Hello wise people 🙂

Wanted to draw on any experiences with roof boxes.
We have a Ford Focus and are getting into camping this summer (he says, optimistically) and need more space.

Has anyone had clearly positive or negative experiences with roof boxes, and any general wisdom and tips on the whole thing?

Which brands?
Sizes?
Second hand or new?
Installation?

Thank you…

I went for the long and thin shape as this also allows bikes on the roof.
Size depends on how much you need to put in it – you do not really want it 1/2 full as stuff slides about. So size it to take lots of light stuff as there will be w wright limit of about 50kg.
Installation is pretty easy, just a big bulky thing to manouvre above your head.
No problem with second hand as long as all fastners are sound, you do not want it opening while on motorway!

If you are stuck for storage space get a thule Ranger (plus its reasonably cheap at £150ish)

Rent if you can. I've rented them for snowboarding trips and it only cost £40 for a week (plus a few days either side for pick-up/drop-off) to get a £260+ Thule box. Bars were included in that if you needed them, but I've got my own. This was from edge2edge.co.uk – I'm sure I've seen other companies elsewhere in the country offering similar. You don't get the problem of storing the thing the rest of the time either.

Thule are pricey but do seem to hold their value pretty well – if I was buying I'd probably scour ebay for a looked-after secondhand one so if you do need to shift it you won't be too out of pocket. Atera and Kamei make nice ones too, similar prices to Thule.

Have a good think about what you'll use it for – there'll be weight limits on the box (and your bars) so ideally you want the bulky but light stuff up there and the dense, heavy stuff in the boot. If you might want to carry skis/snowboards then make sure you buy one long enough!

Funny this, i have just put in the classifieds a roof box, take a look.

+ 1 for renting, guy up our way rents then for £38 a week, + £10 to fit it and put roof bars on if you dont have them

Look for one that has the inge at the front and the lock at the back. That way the lock stays (relatively) free from road crud and if the fastening fails the forward motion of the car and the wind passing over it will tend to kep the box closed rather than flipping it open.

I was behind a car a few years ago when their roofbox flipped open…sleeping bags, folding chairs, coats & boots everywhere 😯 funny(ish) with hindsight, bl00dy scary at the time. Was very lucky not to hit anything solid or be shunted by the car transporter that was following me. 😯

If it's an older style Focus I have roof bars that I don't use anymore. If you live in Central Scotland you are welcome to them!
I use the half width roof box never had any issues with it, can imagine the full width one you would need a stool or something to get over to the far side!

Thule have always been excellent in my opinion.

See from your posts you may be as far away from Central Scotland as it is possible to be..

We borrowed a large Halfords roofbox. On our Citroen ZX it looked comical as it was longer and wider than the roof, but it looked right at home on the Mondeo estate we bought afterwards. I think it was the biggest one they did, it was jammed full once we'd put four large bags for four people in it.

Meant the boot was free for the four bikes and riding gear though 🙂

Summary, go bigger if you are unsure on the size, you can always half inflate your airbed if there is some space left 😉

I've got a Kamei Corvara from roofbox.co.uk

Went for a long thinnish one that leaves enough space on the roof bars for one bike carrier. It opens either side and the locking mechanism works really well. All in all its much easier to use than the Halfords one we had before.

If you go spooky's route beware you don't overload the box or roof bars. Most only take 75kg

Thank you all. Very helpful indeed, thanks for sharing 🙂

just stuck one in the classifieds (thule X1) due to change of car