The rack is very nice but I would have returned it immediately if I didn't need it for the next day.

The bad:
1) Box was open and ripped at one end. UPS asked if I wanted to send it back and surprised when I kept it. I should have! The tow hitch bar was bent! Nothing lined up! I had to hammer the frame to make it level and drill out a few misaligned holes.

2) This thing rusts fast and everywhere.

3) Instructions are horrible and don't make sense.

4) There is a strap ring attached to the tow hitch portion that would not fit under my bumper but it came off easily with a grinding wheel.

The Good:
1) If you're handy with tools or have assembled cribs, day beds or are familiar withIKEA assembly, then you can figure this out.

2) Get some truck bed spray paint and spray everything. Twice. Get a tow hitch stabilizer clamp. Also get reflective tape and you're all set.

3) I can carry 4 adult bikes with ease.

I purchased this from Amazon 2 years ago and waited to give a review until I'd used it some. Only a couple of times for bikes; mostly for travel.Its been from Iowa to North Carolina and back multiple times and has held up well. I've noticed a lot of complaints (assembly, size etc) that I will give my 2 Cents about.
1. Its heavy. I'm a 60 something 5 foot 6 inch overweight female. Yeah its heavy - its huge and metal. Which is what I wanted. I can move it around without any problems and here is how I attach it to my CRV by myself: I lift up the tongue and lean the bottom of the tongue against the bottom opening of the hitch receiver. Then I go around to the back - lift it up and slide it in. Easy-peasy. I did have some problems getting the holes to line up until I had some practice. - I put a mark on the tongue where it needs to be to line up and then found it works best to "jiggle" it until the holes line up.
2. Its hard to assemble. I took 15 minutes to read thru all instructions and lay out all the parts. It was very helpful to note in other reviews that 2 sizes of bolts were not labeled with different part numbers so that helped. After that it took me about 45 minutes to put it together by myself. (Did I mention I'm a 60 something year old female?) I grew up on a farm in Iowa and admit I am handy with tools - but this is really a basic assembly.
3. The reflectors break when storing on its end. I just replaced the nuts with wing nuts and remove them during storage. Id been putting them in the glove box but I saw in a recent review that someone puts them on the inside - great idea! And what I'll do in the future. After someone almost backed into the side of it one night I added reflective tape around the sides and on the back.
4. During one early car trip I noticed when stopping for gas that one cotter pin holding the bar for the bike rack part had gone missing and the bar was sliding out. Fortunately nothing was lost but could have been. I added 4 zip ties (one on each end of the 2 bars) and no problems since
5. If I recall correctly, its rated for 500 lbs. I never put any where close to that much. Like my 11 year old grandson said when he saw it for the first time he said "if you put too much weight on it, your front ties might lift up"

I've only used it for bikes a couple of times but has worked very well for that.

So I gave it 3 stars because of the instructions. Had the instructions actually been useful, this would have 5 stars. Again, instructions to put together were horrible, completely horrible. For goodness sake, here we have a product that will be used to haul up to 500lbs of gear or bikes, I would think, the instructions would crystal clear on what bolt goes where, what each item looks like etc, instead playing the guessing game. Took 2 hours to put together because of it. NOW I do give 5 stars for the product itself. I do wish the sides were maybe 2" higher though. This works great with bikes, especially since a few of ours are not able to be used on traditional bike carriers. It is sturdy, and the bikes (we used mountain bikes with thick tires) fit great. Over all, IF I needed another one these, I would buy one - without thinking twice. I have not used it for anything else yet. However, I know it will be much easier transporting my push mower and bagger around, than in the back of my minivan. Awesome.

I'm giving this rack a 4 star because someone or the company itself forgot to put any type of assembly instructions in the box. Fortunately, I can figure such things out without much problem however, you MUST put this together from the bottom > up. You'll find 2-4" bolts, they go in the end holes on the hitch bar and through the sliding insert ( what that is for is still a mystery) and double as the center bolts for the two cross members. A bridging piece that runs down the center between the two rack halves, get the two bolts ( shortest bolts) per side nutted but don't tighten anything until the end, easier to line up bolt holes when stuff is loose. I stood the hitch bar vertically and put the 4( longer) bolts per end on that way but you may have a different method. Bolt down the cross members (2 bolts per ) then, you can start tightening everything down. A 17 mm wrench and a pair of channel locks to hold the carriage bolts until they seat is just about all you need to put this together. Anyway, hope that helps a little. Like I mentioned, not tough to put together but it can be frustrating if you don't know the order of assembly. If the rack prices stable, I may bump this up a half star but with no instruction, that's about as generous as I'm willing to be.

Well, I loved the idea of having both a cargo shelf and bike rack built into one. Definitely grab a can of rustolium to patch up the chip paint that will come off. Not a deal breaker, easy to mitigate. I must of over tighten one of the bolts as the bolt head snapped off after being assembled. There is an extension tube that slides out of the rear to allow you to hook the included strap, but there is no way to adjust how far to extend it out. I ended up just using one of the open holes on the cargo tray end. Having the extension stick out so far decreased how much clearance you need when going over a speed bump or for me end of my driveway which is no where as steep as alot of driveways. Granted I used this on my 2006 subaru forester and 2015 subaru legacy and both scrapped the bottom pulling out of the driveway and going over a couple speed bumps. The legacy I could understand as the ground clearance isn't a lot, but the forester I expected not to have an issue. The rack did lean downward which didn't help and even without the extension tube extended, it still had issues with both vehicles.

A few areas of improvement would make this ideal, include a 90 degree fold-able option. I've seen this similar model without the bike option that folds upward when not in use. Allow the extension tube to have multiple holes that can be used to adjust how far it extends. Instead of going straight out, raise the platform about 6 inches and angle it upward (it seems to dip down, which may just be a quality flaw). Wheels at the end would be helpful when taking the rack off and attempting to store it as is it a bit heavy and bulky. I ended up using a fold-able dolly to assist moving it into the garage.