where can I rent a roof top carrier for ONE WAY (rentals, new home)

[luvmyguys]

I looked in to U-haul but they don't do "one way" rentals. Any other suggestions???

[gastric]

Buy a used one on Craigslist then resell it and get your money back out of it when you're done with it. Note that you'll need to confirm the particular carrier works with your roof rack. Most of them require cross bars. And some factory cross bars are not supported. For example, my Honda Odyssey factory cross bars are not supported for hard top carriers from Thule. Something about the Honda factory bars not supporting the lift load from the carrier. They're held on by 4 screws and apparently failed testing for hard carriers. I had to opt for a soft carrier which is water "resistant" and not water proof. But which is much cheaper.

[luvmyguys]

Maybe I should just buy a soft carrier??????

Originally Posted by gastric

Buy a used one on Craigslist then resell it and get your money back out of it when you're done with it. Note that you'll need to confirm the particular carrier works with your roof rack. Most of them require cross bars. And some factory cross bars are not supported. For example, my Honda Odyssey factory cross bars are not supported for hard top carriers from Thule. Something about the Honda factory bars not supporting the lift load from the carrier. They're held on by 4 screws and apparently failed testing for hard carriers. I had to opt for a soft carrier which is water "resistant" and not water proof. But which is much cheaper.

[leighbhe]

We bought a soft carrier, but had to put a piece of plywood in the bottom of it because it was hard to fit properly on the car with it being soft. At that time we had a nissan xterra.

I would also try craigslist.

Leigh

[toot68]

There's a couple on craigslist under $100. Search in sporting goods for "yakima", "thule" or "carrier" and you'll find most of them.

[mshs2]

Any thoughts on the small to medium size uhaul size trailers for one way or for purchasing them cheaply? The daily rate on them is not bad, the cost of gasoline returning it and then returning back to our new home to be is the costly part (and tiring too).


Thanks,
mshs2

[mcmartian]

uhual usually will rent a small truck witha pull behind trailer for your car, one way. we've rented that way alot in pa, nj and ny. even crossing state lines. that's probably the easiest.

depending on the weight of the items, if they're small enough for a roof rack, perhaps you can ups/fed-ex them to your new location for less than the cost of a rack that you'll use once. just an outside of the box idea to look into.

[mshs2]

Shipping prices would be a killer, too.

We will probably rent a small storage unit (with heating and ac and cameras) for a month and then just move it on the next trip back to our new home to be. Obviously I am planning on traveling back home once or twice a month for business and for us to visit friends and family here. Please pray that gasoline in the southeast never gets nearly as bad as California's or NJ's (isn't NJ the NE state that is another extremely greedy gasoline place?!?).

I'll ship what I can via UPS Ground. FedEx is the most expensive way. I had checked into FedEx's business account and ended up decided to never get a business account with them due to being way too expensive. Besides, I love UPS. Once something is roughly 5lbs. UPS is the cheapest way.


Thanks,
mshs2

[gastric]

Quick update: I purchased a Thule Nomad soft carrier for $90 shipped online. If I had to do it all over again I'd have gone for a hard carrier for the following reasons:

* Soft bags sit right on your roof potentially scratching your paint if you don't clean the roof first.
* They're not 100% waterproof, not that I've had any leak or penetration issues yet. But I haven't driven through a thunderstorm with it either.
* They're held on with straps. Hard carriers are usually held on with steel U-bolts. I didn't have my straps come loose at all but whizzing down the road at 80mph I kept looking for my bag flying off my roof.
* They're less secure since it's a zippered bag that can't be locked and could easily be unstrapped from the car and stolen.
* They can be noisy if you don't secure the strap ends well. You'll hear the strap ends flapping madly against your car or the bag which to me is extremely annoying. I already have 3 kids in my car I don't need any more noise.

However, the price is right. And they fold up into a little carry bag for easy storage which is good since I'll only use it a few times a year probably. Also, you don't need crossbars for the bags. Just raised side rails to strap them to. So if you have a car with no crossbars (my Honda Odyssey) the bag saves you money there, too.

[Njrover0216]

I got a soft carrier for like 50 bucks at autozone. Just check out the deals for pepboys, autozone, etc