roofbars / roofracks / roofboxes

[FromGirders]

If you've got roofbars on your car already, do you really need a roofbox?
We've got a Citroen Berlingo - fab car, but I'd like to put the tent on the roof, so that it's the first thing to unpack, and the last thing to pack.
Have looked at roofboxes, but appalled at the price - we'll only use it once or twice a year. My Dad always had stuff piled onto a roofrack and tied down - are roofbars not just a built in roofrack? If we have the tent in a sturdy bag and tie it on well, won't that do fine? A generation ago, no-one had roofboxes - I'm hoping that they're just another way for Halfords to make money out of us, and I don't really need one? (Because there are other things I'd really rather spend the money on).

We have roof bars and a small fold away roof box. We put the tent on the roof wrapped up in tarpaulin and tied on to roof bars with cargo straps and the other half of the roof has roof box with sleeping bags, pillows and other lighter things in.

We used to have a roofbox (if you do get one, make sure you do use the clips on the nose - otherwise you may end up seeing your belongings fluttering out behind you...) but also lashed big things like the table onto the bars.
I'd be looking at a fold up one next time, they are a bugger to store.

Roof boxes are safe and secure and do prevent people nicking stuff from your car as well as being suitable for motorway speeds which a load on a roof is not, I beleive that Halfords have a half price sale on at the minute. A roofbox is also usefull as it can double up as a lockable box if you ever need to leave your tent unattended.

We got ours online for a lot less than Halfords were charging. We tend to take it off when we get to our destination to avoid problems with low car pqrk barriers etc, and always take it off as soon as we get home, so we paid a bit more for one with easy release fixings.

Roof boxes are far more aerodynamic than things tied loose to your roof rack, and they are secure.

They pay for themselves in fuel savings, let alone the cost of having things nicked.

The big problem is where to store them when you are not using them. You also have to think carefully about where to park. You can't use multi-storey car parks or any with a height restriction. This just needs a bit of forward planning.

Thanks for all replies.
It turned out that the tent was nowhere near long enough to be tied onto both roofbars, so we dh ended up in halfords just before closing time. We now have a rather huge roofbox - we can fit both children in it, is that allowed?

I like the idea of taking it off and using it as a garden shed while we're away - I hate how things end up cluttered around the tent! Brilliant plan!

My parents used to have a roofrack and tied stuff on to it. This worked well for some years until one year, on the way back home, the black bag containing my mother's clothes came undone and every stitch of clothes she had was lost! After that, she made Dad buy a caravan......