hate to nitpick, but I vaguely remember from when my friend and his partner had their baby - they didn't have a car either, but they'd been told that before leaving the hospital they had to not only have a car seat, but demonstrate that they could strap the baby into it properly and then fix it into a mockup "passenger seat" at the maternity unit for that purpose. I think the idea was to do with not taking the newborn on the bus during the first week, or accounting for getting lifts everywhere from doting friends/relatives who suddenly want to come and coo now they know what colour outfits to buy.