I enjoy riding my bike w my friends.
I am not tall enough to use a car top bike rack, nor am I coordinated enough to stand on a ladder while I hoist my bike on top of the car.
We have a bike rack that we used on our old Ford exploder (now deceased) that I could manage well.
I want to have a rear hitch installed for that bike rack.
My husband says it will decrease the value of the car.
He’s nuts, right?!?
the hitch itself won’t decrease the value much, if at all. If someone suspects you might have actually been towing with it there might be an issue. I am assuming the hitch is to mount a bike rack on it? If so, if you ever go to sell the car, you can always leave the bike rack on, that should put aside most fears.
It MAY decrease the value of the car by $500 IF you sell when the vehicle is only 3 years old. If you keep the car for 5-10 years…the decrease will be 0.
There are some pretty light duty hitches just for this type of thing that may interest you. If you get a class 1 with a 1-1/4" receiver, it’ll show whomever may be interested that you didn’t tow anything with any weight. From http://www.trailerandtruckparts.com/Tow-Hitches_c_76.html:
Class I Trailer Hitch
Class I hitches are weight carrying (WC) hitches rated up to 2001 lbs. gross trailer weight (GTW) with a maximum trailer tongue weight (TW) of 200 lbs. This style of hitch typically uses a 1-1/4" square receiver opening.
It’s the smallest/lightest duty hitch you can get.
For your Outback, this is probably the only hitch I’d consider, anyway. Depending on how you mount it, it may be possible to remove it without leaving any damage on the car.
They are invaluable for attachment points for racks. DON’T worry about devaluing the car. An explanation of what it was used for is all it took from me and the buyers were happy it had it. If the car is in good shape otherwise, it will be obvious it was or not used for heavy towing.
At the expense of offending anyone, listen to no one who says get a 1 1/4 inch hitch.
GET THE 2" if it’s available for your Subaru. There are so many more practical hook ups for 2" w/o having to use adapters and your bike rack will thank you. Though the 1.25 is plenty strong enough, the 2" is more stable side to side and twisting. Always carry a tow hook that can be inserted and it will be the most reliable attachment point. Decorate it with lights, propellers or anything you wish when not using it. :=) They are invaluable for hitting curbs and dips and taking abuse in stride before anything soft can break back there when backing up too.
ALL cars should have them standard on some models and engineered in IMO if they are tow rated at all. The Subaru Outback especially. A Subaru is a good, safe small load tow car and with a hitch you may want to get a small utility or what ever later.
DON’T WORRY, JUST DO IT ! Hubby is a worry wart for little reason as are others. :=)
Adding a hitch is a great opportunity to continue biking which is healthier than worrying about how it affects the car’s value. Happy biking !
Just don’t have U-Haul install it! Get someone who will install it properly, and not merely splice into your electrical system at any random spot.
I would use the 2", myself, if I had the option. Regardless of the post a couple up I did. That was an effort to show options.
Everything you do with this vehicle is going to lower its value. Every mile you put on it, everyday it sits unused in the driveway lowers it’s value. But you bought it for your own use, not someone else’s, so use it the way you want to.
There are bike racks that attach to the back of the vehicle without a trailer hitch. I had one of those, the problem is that you are far more likely to scratch the paint with your bike, that will lower the value a lot more than a trailer hitch.
I also have a 1.25" receiver on my small pickup. It is perfectly adequate for my trailer, however, if I were to do it again, I would get a 2" receiver, you just have more options with it. I needed to tow my son’s Tercel Wagon across town one time but U-Haul would not rent me a tow dolly because it wasn’t a 2" receiver.
If you want a platform type bike rack, I think it requires a class 3 or 4, 2" receiver. I believe it needs to have a tongue rating of 500 lbs. Even though your bikes don’t weigh anywhere near that much, they do have a mechanical advantage on the receiver because their center of gravity is further out.
I think the price of a trailer hitch is unnecessary. There are many strap-on bike racks that will work just fine without paying hundreds of dollars for a trailer hitch you will never tow with.
If you are worried about one of these scratching the paint, you can place chamois cloth under the contact points.
The first link is like the one I had, I scratched the paint with the bike, not the carrier.
Yeah, I’ve managed to scratch the paint with mine too, but it was because I was careless and didn’t pay attention to where I placed the bicycle pedals. Usually, I am more careful about the position of the bicycle pedals.
Whitey, you need a receiver hitch with a propeller and flashing lights when not in use. You can be much more “careless” with fewer problems and your car and bikes will thank you. . New hitches are not hundreds…they are a hundred.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&q=2"+RECEIVER+hitches&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=16750382622496763381&sa=X&ei=_NzaTdzeNcfogQeuotFX&ved=0CHIQ8wIwAg&biw=1276&bih=611#
You will be hard-pressed finding a 2" receiver hitch for a Subaru…
If you can install a hitch on the car for the purpose you mention then why can’t you just remove it when you get ready to sell or trade the car and say absolutely nothing about a hitch ever being on there?
It’s not like a light duty accessory like this is going to damage the car in any way.
If you can’t find a 2 inch receiver hitch, an option would be to weld an adaptor to the 1.25 hitch. The 1.25 is strong enough for Subaru use and 2" welded on gives you the flexibility you need.
You will be hard-pressed finding a 2" receiver hitch for a Subaru…
Reese and Drawtite make many Class II and Class III receiver hitches for vehicles that are only rated Class I. They do this because there are many many more accessories for the Class III hitch.
U-Haul - While I don’t necessarily recommend UHaul to install one of their hitches…the U-Haul hitches are made by Draw-tite which is one of the best hitches you can buy. There are MANY small RV places that are also U-Haul rental companies that do excellent work.
I have a bike-rack attachment for my receiver. I can also tow with it.