Free Rental Carseats - with Hertz?

When travelling with kids, additional costs introduce themselves at various points along the booking journey. When it comes to rental cars, the 'add-on' fees for infant or child seats can add up quickly.

Lets take an example for a weeklong booking from January 18 to January 25 2023 at SFO, and see what it costs to get a midsize sedan. These prices are taken from December 2022, using the Amex Platinum CDP at Hertz:

Hertz Weeklong Rental with Amex Platinum CDP, No Carseats

So, we're looking at ~$330, before we add the carseats. Not a bad weekly rate.

But, adding a single child carseat to the rental adds $73 to the bill ($60 for the carseat, the rest in fees and taxes). Thats over 15% of the total rental cost!

Can we do better? Lets try booking with the AAA Hertz CDP that matches our AAA Membership Region (Mid Atlantic):

Moving forward with the "AAA Mid Atlantic" CDP instead of the Amex Platinum CDP, we see the following rates - a higher base rate, but a free child carseat! This is about $20 dollars in savings on the overall weekly rental. Not bad for simply entering a discount code!

The takeaway - when booking a longer multiday rental with a carseat, try using the AAA CDP (if you're a AAA member), and reduce the overall spend for your Hertz car rental.