[lionell]

A short prelude, I have been wanting a roof box setup on my hatches since many years now. The current market doesn't have many options which. I say this because my research yielded that the setup is available on two spectrums which is ‘decent quality, fair value’ (Ajanta, Indonesian Brands) and ‘high-end, super expensive’ (Thule, Rhino Rack).

The main components required are
1. Roof Bars and accessories to hold the roof box or carrier or bicycle rack.
2. Roof Box itself. (360L/400L) for hatchbacks.

I am going to list down what I did to acquire a roof box setup. This information may be useful for forum members interested in this setup but are opting out of it due to cost or sourcing constraints.

Why?

I own a POLO GT, and do at least 3 long trips every year. These trips currently originate from Jodhpur, RJ to Himachal, Punjab, Delhi and other places in the north and Pune, Goa, Bangalore to the south.

With a three year old kid strapped to the car-seat and accompanied by a plethora of toy bags, books to keep him busy, his extra clothes and other nick nicks, S P A C E is at a premium. We all know how cramped the polo is at the rear, we bought this car for its brilliant engine and gearbox, also knowing it would only be the three of us in the car for these long trips. The GT is more than a competent tourer, I feel so because when I cross major cities with traffic jams my left leg thanks me a gazillion times and we complete the trip in relative comfort. Driving fatigue is taken out of the equation. On our recent trip to Himachal we had a manual Honda City, automatic Innova and the Polo GT out and about and everyone wanted to lay their hands on the GT on the ghats as well as the butter smooth roads near Punjab, that speaks volumes about how good the car is to drive.

Getting back to the roof box and bars setup.

Roof-Bars

After a lot of research, which included trying to source the OEM VW roof bars listed in the accessories section on the VW site (they had none across India and none at the factory), VW didn’t know if they could procure one even if I ended up paying in advance.

I ended up sourcing a universal roof bar from AliExpress. The seller had posted images of the roof-bar installed on various cars, this included the VW Polo and gave me confidence that the product will surely fit. Now the catch here was shipping as it costed twice the amount of the product itself. Yet it would be half the price of what VW quoted me as the ex-factory price for their roof bars. I initially opted for EMS but after a few days of non-movement contacted the seller to see why they hadn’t updated the tracking. He got in touch with EMS and replied of having some issue with the shipping. I didn’t want to take any chances of delay and requested the seller to shift the carrier to FedEx with extra charges. He promptly obliged and the package was re-ordered on the 30th of Sept. and was to be delivered by the 9th of Oct. as per FedEx transit times.

The shipper requested an IEC Code. Am listing the code below for items imported for personal use:
IEC CODE: 0100000053 - Persons/Institutions/hospitals importing or exporting goods for personal use, not connected with trade or manufacture or agriculture.

Give this code to the shipper in advance so he includes it in his documentation, this will prove beneficial in clearing the imported item faster (this has been my personal experience). I did not know of this code and had to do a bit of research to obtain it. There is another thread on the forum, which I stumbled on much later listing this code.

FedEx did not request me to update the KYC for shipping. I proactively called them and asked the procedure, to which they directed me to the KYC website where you need to input the AWB number and upload the requested documents. Since I did that beforehand and not after the shipment arrived in India, it cleared through customs faster. Bottom line, proper documentation before hand works wonders!

Price of the Roof Bars: Rs. 3900/-
Shipping: Rs. 8000/-
Customs: Rs. 2150

Roof-Box

For the roof box, I got in touch with several companies;

Methods Automotive, Bangalore (Thule official retailers) - After several mails and trying to get in touch with them they never bothered to respond.

Ajanta - Mumbai their universal roof box was 360L Price: 15,500 ex factory (don’t know how much GST would be applied). The owner responded on whatsapp that they had the box, but no supporting roof bars for the Polo. I told him, the bars are my responsibility and I’d need only the box.

From the looks of it the Ajanta box didn’t seem like a conclusive buy, its shape seemed a little odd I supposed that might hinder overall aerodynamics.

Digging around online a bit more I stumbled on Road Camp.
Road Camp, Nashik - The seller Brijesh was really responsive. This isn’t his main business but is passionate about camping and other accessories that go with outdoor travel and set up this business to aid other enthusiasts. He had only one roof-box left with him. I was importing an automotive accessory for the first time and I didn’t know if the bars will fit properly or if I would be able to do a DIY setup myself. I asked him to hold on to it and he very politely obliged, after a few days though, he pinged me that he had a few customers inline and asked me if I’d be firm on my decision of purchasing the box. I was a bit skeptical but made the transfer and the box was promptly transported by bus overnight from Nashik to Jodhpur.

Installation

The roof-bars from AliExpress arrived dot on time at my doorstep two days before the roof-box. I began installation and found that a universal roof bar isn’t really universal afterall. A lot of permutation combinations later with the 3 sets of clamps provided, I was finally able to zero down on a specific clamp that would hold the bars in place. Began installation and figured that it wasn’t a one man DIY but managed to hold the fort and get it done (I had no help around) in a couple of hours.

I had to take care of the following pointers while installing:
-Get a set of rubber strips cut to prevent scratches and scuffing.
- Had a piece of ppf lying around and cut and placed strips of it beneath the clamping areas.
- The quick turn knobs that came with the bars weren’t sturdy and gave way (cracked) when they were tightened. So, let go of them and used the nut itself to be tightened with a good old spanner.
- Measuring each side with a measure tape and placing all roof-bar elements before tightening any side.
- Start with clamping one side lightly, moving to the other side and clamping them both down firmly.



Rubber strips cut to size.



Installing various components of the roof-bars. The circled parts are quick-turn-tight. The right knob goes on the outside of the clamp and has a nut inside it. The knob started to crack under stress.



Partial installation and placement.


The moment of truth came the day the Roof-Box arrived. The box had a fair amount of adjustability (between bars) and since I didn’t know how much the distance is between the front and rear hinges, I had to play guess and install the bars. As luck has it, the placement of both bars fell right into place. And I installed the roof-box in minutes. This, thanks to the quick-turn knobs on the bars that clamp down on the roof-bars.



Care was taken to re-check any hindrance to the boot-opening.



The final set-up looked fabulous especially with the GT in tow and a white box.



Near the Chitradurga wind mills.

Smaller yet significant things

- The roof-box helped immensely with its 400L capacity. We could stuff a lot of nick knacks but had to be careful to keep the weight under 50kg.

- The locking facility meant it was safe to leave luggage in the box.

- The box was absolutely water proof (we were met with torrential rains at a lot of places).

- There was a certain distinct wind cutting noise after 80kmph but we got used to it, this is due to the Non-OEM universal roof-bars jutting out.

- The set-up has now done 5600 kms from Jodhpur - Ahmedabad - Bombay - Belgaum - Bangalore - Mysore - Bandipur - Ooty - Conoor - Bangalore - Goa - Bombay - Ahmedabad - Jodhpur.



There are quick turn and tighten knobs (2 Front-2 Rear) to secure the roof-box to the roof-bars. These are more useful than standard clamps as you can remove the roof-box in under 5 minutes.



The knobs rotate and move down to clamp and securely attach themselves to the roof-bars.



The key that secures your luggage. This model is a single-side opening (opens from passenger side only). There are other models available that are dual side opening.



Open roof-box. (note the 4 knobs).
The knobs do eat up some space and I would have liked them to be a tad smaller. But I did manage to place the luggage around it.



A zoomed out view of the box in its open state.

Total 400L capacity meant the box chowed down
- 2 cabin sized bags
- A 16x16x16 inch pantry box
- Tool Boxes
- Childs potty seat
- Umbrella
- Jopasu Duster
- Coolant Bottle
- A 16x6x4 inch shoes bag

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing, Lionell! Moving your post to a new thread & it's going to our homepage .

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by lionell

Digging around online a bit more I stumbled on Road Camp.
Road Camp, Nashik

Very nice setup.

Please share more photos of the actual box including the inside of it. With luggage and without.

Also, you haven't mentioned the cost of the box. Please do.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Technically, roof boxes and luggage carriers are illegal unless endorsed on your RC as well as your insurance. I believe you can be challaned for this. Kudos for the clean and functional install though.

[lionell]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Technically, roof boxes and luggage carriers are illegal unless endorsed on your RC as well as your insurance. I believe you can be challaned for this. Kudos for the clean and functional install though.

There is absolutely no provision of any illegalities regarding roof-boxes or carriers for private vehicles. What encouraged me to go ahead is a newspaper clipping wherein a resident of Gujarat had written to the Commissioner to clarify if carriers were legal or illegal. The reply was positive and he mentioned that there is nothing in the 1988 MV Act to indicate any illegalities with the setup.

Here is a link to an article that articulates that
https://www.cartoq.com/luggage-carri...rt-department/

[Reinhard]

A neat job done lionell. Excellent professional finish. Indeed with lockable & water-proof storage of extra 50kgs - your pocket rocket is now an excellent tourer. Job well done I must say.

Originally Posted by lionell

Price of the Roof Bars: Rs. 3900/-
Shipping: Rs. 8000/-
Customs: Rs. 2150

So shipping was the biggest expense.

Originally Posted by lionell

Digging around online a bit more I stumbled on Road Camp.
Road Camp, Nashik - The seller Brijesh was really responsive. This isn’t his main business but is passionate about camping and other accessories that go with outdoor travel and set up this business to aid other enthusiasts. He had only one roof-box left with him.

I'm sorry - I might have missed it - but finally how much did the box cost from this seller in Nashik?

A couple of tips -
Please see if you can add AliExpress links to the item you ordered & perhaps website / google search contact details of the seller in Nashik on the thread. That way a lot of interested readers will get the information directly & you won't have to work with PMs afterwards.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Technically, roof boxes and luggage carriers are illegal unless endorsed on your RC as well as your insurance. I believe you can be challaned for this. Kudos for the clean and functional install though.

Naah, that's not really the case for such storages. The RC endorsement is required in case you are adding a towing device / towed storage. Even state transport buses have roof carriers & they aren't endorsed.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by lionell

There is absolutely no provision of any illegalities regarding roof-boxes or carriers for private vehicles. What encouraged me to go ahead is a newspaper clipping wherein a resident of Gujarat had written to the Commissioner to clarify if carriers were legal or illegal. The reply was positive and he mentioned that there is nothing in the 1988 MV Act to indicate any illegalities with the setup.

Here is a link to an article that articulates that
https://www.cartoq.com/luggage-carri...rt-department/

These rules as well as their interpretation differ from state to state. Installation of luggage carrier or roof box can be seen as modification of the vehicle, which is prohibited under the MV act. Can’t say about Gujarat, but I’ve seen people being flagged down for this in Chandigarh and Punjab.

Don’t get me wrong, I see the utility a proper roof box brings to a hatchback. If only an all India clarification is issued about this, otherwise you’ll always be at the mercy of local cops out to harass and make a quick buck.

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

These rules as well as their interpretation differ from state to state. Installation of luggage carrier or roof box can be seen as modification of the vehicle, which is prohibited under the MV act. Can’t say about Gujarat, but I’ve seen people being flagged down for this in Chandigarh and Punjab.

Cops in southern states have no issues with roof box "mod".

[shashi792]

Originally Posted by lionell

Roof-Bars

After a lot of research, which included trying to source the OEM VW roof bars listed in the accessories section on the VW site (they had none across India and none at the factory), VW didn’t know if they could procure one even if I ended up paying in advance.

How much was VW asking for this ?

[lionell]

Originally Posted by shashi792

How much was VW asking for this ?

VW quoted 22,600 for this. They will add GST to this as well. They did not provide a final invoice price, and I did not bother asking them for it as it was way out of my budget.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Cops in southern states have no issues with roof box "mod".

The only state I got pulled over on the 5600kms I did was in Maharashtra. At Kolhapur the cops pulled me over and asked for my documents, I provided them all and they let me go, on a final note they asked me what was the contraption on my roof and I gave them a proper response. They laughed and let me go.

In Rajasthan I got pulled over by cops and again they asked me what I had installed on the roof? When I responded that it was a luggage rack they were surprised and said it looks fantastic, shook hands and waved me off. 😀

[giri1.8]

Not sure if I understood the installation right, but if the roof bars are clamped can they be removed easily when not in use? This practical mod is sure to grab more attention than most visual mods Looks sweet!

[lionell]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

Not sure if I understood the installation right, but if the roof bars are clamped can they be removed easily when not in use? This practical mod is sure to grab more attention than most visual mods Looks sweet!

Yes the roof-bars can be removed easily when not in use. Though, I have decided to keep them on as installation takes a really really long time, and I haven't been able to perfect the process.

Speaking of 'grabbing attention', the roof-box grabbed eyeballs in each and every state, city or town that we passed by or stopped at. People reached out to me to ask what it was. In Goa, some even thought it was a boat

This installation was a head turner for sure and I felt like I was driving by in a supercar or something

[aah78]

Lovely job, looks very sleek! Love how clean you've kept your nice red Polo too.

A few years ago, I had very temporarily installed a similar looking Thule roof rack on the top of my BMW 3-Series.
Spent the better part of an afternoon installing it, decided it looked like crap & returned it.

Originally Posted by lionell

- There was a certain distinct wind cutting noise after 80kmph but we got used to it, this is due to the Non-OEM universal roof-bars jutting out.

I remember seeing some sort of wind-deflector that manufacturers like Thule & Yakima sell to reduce this wind noise.

[John]

A couple of years back I was scouting around for cross bars and a roof box for my Toyota Innova since we had planned a long trip with seven persons on board.
Finally got Thule cross bars, with Thule clamps specifically designed for the Innova, from Methods Automotive.
The roof box I got from Hot Tracks, Bangalore. They import these from an Italian company called Modula Case System. The model I bought was Ciao 340 (340 lts capacity)
Did a 4000 km round trip through Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa. No issues with the cops.

Still have the cross bars and roof box even after selling the Innova!

https://www.modulacs.com/en/

[DeepakS]

Originally Posted by lionell

A short prelude, I have been wanting a roof box setup on my hatches since many years now. The current market doesn't have.......

Great install! Saw your car somewhere in Shastri Nagar a few days back and was curious about it. And here it is in all its glory. Cheers!