Looking for a car top carrier and need suggestions

[mommaU4]

Hello, everyone. I need a car top carrier and have no clue where to begin looking. I've done some online searched but was wondering if anyone had any advice to share.
What price is average/fair? Any sales? Any make or model better than the other? Hard top? Soft top? Are they safe? Any known problems to watch out for? How much of a hassle are they?

We have a new (to us) Toyota Highlander and while we like it, there is no room in the back! We have a family of 6 so we need space for all our stuff when we take road trips.

I want a decent one, I just don't want to break the bank right after Christmas.

Thanks for any advice or info you have to share.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We are looking for the same info. I like the price of the soft sided ones and know someone who used one to travel to Disney a few times with no issues but dh thinks the hard one might be more aerodynamic, weatherproof and durable. They are also significantly more expensive. Anybody use a soft sided one with few issues??

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[Gillennj]

Great question. I have been thinking about this on and off for a few years. We never seem to have enough room.

Not to hijack, but is this something you can rent from Uhaul or a similar place? Obviously I have not looked into it. I would much rather rent a nice one and then be able to return it and not have to store it, since we only would use it once a year or so.

 

[pigget74]

looking as well either for a top carrier or one that attaches to our hitch. We have a Ford Explorer and are a family of 6 as well.

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I do not recommend a soft one, we bought one from ebags for a move years ago, I don't remember the brand, but it had really good reviews and it ended up leaking. We have a hard top one that has made it through a cross country move, local move and multiple vacations. I am in the process of putting away Christmas decorations so I will look in the shed on my next trip out and see what brand it is.

I also want to add that DH was able to put it up and take it down almost completely by himself, it is very easy to use, fairly light and pretty roomy.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

I found mine on Craig's List. It worked great until my DH forgot it was on the van and tried to drive into the underground parking garage.

I haven't replaced it yet, but I always see a couple around on CL.

 

[tripletots]

We are a family of 7 and had a van that was full of people! We got a soft sided carrier and I do not recommend one! It leaks. We had swimsuits in a red bag and all our swim stuff was spotted with red. Quite lovely for us females.

We eventully got a Sequoia and a hard top carrier. We love it. We got ours from Sears, it's called the Xcargo. It was under $200 about 5 years ago. We got the bigger one which is not as aerodynamic as their others but we needed the room. We love it. We still pack our luggage in large garbage bags but the memories from the soft sided one will not go away.

The hard carrier is much easier to put on top of the car over the soft sided one. You have to remove the soft sided one after it's been emptied and one time we had to put it back on when the top of the car felt about 200 degrees (in Disney, in August). It wasn't pleasant.

I treat ours with Armorall (the shiny stuff, and it still looks new.)

 

[disneymomoftwins]

We bought ours used but it Sears brand. Ours is a hard shell (i call it our turtle) and my husband uses it for luggage even when the back of the van isnt full. He says its easier for him to get to the luggage.

 

[Eliza32]

We have one by Thule (don't know if they're available in the US??) it's great. Does 5 or 6 camping trips with us each year and has never leaked. We only have a Nissan Juke, so need all of the space we can get for the tent etc.!

 

[blessedby3]

We have a hard car top carrier. I wouldnt recommend a soft one either. This is our second one we have owned. The first one we bought at Sears and it lasted at least 10 years. My DH has also driven it through a parking garage 3 times The last time on our recent Oct trip to WDW. We were staying at Bonnet Creek and he couldnt find a parking space one night after he dropped us at the door after the MNSSHP. It was about 1am and he wasnt thinking.....UH-OH!!
We had to get bungee ties to be able to make it back to VA with it intact We were traveling with 6 of us and we could in no way go without it...too much luggage!
Once we got back, I was in one of our local Goodwill's and they had one in there for $35!!! I jumped on that right then and there. It is awesome and hasnt been through a parking garage--YET! Im sure that is to come with DH's track record
This is the model I got at Goodwill
http://www.sears.com/x-cargo-sport-20-car-top-carrier/p-02872020000P

I think we got quite a good deal!
I would check out Goodwill or Craigslist...or check out yard sales once spring hits. My neighbor found one there.

 

[beth5762]

We have a soft sided one from The Kanga Company. The one we have is the Hurricane. We have had it for about 10 years. We use it every year to go camping and all our neighbors borrow it as well. We have never had a problem with it. I like that it folds up to store it. It has a bottom that you put in it so it's flat. The bottom folds up like an accordion to store. It was under $100 when we bought it. I just looked at their website and they still have them and they're still under $100!

 

[mommaU4]

Thanks for all the info, everyone!

I am sure my husband will lean more towards getting a hard sided one. I like the price of the soft sided carriers, but our trip will be to Washington and Oregon where we will most likely encounter rain at some point and a leaky carrier would not be good.

Another quick, possibly silly, question for those who've used car top carriers before... How safe are they? I mean, if we are stopped along the way for lunch or something, can someone come along and steal it off the top of the car? Or if we stopped overnight at a hotel do we have to take everything in with us? I don't even know if anyone would want to take such a thing, but you never know.
We obviously wouldn't have anything valuable inside, but I don't want to go on vacation and have all my clothing go missing! lol

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

Thanks for all the info, everyone!

I am sure my husband will lean more towards getting a hard sided one. I like the price of the soft sided carriers, but our trip will be to Washington and Oregon where we will most likely encounter rain at some point and a leaky carrier would not be good.

Another quick, possibly silly, question for those who've used car top carriers before... How safe are they? I mean, if we are stopped along the way for lunch or something, can someone come along and steal it off the top of the car? Or if we stopped overnight at a hotel do we have to take everything in with us? I don't even know if anyone would want to take such a thing, but you never know.
We obviously wouldn't have anything valuable inside, but I don't want to go on vacation and have all my clothing go missing! lol

They're pretty secure, the one I have has a lock with a key and in order to attach it to the top of the car you have to open it and go through the inside so it would be pretty difficult for someone to take it.

 

[kkwis2]

We have a Thule hard-sided "coffin" style that we have used for many road trips over the years. It can be locked, so no need to worry about it being broken into. We've used it with both the cross bars that came with one of our vehicles and with Yakima bars on the vehicles that haven't had cross bars. My husband always puts it up onto the vehicle by himself no problem (we've used it with mini-vans and a Pilot, our friends borrowed it to use with their Freestyle).

I would watch Sierra Trading Post, or Craigslist is a great option as well.

 

[mmdis]

We have a Tule soft sided carrier and are from Washington.. It has been though many of rainstorms in the last 6 years.. never had a problem. We went for the soft because we only use it twice a year and didn't want to have to store the box or keep it on top of the car.

 

[pjshaff]

I know you mentioned getting a hard carrier but we got a soft one from Roof Bag a few years ago and we have had no issues with items getting wet inside or anything. It's made a trip to Disney and also a trip to Moline, Il. for softball nationals this past summer. We fit 3 full bat bags inside it plus some other items and didn't have a problem. Take a look at their site, it helped us a lot in making our decision when we were looking to buy.

 

[esk]

We have a Thule hard side also. I call it "the POD".

It's been all over Europe and the US. I can't get it on the car myself, but that's a height and arm strength thing....DH has to do it. I can certainly open, lock, load and unload it alone. It's the right length for skis but has carried everything from pottery to bedding to suitcases to toys.

I think it cost about $350 but we've had it 6 years or so, and it's been worth every penny.

 

[LoriNSC]

Hard shell is the way to go. I first bought the soft and DH laughed and said no way. We got our hard one at sears for about $250-300 a few years ago. We've driven to FL with it for 3 trips. Love it and all the room it freed up in the sequoia for us. We even drove through the universal studios parking garage with it (Toyota sequoia) and had no problems at all.