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We are currently in Berlin and wanted to rent a car with 2 booster seats for a day trip tomorrow.

However, when I phoned up one of the car rental places, they stated that in Berlin you can only rent booster seats from the airport.

Is this a company policy or a law? Is there any other options than just buying two booster seats (which would be a bit expensive for a single day!!)

One thing I noticed - our Airbnb apartment has 4 booster seats just sitting in the stairwell - are these likely to be communal ones that any one can borrow (maybe from previous renters)?

Our children are 3 and 6 if that's relevant...

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    I guess that depends on the car rental company - and regarding the Airbnb, you would have to ask your host, there is no way us (strangers from the internet) could know that.
    – mts
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 8:36
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    if you are planning to use the seat for more than a week, it is cheaper to buy one than rent it typically.
    – Aganju
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 10:25
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    Stuff sitting in the stairwell typically belongs to someone in the house, and it is not considered ok to just use it. However, it could well be that they are from previous renters, or that the owner doesn't need them anymore, or he is fine with you using them. I would not just take them without asking around, though.
    – Aganju
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 11:35
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    If you just use stuff in the stairway, you can almost certainly expect to get trouble with the police because with overwhelming likelihood it is someone's private property. In particular, it's probably the property of someone who is already pissed with Airbnb clients. You gotta wonder why people don't like them. The "only at airport" thing may be simply because all of the 5 or 6 stations are are subcontractors, and only the biggest one at the airport happens to stock the seats. Sometimes happens if you want a specific, guaranteed car model (say, a Porsche) rather than a "vehicle class", too.
    – Damon
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 14:07
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    I've spoken to the host, and he has said its ok to borrow the seats. Naturally I wouldn't have taken them without his OK - I just wanted to understand if this was a fairly normal thing or not.
    – RB.
    Commented Aug 8, 2016 at 14:09

1 Answer 1

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There is no law which stops people from renting booster seats outside airports.

I just checked a few car rental agencies and Avis, Hertz and Sixt offer such seats in some city locations, so it's just that one company you contacted.

Those two are not the cheapest agencies so you might want to use a price comparison site such as Billiger Mietwagen. Unfortunately that site is neither available in English nor does it allow to filter by available booster seats (nor does any other site I checked).

checkout page with booster seats

There is also a company in Berlin I found which is specialized in renting booster seats.

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