KAMEI 450 roof box no. KM581 (08158107)

KAMEI makes the best quality boxes on the market. Don't just take our word for it! They're a specialist box manufacturer, Quality Assured to ISO 9001, represented in over 40 countries, with numerous Best Buy awards over the years, including the last five Auto Express "Best Buy" awards. With their innovative and intelligent designs, top quality materials and engineering, and outstanding build quality, it's no surprise that they are Original Equipment box suppliers to several major manufacturers, including Audi, Mercedes-Benz and VW. And KAMEI boxes have the longest guarantee of any manufacturer in the car rack systems sector - 6 years!

This box is entirely symmetrical so you can fit it to open either on the left or on the right. It also seems bigger than its stated 430 litres of capacity, thanks to its low profile reinforcing ribs and fittings, and a lid that's an optimum shape for load carrying. Certainly it's amazing how much you can stuff into it!

KAMEI makes a virtue of the 'Click' and 'Push button' locking system used in this box: Long boxes with central locking can be awkward to close, especially on taller vehicles, and when stuffed full. You need to hold the box tightly closed at the front, at the middle, and at the rear, and turn the key; this often requires two people. You close this box by pulling down on one end of the box until it clicks shut, then pulling down on the other end, and then pushing the locks in before covering them with a weatherproof flap. Each lock drives a bolt from the lid into the base; this is fundamentally a stronger system than central locking systems can achieve.

• Made from top quality 'DUROKAM', an ABS plastic developed by KAMEI to optimise weight, stability and impact resistance.
• Wind tunnel development as well as TÜV and GS (security) testing and approval.
• Stabilus gas struts for wide and easy opening and closing.
• Sliding box to bar fittings so there’s never a need to drill new holes if the distance between your roof bars is non standard.
• This box comes with fittings to accommodate roof bars up to 44mm wide. If you will be using aluminium aerobars, or your roof bars are wider than 44mm, you'll need to purchase one of the alternative adapters listed below.
• 6 year guarantee.
• Holds up to 6 sets of skis.
• Weight 19kg empty, maximum load 50kg, gross loading limit 69kg.

Do you need roof bars as well? If so, check out our amazing box and bars package deal which provides everything you need, including this box, a set of roof bars, and a roof box storage device, all for a fixed price! Click here for more details.

These boxes are also available in an exclusive metallic silver - click here for details.

This season we are offering a free roof box hoist to give you a superb deal. Boxes are bulky items so the ideal place to store them is above your car in the garage, or perhaps in a shed. Many people will leave the box attached to the bars, and also use the box for storage.

If you don't need a box hoist, our alternative gift is a set of 3 Fasty straps - 0.5m, 1.5m and 3.0m. Although of much less financial value they will be useful for 1,001 things, time and again. To order the 3 straps, tick the Alternative free gift box below. Please note that only one box hoist or one set of straps will be included per roof box ordered.

External dimensions: 220 (l) x 80 (w) x 36 (h) cm

Internal dimensions: 208 (l) x 70 (w) 32 (h) cm

Volume: 430 litres

Weight: 19kg

Max load capacity: 50kg

Max number of skis: 7

Opens from: either side - symmetrical so you can choose

Type of struts: hydraulic gas struts

Opens how wide: 32cm

Fits bars up to: 44(w) x 32(d) mm, aerobar and wide bar adapters available (see below)

Distance between roof bar fittings: 62 – 87cm

Guarantee: 6 years

Colour: silver/grey

Very few customers know much about the roof box market before they visit our site. We have a lot of information about the things to think about before buying, and the “real world usefulness" of various roof box features, but you’ll be buying sight unseen, and you probably won’t have used a roof box before, so there is inevitably some luck in getting a box that you’ll be happy with.

We want to remove the risks of buying these large and often expensive items, perhaps from brands which almost every other roof box retailer doesn’t stock, and so we have a unique “90 day Exchange Scheme” for roof boxes.

This allows you to use a roof box and, with the benefit of experience, to exchange it for a new one within 90 days of invoice date. Most exchanges are from a shorter box to a longer one, or from a wider box to a narrower one.

These are the rules of the Exchange Scheme:

• You are allowed one exchange only.
• The original box must be in "as new" condition, subject only to fair wear and tear.
• The replacement box must be a different model.
• The replacement box must not be part of a package deal or be from our Bargains section.
• Roof bars are never part of the Exchange Scheme.

This is how the exchange scheme works:

• We charge in full for the replacement box, including the appropriate carriage charge and a charge for any packaging needed for the return of the original.
• We arrange the collection and pay the return carriage costs.
• When the original box arrives back here we refund you for the invoice value of the original box, but you won't get back more than the invoice value of the replacement box. In other words, if the replacement is cheaper than the original we won't be giving you "extra cash back".

Fifteen months ago a 20 year old black cab set off from London to attempt a new Guinness World Record for the longest taxi journey in history.

It arrived in Sydney just before Christmas, after 50,000 eventful kilometres. Not content with stopping there, the team was given the opportunity by Get Taxi to continue their epic trip and circumnavigate the world. They arrived back in London on May 11th 2012, having driven over 43,000 miles, through 50 countries and across 4 continents.

The guys driving the taxi have raised over £20,000 for the British Red Cross.

You can read all about this epic adventure at itsonthemeter.com. There are some fantastic photos, and you can also donate to the British Red Cross via their JustGiving link. There's also a JustGiving link at the top of this tab. Their very generous sponsors have kept both the team and the vehicle moving, so all the money donated will be going to the charity.

We were asked to provide a roofbox, and had no doubt that it needed to be one of KAMEI’s push button locking boxes, always our staff choice here because they are the strongest, most secure, most waterproof and most reliable boxes we have ever sold. Almost all the problems we have ever had with roof boxes have been due to faulty or gritty central locking systems – not the system you want when driving in some of the world’s wildest places!

KAMEI boxes are also made of an improved pure grade ABS plastic which is designed to cope with extremes of temperature.

The KAMEI 450 roof box has been opened and shut well over a thousand times and has had to cope with temperature extremes ranging from + 50°C to - 15° C.

The roofbox has been a godsend; without it we would never have been able to fit all our stuff into the cab and we're always happy that we can leave our bags locked in there safely when we stop to sleep.”

Congratulations to the team!