Do I require a professional seat installation?
Statistics show an alarming percentage of car seats are not installed or used correctly. It's important you understand the features and functionality of your child's safety seat, and we recommend all parents or carers seek professional advice and intervention from a certified service. Drive with peace of mind from day one - each of our stores offer a certified car seat installation service.
Our Pricing
- Single Seat Installation $35
- Two Seat Installation $63
- Three Seat Installation (or more) $95
How do I book?
To schedule an installation or turnaround appointment, follow the appointment link below. You can then choose a service, your nearest store and pick an available time slot.
Please note, you are unable to make an online booking for the same day. If you require same day service, please contact your local store directly to check availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Each booking for an individual car seat is 20 minutes.
In this time, your car seat will be installed following the manufacturer’s instructions and best practice. Please refer to our Installation Guidelines for more information on Baby Bunting’s recommendations for ensuring your child travels as safely as possible in your vehicle.
We prefer to have your child present for the installation as we will adjust the car seat to fit them specifically.
Our child restraint technician will advise you on the correct use of your car seat, how to adjust it as your child grows and will answer any questions you have.
When the installation is complete, you will be emailed a report recording the details of the installation.
If you have two or more car seats, it is possible to book extended appointments for multiple installations.
To book your installation, click here.
No, our fee does not change in relation to car seat or vehicle type.
The fee only increases if you have more than one car seat to install. Please see our booking page above for these costs and the increased booking times.
Each car seat takes 20 minutes to install. Our team will fit, advise and also educate you on the correct use of the restraint.
If you require more than one seat to be installed, please select a two seat (40 minutes) or three seat appointment (60 minutes) when making your booking.
Please be mindful to arrive on time or early for your appointment and have your vehicle in the designated installation area to maintain fairness and provide the same level of service to all customers.
Children should stay in their rear-facing car seat, if possible, up to the limits of their car seat.
A child’s head is largely unsupported and vulnerable to sustaining injuries in a forward-facing car seat. A rear-facing car seat will absorb most of the crash forces and spread these across a wide area of the baby’s body. The baby’s head, neck and spine are fully supported.
The benefit of rear-facing is that it reduces the risk of severe head, neck and spinal injuries.
Concerns that a child’s feet and legs will suffer injuries if they are touching the vehicle seat are sometimes used as a reason to turn a child forward-facing too soon. There is no evidence to support this, but there is evidence showing increased risk of head, neck and spine injuries in a forward-facing seat.
A lot of car seats available in NZ have the ability to be installed using either the vehicle seat belt or isofix. Most of these car seats are approved to be installed using only one of these methods at a time – either the vehicle’s seatbelt or isofix. It is very rare to find a car seat that allows both methods of installation at once. Only if your car seat’s instruction manual states that both can be used at once is it approved to do so.
To be able to install using isofix your vehicle must have the lower anchors located between the vehicle’s rear seat base and rear seat back.
A car seat installed with a vehicle seat belt is just as safe as one installed with isofix, as long as the installation is secure and the car seat is installed in line with the manufacturer’s instructions.
Not all car seats have a top tether.
If your car seat has a top tether, it must not be removed. Whether you must use the top tether or not will depend on the manufacturer’s instructions for each individual car seat.
If it is required, the top tether is attached to a car seat anchor point in your vehicle and prevents excess movement of the car seat in a crash.
We advise to look at your car seat instruction manual for information about top tether use specific to your car seat or discuss with one of our child restraint technicians.
The safest place for any car seat in any vehicle is on the back seat.
The rear middle seat is a preferable position being furthest away from any type of impact. This is the case as long as you can achieve a safe and secure fit for the car seat and potentially the car seats next to it.
Watch video on why the rear seat is safest.
This is a common question. Growing families mean additional car seats as well as a transition from one type to the next.
Whether you can fit 3 across in your vehicle will depend on the vehicle itself and the car seats you use, as well as which direction your car seats are installed. You’ll also need to consider whether you have anchor points in the positions required for some of your car seats and a number of other factors.
We suggest you book a time for a trial fitting with our vehicle safety team.
All car seats must be installed securely. It is simple to check this. Hold the car seat at the point that it’s connected to your vehicle and pull sideways. Does it move more than 2.5cm? If so, it is not installed securely enough and will need to be reinstalled.
If you are unsure, book a car seat check with our vehicle safety team. There is no charge for us to check your car seat installation. If it requires adjustment or reinstallation our regular installation charge will apply.
Guidelines for Child Restraint Installation
For your peace of mind, and for your child’s safety, Baby Bunting and our child restraint technicians have adopted the following installation guidelines:
Rear-Facing
- We believe that children should be in a rear-facing child restraint for as long as possible, at least until 2 years of age, but longer if the seat’s limits allow.
- Ideally, a child should be kept rear-facing until they have reached the rear-facing limits of the restraint they are in. It may be possible to have your child rear-facing until 4-6 years of age or older.
- If the restraint doesn’t allow the child to rear-face until at least 2 years old, we recommend moving them to another seat which allows them to rear-face for longer.
- A rear-facing child restraint increases your child’s safety. Watch this 3-minute video here to understand why.
Forward-Facing
- We recommend that a child travel in a forward-facing restraint with an internal harness for as long as possible. This may be beyond toddler and into school years.
Boosters
- We recommend that a child stays in a booster until they are at least 148cm even if they are 7 years or older.
- Only switch to the adult vehicle belt if it fits the child safely.
- Check the 5 Step Testto see if your child can travel safely without a booster.
- Watch this 3-minute video to understand why a child should stay in a booster until they are 148cm tall.
Is Your Child Restraint Correctly Installed?
Please make a booking to visit our vehicle safety team and have one of our child restraint technicians check your restraint and reinstall it if necessary.
