By: The Roofbox Man
To Hire or Purchase a Roofbox – that is the question. And it’s one of the most asked questions! Whilst we’re naturally biased, hiring a roofbox won’t be the right decision for everyone. Below we’ve laid out a few of the main considerations for you to be mindful of when making this decision.
Cost: this is obviously unavoidable, but what is manageable and considered good value for money? Dependent on the size of roofbox you need, a 10 day hire is likely to cost in the region of £80 – £110. This is a fitted price for the roofbars and roofbox. We use a 10 day period deliberately as it’s the most common length of peak period hire requested….fitted on a Friday, removed a week on Sunday.
The purchase equivalent for new equipment for Thule would be in the region of £850 – £1200. There are of course cheaper alternatives and in a subsequent post we’ll likely consider the pros and cons of “To Thule or not to Thule“.
Frequency of use: this is a logical next step in this process. If you’re likely to only use the roofbox once a year, for the main summer holiday, it’s going to be at least 6-7 years before you get the point of your hire outlay equalling the upfront cost of a roofbox package. Equally if you’re the sort of family that will be able to use it 4 – 5 times a year, purchase is a no-brainer as long as storage (discussed below) is not a show-stopper. Somewhere in between these two options lies the tipping point when cost per use is considered in isolation.
Storage: roofboxes are large pieces of equipment and generally won’t benefit from being permanently left on top of your car. A good quality roofbox won’t weather per-se, but you’ll be amazed at how quickly they can start to look less than perfect due to stone chips or low hanging tree branches rubbing along the top & sides.
Plus there’s the potential inconvenience of not being able to get into the local multi-storey whenever you fancy!
So store it in your garage. Assuming that you have a garage this is undoubtedly the best place for a roofbox to be stored longer term. Flat or upright, either is fine. We’d always suggest putting a sheet or something similar underneath it to cushion it from the harsh floor as that’s another great source of unwanted scratches.
You do have to avoid storing the roofbox outdoors, particularly in an upright position as the temperature variance it’s subjected to is the single biggest reason you’ll see an open roofbox on the motorway with the contents strewn all over the middle lane! The issue is that that heating & cooling process encourages the locking pins to move out of alignment making them more prone over time to opening when you least want it to.
Changing Your Car: Roofboxes can within reason be transferred from one car to another. You will just need to ensure that the size of it relative to the car is appropriate. Length, weight, handling. i.e. if you change from an Audi Q7 to a Ford Focus the XXL roofbox at 2.35m won’t be a good option as the boot on the Focus won’t be able to open. However if you had a mid-range roofbox that’s less that 1.9m long it’ll fit on either with ease. The roofbars however are incompatible and would need to be changed.
Owning/hiring a roofbox may also be enough of a reason not to change your change your car. For 50 weeks of the year it’s perfectly big enough. A roofbox bridges that very temporary gap.
Sadly there is no such thing as “universal” anymore. Some raised rails come close but there can be no bungees utilised to address a gap like Dad might have done a generation ago! There’s some commonality in certain components but the consumer demand for styling differentiation basically means that the fitting kit as a minimum is pretty much unique to your vehicle. These will often retail at more than £50 on their own.
So frequency of car change must be factored into the decision to purchase roofbox & roofbars.
Availability: it’s important to consider availability from local hire companies to meet your potential needs. If you are able to plan with at least weeks and potentially months notice, you’re very likely to be able to secure availability from a reputable local business in your area. However if the nature of your job for instance means that you can only book with days notice, particularly at peak times hire availability is likely to be limited at best.
Urgent purchase options can also be limited in choice as most retailers are calling in stock from central warehouses and distribution centres. There’s no Amazon Prime here!
As a hire business ourselves we can of course purchase new stock to bridge that gap but often we’ll be subject to the same kind of availability challenges as everyone else. We like to be able to plan ahead with some degree of certainty.
Owning your own roofbox would certainly remove these potential risks.
Safety: fitting and removing a roofbox is not overly difficult and like most things, if you do even something difficult on a frequent enough basis it becomes easy. There are simple checks that can be undertaken to ensure that the roofbars and roofbox are securely mounted to the vehicle. If you are at all uncomfortable with the prospect of doing this, particularly if it’s on a very occasional basis, then delegating that task to a trained fitter at either a hire company or a roofbox dealer is the safer option.
The prospect of a roofbox becoming detached on a fast-moving road is really not a situation to ponder.
Borrowing from a friend: in a way this does relate directly to the point above. What do you know about the roofbox? Structural integrity? What do you know about the compatibility of the roofbars? Just because they worked on the Mk1 doesn’t mean that they’ll work on the Mk 2. In these situations it is really important to do your own due diligence and satisfy yourself that everything is exactly as it should be, for safety and peace of mind. Be mindful of the fact that once it’s on your car the responsibility for it is yours alone.
In summary you do have various options from which to choose in making the hire vs. buy decision and hopefully the information above will have helped you to better understand some of the key considerations. If there’s anything further than we can help with don’t hesitate to get in touch either via email or phone 01438 289030.