Welcome to Car Rack Reources, jas0nwf, and thanks for your posting. If you visit
Yakima you'll see they have recently launched a series of luggage bags that do connect directly to car racks. None of them require that the car rack has cross bars either (many newer model vehicles simply have rooftop side rails only - the bars that run lengthwise from the front of the roof to the back on each side of the roof). These bags will strap right to the side rails or the crossbars depending on how your car roof is set up. Probably the most practical of the models is the GetOut Pro luggage bag (the other models are the FarOut & regular GetOut bags). The Get Out Pro is all-weather resistant and has enough room for a family going on vacation, lots of camping gear, beach gear or anyone moving and needing a lot of extra room on the car rooftop for belongings. By the way if you do decide to get a basket rack, these roof bags will attach and work very well with the baskets for stowing all your gear in bad weather or just organizing everything.