I've worked at a hitch and car rack store for the last 6 years and we get these questions a lot.
1. You can get your hitch and have it installed at many places - Rack Attack, E&H, Cap-It, U-Haul, etc. Phone around and check prices. They should all have lifetime guarantees on the install. What kind of car is it? We usually charge a flat rate of $60 that can go up to $180 on more complex installs - eg. Porsche Cayenne, BMW X3. It's about 1-2 hours depending on the car for the install.
The only caveat I have is to be wary of U-Haul. We had a customer come in once with a misaligned hitch on their Honda Element, turns out that the hitch was bent. The hitch was designed to be fastened onto the tow hook with a u-bolt, because the hitch was bent, it wouldn't fit and so they chopped off the customer's tow hook and didn't fasten it fully...
2. Hitches are mounted onto the factory framerails. Most modern and Japanese cars have factory mounting holes on the rail that simply bolt right up. Most European sedans don't have this and require drilling a hole through the middle of the trunk in order to support the hitch. Without knowing what kind of car you have, it's hard to say what the actual install process is like. For sedans, you are
generally limited to a Class I or Class II hitch. What kind of bikes are you carrying? How many bikes are you looking to carry?
Class I = 1 1/4" receiver and has a tongue weight capacity of 200 lbs.
Class II = 1 1/4" receiver and has a tongue weight capacity of 350 lbs.
Most hitch bike racks nowadays are sold with a sleeve to fit both 1 1/4" and 2" receivers.
3. You can have everything bought and installed at any of the shops listed above or order online. Stateside pricing is much better generally but I personally would have the hitch professionally installed here to avoid headaches and if anything goes wrong, which is rare, just bring it back.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hear-it-first
I want to carry my bicycles around the city in my vehicle.
Where do you get vehicle hitches and how do you have them installed?
How are hitches installed to a sedan?
Where to get the best deals on hitches and for hitch-mounted bike racks?
I am only interested in the hitch-mount alternative.
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