Kuat will certainly mar your wallet! With care, few racks will mar your finish. Problem is, some racks require more care than others. Thule, Yakima, Kuat have some nice products but after using them and many other brands over the years, my experience is that attention to detail in employing makes the difference in how each brand and model of rack treats your bike. Actually, it's not how the rack treats your bike, it's how you treat your bike.

These days, due to the type of bikes I transport most often (recumbents and tandems) I prefer Saris and Draftmaster racks. For bikes on a trunk / hatch, I believe the Saris Bones to be one of the best and most versatile. For hitch mount, we use the Saris Freedom with the longer tandem / recumbent bar. We also use the Draftmaster 3 bike rack. Hollywood makes some decent functional racks at reasonable prices but since the early 2000s, they moved production from USA to Taiwan (ok) and China (not so ok). While others may not care and, given how our economy acts, most do not care where their purchases are manufactured, I do believe it makes a difference to buy products made in USA or from countries that treat their workers somewhat fairly.