There's a conversation I've had more times than I can count, and it always starts the same way. Somebody's bought a motorhome, they've bought a tow bar, and they've worked out that they want to flat tow the car that's already sitting on their driveway. Then they discover the base plate, and the price of it, and the fact that it's specific to their exact vehicle down to the trim level and the model year, and the whole thing suddenly feels a lot more complicated than it did an hour ago.
So let me take the mystery out of it.
The base plate is the part that bolts to the frame of the towed vehicle and gives the tow bar something to attach to. It's not an accessory. It's structural. It is the thing standing between your car and the road when you're doing seventy on an interstate with four thousand pounds trailing behind you, and it is the last component on your rig I'd ever suggest economising on.
It's also the one people understand least, because unlike a tow bar — which is a tow bar, and works on anything — a base plate is made for one vehicle. Not one make. Not one model. One specific model, in a specific year range, sometimes in a specific trim.
That's why this guide is organised the way it is. Not as a list of best products, because there isn't a best base plate — there's the one that fits your car and there are a hundred and twenty-six that don't. This is a guide to finding yours.
People spend weeks agonising over which tow bar to buy and about ten minutes on the base plate. That's backwards.
The tow bar is a load-rated component with a big margin built in, and it's designed to be seen and inspected. It's out in the open. If something's wrong with it, you'll notice.
The base plate is bolted to the frame of your car behind the bumper fascia, where nobody looks. It takes the same loads the tow bar takes, and it transfers them into a vehicle structure that was never designed with towing in mind. Blue Ox engineer these things around the specific crash structure and frame rails of each vehicle, which is precisely why they can't be universal.
When people ask me why a base plate costs what it does, that is the answer. You're not buying a bracket. You're buying the engineering that worked out where the loads can safely go on your particular car.
Best for: F-250 and F-350 owners, Edge ST, Flex, and the Lincoln crossovers
Ford has some of the most in-demand applications in the range, and some of the most expensive. The BX2675 for the 2017-2019 Ford F-250 and F-350 sits at the top end of the range, which reflects the heavier frame work involved.
The BX2677 for the 2019-2022 Ford Edge carries an important qualifier that catches people out: it fits the ST trim only. If you have an Edge and it isn't an ST, this is not your plate. That's exactly the kind of detail that turns a straightforward order into a return.
The BX2645 for the 2013-2019 Ford Flex includes provision for adaptive cruise control, which is worth understanding. Modern vehicles have radar sensors behind the front fascia, and a base plate that doesn't account for them either won't fit or will block the sensor. If your car has adaptive cruise, you need a plate that knows about it.
Ford is one of the deeper sections of the catalogue, and one of the priciest.
Buy Blue Ox Base Plates
Best for: The widest choice in the whole Blue Ox range
Chevy has the deepest coverage of any manufacturer here, with twenty-four plates in stock. The BX1758 for the 2023-2026 Chevy Colorado is one of the newest, and the BX1754 for the 2022-2025 Silverado 1500 covers the truck most people are actually towing.
That depth is a reflection of how popular Chevys are as toads, and it's good news if you're buying — you're more likely to find your exact application without compromise.
The classic flat-tow Chevys are well served. But depth of range cuts both ways: with that many plates in one make, the risk of ordering the neighbouring year range goes up, not down. Check your model year against the listing, and check it twice.
Best for: The most flat-towed vehicles in America
Twenty plates in stock, and the Wrangler alone accounts for most of them. The BX1139 for the 2018-2024 Jeep Wrangler covers the current JL generation, while the BX1126 for the 2007-2018 Wrangler covers the JK before it.
Jeeps are the default toad for a reason — most of them can be flat towed straight off the showroom floor with no drivetrain modification, which is a rarer quality than people realise. The Wrangler in particular has been the standard answer to the question of what to tow behind a motorhome for about thirty years.
Because Wranglers change less than most vehicles, people assume a plate from one generation will fit the next. It won't. The JK and the JL are different vehicles under the skin, and the plates are different accordingly.
Best for: Yukon, Sierra and the GMC truck range
Nine plates in stock, including the BX1761 for the 2024-2026 GMC Sierra 2500 and 3500.
GMC shares a lot of engineering with Chevy, and you'll notice some part numbers overlap — a plate listed for a GMC Yukon may be the same plate that fits the equivalent Chevy Tahoe.
That doesn't mean you should assume it. It means you should check the listing, which will tell you both applications explicitly where they exist.
Best for: Ram trucks and the Dodge range
Seven plates in stock, including the BX2417 for the 2020-2024 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel. A smaller section, but the applications that are there are the ones people actually tow.
Ram in particular has been a popular choice among people who want a toad that earns its keep at home as well as behind the coach. Check the transmission and the transfer case requirements carefully — the flat-tow procedure on a modern truck is not the same as it was on a twenty year old one, and getting it wrong is expensive in a way a base plate never is.
Best for: Luxury crossovers, where sensor provision is the deciding factor
Five Cadillac plates and one Lincoln, and the Lincoln — the BX2645 for the 2013-19 Lincoln MKT and 2013-15 MKS — sits at the top of the range.
Luxury vehicles are where adaptive cruise control, parking sensors and radar packages became standard earliest, and that's exactly what drives the cost and the specificity here. The plate has to route around hardware that a base model doesn't have.
The BX2673 for the 2016-2018 Lincoln MKX and 2015-2018 Ford Edge is another top-of-range application, and again, read the trim and year detail carefully.
Best for: Smaller applications, and the cars people don't expect to be able to tow
Honda has five plates — the BX2253 for the 2009-2014 Honda Fit among them.
Kia, BMW, Fiat and Buick each have one or two applications, and there is even a BX1987 plate for the 2008-2015 Smart Car.
Subaru deserves a specific mention. Certain Subarus with manual transmissions flat tow beautifully and have a devoted following among people who want something more civilised than a Wrangler to drive when they get where they're going. If you're in that camp, the plates exist.
The Smart Car application makes people smile, but it's a serious choice — it's light, it's short, and it barely registers behind a big coach.
Best for: Recent models, and vehicles you might not have realised you could tow
Blue Ox keep adding applications, and some of the newest are worth knowing about. The BX2917 for the 2025-2026 Ford Maverick is about as current as it gets, and it includes adaptive cruise control provision.
The BX2419 for the 2021-2022 RAM 1500 TRX covers a truck most people wouldn't think of as a toad at all.
At the other end of the scale, the BX1856 for the 2020-2022 Nissan Versa Sedan carries an important qualifier — manual transmission only. That restriction runs through a lot of flat-tow applications and it's the first thing to check on any car you're considering. An automatic that can't be flat towed is not a candidate, whatever plate exists for it.
The BX1312 for the 2015-2021 Mini Cooper Hardtop is another one that surprises people, and it's a genuinely pleasant car to have waiting when you park the coach.
Best for: Understanding why the same part number appears more than once
Look at the BX1718 for the 2015-2020 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL.
Now look at the same plate listed for the 2015-2020 Chevy Tahoe.
And again for the 2015-2020 Chevy Suburban. Same plate, three vehicles, because underneath they share a structure.
This is why the suffix letters exist on the part numbers. The plate is the same; the listing is separated so you can find it by searching for your own vehicle rather than having to know that your Tahoe is engineered like a Yukon.
It also means that if you're cross-shopping and you find your vehicle listed under a make you weren't expecting, that isn't an error. It's the catalogue being helpful.
If you're reading this before you've bought the toad rather than after, you're in a much better position than most people, so let me tell you what I'd be thinking about.
First, can the car be flat towed at all? This is a drivetrain question, not a towing-equipment question, and no base plate in the world changes the answer. The owner's manual will tell you, usually in a section called recreational towing, and it will either give you a procedure or it will tell you not to do it. Manual transmissions are frequently fine. Automatics are frequently not. All-wheel drive systems vary enormously and some of them will destroy a transfer case in fifty miles.
Second, does a plate exist? Look at the coverage. Chevy, Jeep and Ford dominate for a reason — they're the vehicles that tow well and the aftermarket has followed the demand. If you have your heart set on something unusual and no plate exists, that's your answer. Don't try to adapt one.
Third, what does the car weigh, and what can your coach handle? A base plate rated for the vehicle is only half the equation. The tow bar has a rating, the hitch has a rating, and your motorhome has a rating. The lowest number in that chain is the number that matters.
Fourth, what will you actually do with it once you get there? People buy a toad on towing criteria alone and then spend a fortnight driving a vehicle they don't enjoy. A Wrangler tows beautifully and it is not everybody's idea of a comfortable car for a day trip. That's why the Subaru and Mini applications exist and why people seek them out.
The base plate is one component in a chain, and it's worth understanding what sits either side of it.
In front of it is the tow bar, which mounts to the coach and reaches back to the plate. Blue Ox plates are designed around Blue Ox tow bars, and while cross-brand adapters exist, every adapter is another connection and another thing to inspect.
Behind it, or rather inside the towed car, is the supplemental braking system. In most jurisdictions this isn't optional above a certain towed weight, and regardless of the law it's the difference between stopping and hoping. A four thousand pound car pushing a motorhome is not a theoretical problem.
And around all of it are the safety cables and the wiring that makes the toad's lights follow the coach's. None of that is glamorous and all of it is checked at the roadside.
The reason I mention it here is that people budget for the tow bar, get a shock at the base plate, and then discover the braking system afterwards. Budget for the whole chain up front and the base plate stops looking like the expensive part and starts looking like what it is — the structural foundation everything else depends on.
This is the section that saves you a return, so I'd read it before clicking anything.
Start with your exact model year. Not roughly. The year of manufacture, which is not always the same as the model year on the paperwork. Base plate applications are defined by year ranges because manufacturers change the front structure of vehicles mid-generation, and a plate for a 2018 will not necessarily fit a 2019 even when the car looks identical.
Then check your trim level. The Ford Edge example above is the clearest illustration — the ST trim gets a different plate to every other Edge. Trim-specific applications exist because the trim changed something structural behind the bumper.
Then check what's behind your front bumper. Adaptive cruise control, radar, parking sensors, active grille shutters. If your car has any of these, you need a plate that accounts for them, and the listing will say so. Fitting a plate that fouls a radar sensor doesn't just cause a warning light — it disables a safety system.
Finally, check the tow bar you're pairing it with. Blue Ox plates are designed to work with Blue Ox tow bars, and while adapters exist for crossing brands, they are an extra part and an extra failure point.
Base plate installation is more involved than most RV jobs, and I'd rather tell you that honestly than have you find out with the front of your car in pieces.
On most vehicles the front fascia has to come off. On some, the bumper reinforcement bar has to come out, get modified or get replaced. There is frequently drilling into structural members, and there is always torque specification that matters — these are load-bearing fasteners, and finger-tight is not a specification.
Every plate ships with the necessary hardware and instructions, and Blue Ox's instructions are genuinely good. If you're comfortable removing a bumper cover and working to a torque spec, this is within reach.
If you're not, there is no shame at all in having it fitted. It is the single component in the whole flat-tow chain where I'd tell you to spend money on getting it right rather than on getting it done yourself.
Here's the mistake I see more than any other. Somebody buys a used motorhome that came with a tow bar. They buy a car. They assume the tow bar and the car will meet in the middle somehow.
They won't. The base plate is car-specific, and it's the expensive half of the equation. If you're choosing which car to tow, choose it partly on whether a plate exists for it — because if one doesn't, no amount of ingenuity will safely create one.
Look at the coverage above. Chevy, Jeep and Ford are deep. That's not an accident, and it's not just popularity. Those are the vehicles that flat tow well, and the aftermarket has followed.
A base plate is the least glamorous money you will ever spend on your rig, and it is the one I'd argue hardest for.
It's not a bracket. It's the engineered connection between a four thousand pound vehicle and the coach in front of it, designed around the specific structure of your specific car, and it's the reason a properly set up flat tow is one of the safest things you can do behind a motorhome.
Get the year right. Get the trim right. Account for the sensors. Torque the fasteners to spec, or pay somebody who will.
Do that, and you'll never think about it again — which is exactly what a good base plate is supposed to let you do.
I’m Bill Rowell, the founder of RVupgrades.com. In 2002, I launched the business to help fellow RV enthusiasts find unique and hard-to-find products. Over the years, it’s grown to offer more than 15,000 items, with a warehouse in Eastlake, Ohio. Having owned and repaired nearly every type of RV, I bring over two decades of hands-on experience to the table. For me, this isn’t just a business – it’s a passion and a way of life that I love sharing with the RV community.
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