A roof box can be an affordable and simple way to increase the luggage capacity of your car. They also allow you to keep wet and dirty stuff like sports gear outside your car – put it in the (washable) roof box instead.

If you aren’t familiar with roof boxes, they are basically moulded plastic boxes that fit onto roof bars on top of your car – like this:

When choosing a roof box, you need to consider a couple of things:

• How much you want to carry – don’t have a box bigger than necessary
• Whether you will want to use the roof rack for anything else at the same time – such as a bike. Half width roof boxes are available that allow you to carry a bike or skis on the roof at the same time.

Whichever roof box you choose, you will also need roof bars. These fit across the roof of your car – the roof box will mount on these bars. Roof bar fittings are often car-specific, so you must ensure you buy the right fittings for your car.

Halfords stocks a wide range of roof bar fittings, roof bars and roof boxes – it makes an excellent place to start your roof box research.