband and the car hire rep had a heated argument, the whole car was swapped over. This involved taking the car (and my husband) back to Praia da Rocha (we were in CVO) and fitting the same seat in a car that we had not ordered. We tried to get our money back, but as we had already signed the agreement, they would not give it to us. This wasted half a day and we were all in a foul mood because of it. I would be very careful in the future.

The whole episode showed that they do not have much regard for safety, and when you see local families driving around with very young children all over the inside of the car, you can tell that it's not something that's enforced.

[Guest]

would it be possible for you to advise which car hire company that was?
You can email or pm me. I would like to know as I have 2 children who require car seats and I usually hire them. I haven't had a problem so far.

Many thanks

[Debs G]

So it would help if I logged in so you could reply to me, sorry. That was me above

[BarCo]

I always take my own booster seat (for a five year old) anyway - would you use a second hand one in your own car when you didn't know how old it was, how it had been treated etc.?

My original question was about the law as I would assume most of want to adhere to the laws of the country we are visiting but it seems very difficult to find out.

http://www.portugal-info.net/info/drivinginportugal.htm states "Child baby and booster seats are required by law up to age of eleven". Can this be right? The only way my tall-for-her-age eight year old daughter could sit on a booster seat is with her head sticking out of the sunroof

[Debs G]

I thought the law was pretty much the same as in the UK except that children under 12 had to sit in the back.

I could be wrong though and I guess I need to find out myself.

If I do find anything else out I will post back.

[Guest]

I think children under 12 have to sist in the back, if they are under 6 or 1.50m(Ithink) they have to use a booster seat. Instead of carrying one why don't you buy one here they're only about 8 euros(booster seats)