The best roof boxes for cars tested 2025

The Motion 3 Large is a versatile roof box that offers a good amount of space for a decent price. It’s likely to suit most needs and come in handy during almost any scenario. While Thule offers roof boxes in almost every shape and size, we think the Motion 3 Large is the closest thing to a roof box for everyone. It stunned our testers at Auto Zeitung with profound qualities in practicality, build quality and space. It can swallow up skis of just over two metres long, making it immensely versatile.

It has a capacity of 450 litres and can carry a huge amount of weight. Thanks to its hardened shell, it's durable, and the available accessories include an interior light box, a pull strap for easy lid access, and a protective box liner.

At just over 2.3 metres long, the Thule Vector L is the ideal roof box for skiing holidays. It's long enough to accommodate the essentials, and our testers at Auto Zeitung found it to be a well-made box that shined in quality. It fits in boards over two metres long, which will be useful to many before their winter getaway.

There are a few drawbacks, however. The most notable being it's 30kg - twice as heavy as the lightest roof box the team had on test. It was a heavily waterproof box during rainy conditions, but we found that upon opening the case, water beads tend to run in, damping the felt and potentially your items.

The Marlin 400L can be opened from both sides, which adds versatility points should you park somewhere that allows restricted access from one side.

However, it loses points over a cheap-feeling plastic key to lock up the mechanism. This doesn't provide a great sense of durability, and the tension straps were found to be quite fiddly. However, it does still provide 400 litres of space, and it does take a high payload.

Out of all the roof boxes tested by the team at Auto Zeitung, the OMAC 400 is the least expensive of the lot. This, of course, adds some value points, but predictably, it's compromised in other areas. These include a fairly fiddly locking system, fragile screw slides, and smaller skis limited to around 150cm in length.

However, it gains a few points back for having the ability to withstand very heavy rain. The team at Auto Zeitung testified this by aiming a high pressure jet at it. You do however, need a few tools to assemble the box upon delivery, which is a slight faff in comparison to a fully-assembled unit.

Just like the Motion 3 Large, the Motion 3 XXL Low comes from Thule, so the build quality and durability will be reliable, and just like the Motion 3 Medium, accessories include an interior light box, a pull strap for easy lid access, and a protective box liner.

The difference with the Motion 3 XXL Low is that it is designed to be as aerodynamic as possible, and despite this, it offers a competitive amount of capacity – in fact, it’s the same as the Motion 3 Large at 450 litres. That does come a downside however, as the Motion 3 XXL Low weighs 25 kg which is more than most other roof boxes.

If value is what you’re after, then look no further than this roof box from Halfords. It offers an impressive 420 litres of storage capacity and a side opening mechanism with a spring lid that stays open, great for loading and unloading. The build quality isn’t as great as some of the more upmarket boxes, but the Halford box offers a competitive capacity at a budget-friendly price.

It's little wonder that this particular roof box is a best-seller in Halford’s range, which all come with a three-year guarantee. Fitting is also available to take the hassle out of preparing for your next big adventure. At 14 kg, the Halford box is about the sort of weight you’d expect for a roof box, thanks to the scratch-resistant ABS material.

Smaller cars need roof boxes too – in fact, a smaller car is more likely to require a roof box because oftentimes the boot isn’t large enough to fit your essentials. Another great roof box from Thule, the Force XT Sport may only be 190 x 63 x 42.5 cm, but it can still accept 75 kg in the 300 litres of available capacity.

The dual opening provides easy access, and the aerodynamic design will go some way to reducing wind noise and keeping fuel bills to a minimum. The 14.7 kg weight is also pretty competitive, as is the price.

If 300, 400, or even 500 litres of capacity isn’t enough, then you’ll want to go for the Halfords 580 box, which comes with - you’ve guessed it – a 580 litres capacity. It’s clear that this Halfords box has been designed with bigger vehicles in mind, but it is easy to use thanks to its dual side opening, which is useful for loading and unloading.

Because the main selling point of the Halfords box is its size, so you won’t find it to be as aerodynamic as some of the other roof boxes on this list. The Halfords box is conveniently priced in the market but offers much more capacity than most other roof boxes. The weight capacity is 75 kg, though, like others.

The Costway box takes the best features of other boxes and puts them together into one simple solution. It comes with a 400-litre cargo capacity which can be up to 75 kg in weight. It also comes with a dual side opening of 35 cm for easy access. Alongside this it has support arms, a secure key lock, and even luggage straps.

While the Costway box weighs 19 kg the shape is somewhat aerodynamic so it should minimise the wind noise, but we wouldn’t say the wind noise is completely absent. If you’re looking for a roof box that can carry just as much as some of the upmarket boxes and offers great value, then it’s worth checking out the Costway rooftop cargo box.

It’s important to consider buying a set of roof racks if you’re wanting to use a roof box. Some cars have roof racks fitted from the factory, but for all other vehicles you’ll need to find an aftermarket solution. Amazon Garage is a useful tool to filter products based on your vehicle in order to get roof racks that are suitable to you.