This paper presents a discrete-time multirate technique for the set-point stabilization of nonholonomic systems in a chained form. Global practical exponential stabilization of the trivial equilibrium in the continuous-time system dynamics is achieved, by using multirate piecewise inputs and an inter-sampling analysis. As a case study, we consider the car-like robot stabilization problem. The control system quality is assessed through a quadratic cost function associated to the multi-sampling period. Robustness with respect to measurement errors and switching delays is also investigated.