I just sent the following email to Thrifty Car rental company.  I’ll let you know when I hear back from them what their response is:

When I picked up my rental car I was given a toddler seat that had “Do not use after December 2008″ stamped on the back.  Upon showing that to the employee they got me another seat.  That seat did not have all the parts that are supposed to come with a car seat (ie the latch restraint belts) nor did the next 2 that I was given.  The Thrifty agent ended up having to go to another car company to borrow a car seat.  I find it very upsetting that Thrifty would not have brand new infant / toddler seats if you are charging $10 per day to use the car seats. I rented for 7 days and was charged $70 for an old car seat that Thrifty did not even supply to me.  All of Thrifty’s car seats at the Norfolk Airport location were subpar and some were even outdated.  Given this information I would like to request a credit for the car seat rental fee.

In all honesty I feel that this is a problem with all car rental companies, not just Thrifty.  We have rented from a few car rental companies over the past 2 years and have found the majority of the car seats to be old and outdated.  If car rental companies are going to charge such an exorbitant fee for something that is required by law for your child, the least they can do is have brand new or relatively new safe car seats. We rented the car for 7 days which means we paid $70 for a car seat. For that same price I could have purchased a new one at Amazon or Babies R Us.

I’ll post an update when I receive a response from Thrifty.