Rear-mounted cargo
If your car has a receiver, this is usually the right answer — and most people never consider it before buying a roof box.
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A hitch carrier does the same job as a roof box and beats it on almost every axis that matters. You load at waist height instead of over your head. A Class III receiver is commonly rated at 500 lb or more of tongue weight against a roof’s 100-176 lb. And the aerodynamic penalty is a fraction of a roof box’s, because the carrier sits in the low-pressure wake behind the vehicle rather than in clean air above it.
It loses on three things, all real: weather protection, security, and rear access. And it needs a receiver, which is the reason most people never get as far as considering it.
The number that governs everything here is not the carrier’s rating. It is your hitch’s tongue weight rating, minus the carrier’s own weight. Find it on the receiver sticker before you shop.
Tap any row to jump to the full write-up below. Scores are our editorial judgment on published specifications — not a star rating, and not a product we claim to have tested.
| # | Product | Best for | Score | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  CURT 18153 Folding Cargo CarrierThe folding angled shank keeps a tall rear hatch usable and gives you back the parking space when empty. | Best overall | 8.5 | |
| 2 | MaxxHaul 70107Same 500 lb rating for a fraction of the money, and light enough that more of your tongue rating stays available for cargo. | Best value | 7.9 | |
| 3 | Black Widow AMC-400-FA self-storing ramp and a folding shank — the answer for an e-bike, a scooter or a dirt bike. | Rolling a load on instead of lifting it | 8.3 | |
| 4 |  MaxxHaul 70108 Aluminum CarrierAluminum instead of steel: you pay more and get a third of the weight back as usable cargo. | Lightest, and for low-rated receivers | 7.8 |
Prices checked November 11, 2026. Product photographs come from Amazon where the listing is matched, and are representative stock images otherwise. Affiliate disclosure.
#1 · Best overall
The folding angled shank keeps a tall rear hatch usable and gives you back the parking space when empty.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
8.5overall
#2 · Best value
Same 500 lb rating for a fraction of the money, and light enough that more of your tongue rating stays available for cargo.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
7.9overall
#3 · Rolling a load on instead of lifting it
A self-storing ramp and a folding shank — the answer for an e-bike, a scooter or a dirt bike.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
8.3overall
#4 · Lightest, and for low-rated receivers
Aluminum instead of steel: you pay more and get a third of the weight back as usable cargo.
What works
What doesn’t
Our scoring
7.8overall
A hitch quotes two numbers. Gross trailer weight is what it can pull. Tongue weight is what it can support downward at the receiver. A cargo carrier pulls nothing, so only tongue weight applies — and reading the towing figure instead is a genuine and common mistake.
Then subtract the carrier. A steel basket can be 60-70 lb, which comes straight off your allowance. On a Class II hitch rated at 350 lb, that leaves under 300 lb of cargo.
One further subtlety: a carrier’s load sits on a lever extending 20 inches or more behind the receiver, which is a harder load than a trailer’s coupler at the ball. Some manufacturers publish a reduced rating specifically for cargo carriers. If yours does, use it. Our hitch classes guide has the full picture.
Because the carrier’s own mass comes off your allowance in full, material is a real decision rather than a preference — the aluminum carriers weigh roughly a third of the steel equivalent. If the loads are genuinely heavy, the heavy-duty baskets explain which of the two ratings on the listing actually binds. And a basket is not weather protection on its own: the bags that work in a carrier are the second half of the purchase.
Two vehicles change the answer enough to have their own pages. A Jeep Wrangler has a rear spare that pushes the basket back and a tailgate that swings sideways past it; a Subaru Outback usually has an aftermarket Class I or II receiver, which rules most carriers out before you start shopping.
The most common regret with a hitch carrier is a rear hatch that no longer opens. Two minutes of measuring prevents it.
Open the hatch fully. Measure from the receiver to the lowest point of the open hatch, and how far back that point sits. Compare against the carrier’s shank length and basket height — and remember a basket that clears empty may not clear with a cooler strapped on top.
A folding shank buys margin and a parking space. An angled folding shank buys more, because it drops the basket lower relative to the hatch arc.
Rattle. Every shank has clearance in the receiver, and loaded, that clearance becomes a knock over every expansion joint. An anti-rattle clamp costs very little and fixes it completely. Most carriers do not include one.
Plates and lights. A loaded carrier can obscure your license plate and rear lights, and requirements vary by state. Plate relocation brackets and light bars exist for exactly this. Check before the first long trip, not at the roadside.
Straps. Carriers rarely include anything you should trust. Our ratchet strap picks cover what to buy.
For long items — kayaks, lumber, ladders — because a roof is ten feet long and a basket is twenty inches deep. For weather protection and security, because a locked hard box is far better than anything on a hitch. When the receiver is already committed to a trailer or a bike rack. And when maneuvering matters, because a carrier adds real length behind the car.
On a full family trip, both is often right: bulky and light up top, heavy and dense on the back. See roof rack or hitch carrier.
Each of these goes deeper on one decision, with the price we last read from Amazon on its top pick.
Best for SUVs
Hitch carriers for SUVs, ranked — plus the tongue weight figure that really decides your load.
Top pick: CURT 18153 Folding Cargo Carrier
Best with a ramp
Ramp-equipped carriers for e-bikes, scooters and dirt bikes, and the capacity limits that apply.
Top pick: Black Widow AMC-400
Best for RVs
Which carriers suit an RV, the rear-receiver rating warning, and how to load without damage.
Top pick: MaxxHaul 70108 Aluminum Carrier
The two most-bought hitch carriers compared: folding shank versus weight and price.
Top pick: CURT 18153 Folding Cargo Carrier
What the folding angled shank solves, what the weight costs, and whether a fixed carrier would do.
Top pick: CURT 18153 Folding Cargo Carrier
The default budget carrier — why its low weight is an advantage, and where it gives up.
Top pick: MaxxHaul 70107
Best for cars
Hitch cargo carriers that suit a car rather than a truck, plus the receiver check to do first.
Top pick: MaxxHaul 70108 Aluminum Carrier
Best carrier for a Wrangler
Carriers that clear a Wrangler's rear spare tire and swing-out tailgate, ranked by how well they handle it.
Top pick: CURT 18153 Folding Cargo Carrier
Best carrier for an Outback
Carriers light enough for an Outback's modest tongue rating, plus the receiver-size check that comes first.
Top pick: MaxxHaul 70108 Aluminum Carrier
Best aluminum carrier
Aluminum carriers ranked, plus the tongue-weight arithmetic that decides whether the price premium pays.
Top pick: MaxxHaul 70108 Aluminum Carrier
Best heavy-duty carrier
The highest-capacity carriers, ranked, plus why your hitch label beats the listing's capacity figure.
Top pick: MaxxHaul 70107
Best bag for a carrier
Waterproof bags that work in a hitch basket, honestly labeled: none of them is built specifically for one.
Top pick: RoofPax Car Roof Bag
Every vehicle page carries the published roof load limit, the roof type by model year, and what actually mounts to it — cited, and honest about what the manufacturer does not publish.
What it costs you in mpg, whether it will be noisy, and how much your roof is actually allowed to carry — sourced, dated and honest about what nobody publishes.