BMW hitch or not - bike/ski rack advice?!

[alistair]

Hi

There seems to have been lots of conflicting discussion on this...

I want to add a hitch mounted rack that I can carry 1/2 mountain bike(s) on, and skis during winter. The Thule 998XT seems ideal.

My X5 doesn't have a tow hitch though. I'm never going to actually tow with this car, but there are a fair amount of horror stories with non-OEM tow hitches.

However, the BMW hitch is going to cost me $995 (incl fitting) whereas a Da'Lan or similar will cost me $330. Do I really need to spend the extra $600?

I don't want to damage my car (stories of bent bumpers etc) but that's a lot of money to spend if I don't need to....

Any advice *much* appreciated,
Alistair