You've decided tips to save gas (www.peninsuladailynews.com) take a road trip with all the family members. Right now the question is to find room for all the gear. One strategy is a roof basket or roof box. At first this appears to make sense, but there are lots of hidden issues.

The dark side of roof mounted carriers:
1. Awkward Loading: A roof basket or maybe roof box carrier requires lifting the gear above the head of yours or climbing on the roof to load the gear. You may need to have a ladder -- it's cumbersome and can have a half hour to load or unload.
1. Uncomfortable Loading
2. Additional Hardware: Many roof top rated carriers require extra hardware, such as lifters or cross rails, which add cost and are cumbersome to put in.
2. Extra Hardware
3. M.P.G. Loss All roof top carriers create considerable aerodynamic drag, leading to the engine of yours to work harder and burn up more fuel. Field research by customer groups indicate that roof top carriers reduce fuel efficiency by a whopping average of twenty %.
3. M.P.G. Loss
4. Safety: Roof tops carriers remain at the top of the automobile making it more unstable in cross winds, and if not mounted properly, they can fly off of. The actual vehicle height is significantly increased, hence you've to be mindful in parking garages.
4. Safety
5. Higher Cost: The roof mounted carriers can cost a great deal. After you tally up the entire cost, of the roof box, thus the mounting hardware and rails, they can range from $450 1dolar1 900.
5. Higher Cost
6. Storage space: The large hard roof containers are bulky, and also eat valuable storage space.
6. Storage