The smaller trees aren’t too bad, but the nice full 10 foot ones can be about 100 pounds when fresh, prickly, sticky, and unwieldy.

I’ve been loading trees on the roof racks of my various station wagons & SUVs for 25 years now and I still can’t tie my tree on the roof of my car with the cheap twine provided at the tree farm. I was never a Boy Scout so my knot-tying skills are poor. No matter how many times I pull the twine tight through my roof…

Aw, man, get two of these wagons on a street and you can have jousting contests!

Having tied many a thing (mostly canoes and kayaks) to the roofs of cars, here are my life lessons:

We rag on the PT Cruiser here, but other than being bland to drive it was a fine car. It really was a subcompact CUV built 9 years before subcompact CUV’s became popular. And of course discontinued the very same year that subcompact CUV’s became a hit.

Unless you are of the sort who doesn’t want to buy a truck. Then it’s

Use the right vehicle. It’s best to transport a Christmas tree on top of a vehicle equipped with a roof rack. However, if you do not have a roof rack, use the bed of a pickup truck, or an SUV, van or minivan that can fit the tree inside with all doors closed.

So you’re telling me this is incorrect?

They’d have been safe had they been in their Accord.....

It’s fine, but that guy on the hood needs to put his seat belt on.

After years and years and years of having cars and SUVs and having to attach trees in one way or another to the roof or roof rack (not counting that one time I fit a 6 foot tree in the trunk of my Crown Vic) I finally have a truck to haul shit, and invariably, a 7 foot Xmas tree netted and laid on an angle from one…

I was certain step one would be to go out and buy a station wagon. Especially since a minivan or SUV roof can be too tall for a person to safely remove the tree at home.

Kinja’d... here is the pic.

No tips to add but an opportunity to share a picture of my family trip to the tree farm this past weekend. Rides a little low so the front bumper rubbed on every bump of the “parking lot” but made it back in one piece.

SUV rack is always a good choice. Though, I am more than happy to let the young man at the usual place we pick up the tree to heist it up and tie it down. I still check the knots, but I have not lost a tree yet.

“Drivers should never secure a Christmas tree to the top of a vehicle without a roof rack.”

Size does matter.

Having worked at a lumber yard and having worked Christmas tree sales before most lots have tie down rope and some even have protective tarps as well. Don’t assume everyone there knows how to do it properly so follow the tie down suggestions above. And if going to go down the interstate with one double up on securing…

In my ‘06 MDX, I put the rear seat down, lay down a plastic tarp, and am able to put my 7.5' bundled tree in the back and then close the tailgate.
There’s an incredible amount of usefulness in the 188.7" length of those 1st gen crossovers. Probably why there are still so many on the road.
(The last year for those 1st…