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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to keep a car roof box on the car

34 replies

moogster1a · 23/07/2010 21:05

we're off on holiday in a few weeks and I've suggested getting a car roof box to fit in the huge amount of toddler and baby stuff.
The only sticking point is storing the box when we're not using it.
I've seen a really good one which says it causes no extra drag or fuel consumption, so I can't see what's wrong with keeping it on DH's car permanently.
His opinion is that he'd "look like a nob" having a roofbox on during the winter.
Opinions please.

OP posts:
SloanyPony · 23/07/2010 21:07

Do you park outside the front of your house, either on the street or on your driveway? It might block light into your front room!

jooseyfruit · 23/07/2010 21:08

we have one, and no where to store it.
It's staying on our car through winter. We're going to pretend we're off skiing.

Stuff what anyone else thinks.

IMoveTheStars · 23/07/2010 21:10

I think you can get collapsible fabric ones (solid base) so would be able to store it under your bed maybe?

notagrannyyet · 23/07/2010 21:14

We used to keep one on the car all the time.
We did have somewhere to store it. But shopping for 8 everyweek we needed it for the nappies, loo roll, and other bulky stuff.
We also used it for the double pushchair or the cricket bags!

CarGirl · 23/07/2010 21:15

We kept one on the top of our shed.

DinahRod · 23/07/2010 21:16

I'm with your dh re 'look[ing] like a nob' in winter, even if you did a Hyacinth Bucket with a pair of skis

Can the kids use it as a sand pit/ sled/ ball-pit / coracle in winter?

Or more practically, hang it on the wall in the garage?

CatIsSleepy · 23/07/2010 21:17

Our roof box has taken up permanent residence on our car. I don't see why anyone would give a monkey's if it's there in winter or am I missing something?

belly36 · 23/07/2010 21:20

We used to keep ours on the car until DH drove under a height restrictor at the dump.

Jasonthunderpants · 23/07/2010 21:23

Dont keep it on your car. It increases drag and you use more petrol

mememe30 · 23/07/2010 21:24

I left mine on my 4x4 and went into a multi storey car park. I've smashed it and it now has a big whole in the top. I feel very stupid. Just forgot I couldn't fit in.

pillsthrillsandbellyaches · 23/07/2010 21:27

ours is on the car all the time.

just tell everyone you go a lot of holidays, daahling..

deemented · 23/07/2010 21:27

We have ours screwed onto the side of our shed when not in use.

tokyonambu · 23/07/2010 21:31

"I've seen a really good one which says it causes no extra drag or fuel consumption"

You should phone up an F1 team and broker a deal between them and a roofbox company for a percentage of the invoice. Being able to add three square feet of frontal area and 15kg of mass to a car and not affect the fuel consumption is essentially impossible: I wonder how they do it? Probably by that old engineering technique of `lying'.

I've got a long, thin "aerodynamic" roof box on profiled roof bars and up until recently I drove a consistent route to work mostly on cruise control. On odd occasions the box has been mounted (the day before a holiday, say) it puts about 3 or 4% on the fuel consumption, worse at motorway speeds, better around town. It's also noticeable in a cross-wind, a pain in some car parks and add entertainment to overtaking high-sided lorries. They're a necessary evil for camping trips and the like, and the alternatives of a trailer or, shudder, an MPV are worse. But it'll put 3% on your fuel bills if left on all year around.

tinkletinklelittlestar · 23/07/2010 22:57

Your DH is right. Why use something you don't need all the time?

"I've seen a really good one which says it causes no extra drag or fuel consumption" - I think it may available in that same place as rocking horse poop and choccy teapots.

thefirstmrsDeVere · 23/07/2010 23:14

OH insists on keeping one on his car because he hates putting it on.

We dont even go on holiday.

We used it when we went to mums but we cant really go anymore (too many of us to fit in her house).

He still wont take it off.

It means I cant get the bloody car in some car parks.

pebblejones · 23/07/2010 23:22

Oooh mrsdevere, what a waste of petrol! Adds about 10% fuel consumption just for lugging around an empty roof rack!

thefirstmrsDeVere · 23/07/2010 23:31

I KNOW I have told him and he is usually so anal about these things.

Drives me mental. I dont know whats got into him.

Do you think he is secretly using it for something dodgy? He does work nights.....

pebblejones · 23/07/2010 23:40

Oooh gosh, you never know...

hmc · 23/07/2010 23:48

Quite handy for spotting your car quickly in a car park

Lockness123 · 15/09/2015 20:17

Hi I've got a roof box I've always just kept it on the car until I found out that there is 2 Brackets you can buy to hang on the wall or Fence they are full adjusting to fit any size box I got them on Ebay Car Thule Roof Box Bracket Surfboard Kayak Canoe wall Rack Storage Holder for £23.95 I use to sell my roof boxes because of storage then buy a new one so this has solved my storing the box and I agree when on the car it increases fuel consumption when mine is on the car and it's windy my consumption hose up s good bit so it's better of when not in use and mine if the latest aero dynamic but still I use more fuel also a lot of folk just keep them on all year round it's just the done thing now and when I see other users I never think he or she is a such & such it's 2015 just think all the floods that now happen in the UK the box can be used as a canoe so it's got other uses Haha

rallytog1 · 15/09/2015 20:56

Grin tokyo

FindoGask · 15/09/2015 20:57

As said, I wouldn't keep it on all the time purely because of petrol consumption. We have a shit old car anyway so I'm not bothered about how it looks.

Topseyt · 15/09/2015 21:14

We have an old pair of roof bars bracketed to the wall of our house at the back. Those are used to store our roof box when it isn't in use.

They don't need to be in sheds or garages if you don't have the space.

Anything at all which you add onto the outside of your car increases drag and with it fuel consumption. Any manufacturer who tries to claim that their product does not is talking bollocks.

sadwidow28 · 15/09/2015 21:30

My friend used to keep the roof box on all the time on previous 4x4 car (he's 70 yrs old and couldn't easily get it off). However, the number of shopping, hospital car parks etc that he couldn't enter because of the height restriction made his life a daily grind. Honestly, you don't notice how many height restrictions are around until you really DO have to see them!

When he got his new car last year, we went through the on/off procedure (I bought him a special platform to stand on) and when not in use, it hangs on his wall in his very small back yard.

Permanentlyexhausted · 15/09/2015 21:51

Occasionally I've left mine on for a week or so when we've got back from camping.

Whatever the manufacturers say, it will increase your fuel consumption. I've also noticed a marked difference in the attitudes of other drivers if its been on my car when I've done my normal commute. Everyone feels the need to overtake me, despite me driving at my usual speed, as they clearly think I'm just a bumbling tourist.