Protecting your rear end

Anyone who has spent time driving in the mountains knows that it comes with risks.  Roads are often covered in ice from November-April and often other drivers don't have snow/studded/chains and experience driving on snow and ice.  Maybe the most dangerous drivers are the visitors from Florida driving a rental car with all season tires and no clue about traction control.  It seems inevitable that eventually you will get rear-ended.  Having someone slide into the back of your car almost seems like a local right of passage.  While getting rear-ended shouldn't cost you a penny assuming the other guy has insurance, its gonna be a pain to get your car to the local body shop and get the work done.  Also your car is going to be there for a week or so.

What does this have to do with Gravirax?  Good question.  We often are asked why do we set the rack back from the bumper.  During the design and development process we made that determination for 3 reasons:

1. provide backup cameras with an unobstructed view
2. make sure the license plate isn't obstructed
3. allow access to the trunk on some cars without having to pivot the rack

But we found an additional unplanned for benefit.  The extra distance from the bumper helps protect the rear end of the car from damage in low speed fender benders.  The heavy duty steel plus the distance from the bumper provides protection from drivers from sunshine states in rentals cars sliding into your rear end.  A new arm will only cost their insurance company around $150 and will arrive in a couple of business days.  Forget multiple trips to the body shop with your car out of commission for days, and no CARFAX accident report attached to your VIN.  That is a pretty nice bonus feature.