Mick F wrote:Warning of tow bar mounted bike carriers too.
Driving though traffic with my precious Mercian on the rack, we stopped abruptly at a zebra crossing. The car behind wasn't so good at stopping and hit us from behind.
Luckily, it was only the rack that was hit, but my Mercian was fine. The car that hit us had its bumper and grille damaged.
We swapped info, and no doubt the car behind had dosh to spend, but our rack only needed a new tail light and me to bend some metal straight. It could have been much worse - for us, him, and my precious Mercian, but it's worth considering when you have bikes on the roof or on a rack.
Keep an eye out!
I suspect it may not just be the rack that was damaged. Have you had the towbar mounting and your car chassis checked? The force of the collision would have been taken by the towing bracket, which received a shock loading that it was not designed to handle. If the collision lifted the car upwards then this is definitely not a force that the towbar was designed to take, and damage may well have resulted.