Dealer fit removable towbar?

[Sardom]

Hi all, I need some advice.

I know there are alot of posts on here about towbars but I can't find the answers I need.

We've ordered the dealer fit detachable towbar for our SM when it arrives and was told that we don't need the factory fit prep, so to save a bit of money we agreed, as we didn't really know what it was for.

Now 1 month on and after reading as much as I can on here I'm not sure if we should have had the prep or not.

I've read that with the prep you get a bigger fan, better relays and a nice little cutout with a cover where the hitch goes + all the proper fitted wires in the loom.

As we are only having it all dealer fit what do we actually get?

Obviously we get the bar but what about the bigger fan and the cutout on the bumper as I've read that someone else just had a massive hole cutout that looked crap.

Should there be a standard? Is there a standard?

Sorry to be a pain in the a** I'm just trying to make sure that we get the best options without to much hassle.

[rockhopper]

Hi all, I need some advice.

I know there are alot of posts on here about towbars but I can't find the answers I need.

We've ordered the dealer fit detachable towbar for our SM when it arrives and was told that we don't need the factory fit prep, so to save a bit of money we agreed, as we didn't really know what it was for.

Now 1 month on and after reading as much as I can on here I'm not sure if we should have had the prep or not.

I've read that with the prep you get a bigger fan, better relays and a nice little cutout with a cover where the hitch goes + all the proper fitted wires in the loom.

As we are only having it all dealer fit what do we actually get?

Obviously we get the bar but what about the bigger fan and the cutout on the bumper as I've read that someone else just had a massive hole cutout that looked crap.

Should there be a standard? Is there a standard?

Sorry to be a pain in the a** I'm just trying to make sure that we get the best options without to much hassle.

Without the factory prep you won't get the bigger fan and the factory installed wiring.

The dealer can have all the other bits added, but costs more as I understand it.

I changed my order several times in the 4 months prior to the car being built, including the colour inside and out and many extras were added, including towbar preparation.

The dealers can fit the 'hatch' but some people have had problems with it as it is supposed to be glued in place and takes a good 24 hours or more to cure, so it is an overnight stay at the dealer.

The problem with the dealers is they don't know what comes with towbar prep. One I spoke to told me it was a waste of money, James at Allams, who I bought from, said different and that was backed up by The Plumber who found out what was included in the factory prep. which is in another thread on here somewhere.

[Sardom]

Without the factory prep you won't get the bigger fan and the factory installed wiring.

The dealer can have all the other bits added, but costs more as I understand it.

I changed my order several times in the 4 months prior to the car being built, including the colour inside and out and many extras were added, including towbar preparation.

The dealers can fit the 'hatch' but some people have had problems with it as it is supposed to be glued in place and takes a good 24 hours or more to cure, so it is an overnight stay at the dealer.

The problem with the dealers is they don't know what comes with towbar prep. One I spoke to told me it was a waste of money, James at Allams, who I bought from, said different and that was backed up by The Plumber who found out what was included in the factory prep. which is in another thread on here somewhere.

Cheers rockhopper, i think were gonna go and have a little chat with with our dealer (Carrs Skoda at Indian Queens, Mark Forrest) and see what he has to say about it all.

Think we will go the route of having the prep any way as it just looks the best option all round. esp as I now know what you get with it.

It will be a couple of weeks before I can get down to see him but I will post the results of his and our views when all is done.

Cheers Dom.

[Llanigraham]

Dom,

it does partly depend on what you are going to pull. If it is just a box/luggage type trailer than you could easily get away withouit the factory fit electrics, but if towing a caravan then go for the top spec. This will give you the bigger fans and the wiring to charge the battery and run the fridge.

I've got it on mine and am very happy with it.

[Sardom]

Dom,

it does partly depend on what you are going to pull. If it is just a box/luggage type trailer than you could easily get away withouit the factory fit electrics, but if towing a caravan then go for the top spec. This will give you the bigger fans and the wiring to charge the battery and run the fridge.

I've got it on mine and am very happy with it.

Thanks. We haven't got a caravan yet but it's something that we've spoke about so I think it's good to be prepared so will prob go for the factory prep. Cheers. Dom.

[geordiebroon]

The small extra cost of factory prep saves much labour and part dismantling of your car when dealer fits towbar - if you need electrics to tow caravan properly.

Don't watch the work being done if you have a nervous disposition particularly if you do not have factory prep.!!

It seems that many dealers contract towbar fitting work out. Yours may however do it in-house. Warranty is same for each as long as it is done through dealer.

[jlwah]

The small extra cost of factory prep saves much labour and part dismantling of your car when dealer fits towbar - if you need electrics to tow caravan properly.

Don't watch the work being done if you have a nervous disposition particularly if you do not have factory prep.!!

It seems that many dealers contract towbar fitting work out. Yours may however do it in-house. Warranty is same for each as long as it is done through dealer.

From previous threads it seems that there's considerable confussion amongst the dealer network as to what's required when fitting a tow bar. We didn't have tow bar prep and paid roughly the same for fitment as a number of people of have had the factory prep option, so how much labour it saves is unclear.

It's a shame that Skoda couldn't provide better details of what it includes as I wasn't aware that it included a larger fan. As we'll be towing a horse trailer and therefore at the higher end of the cars towing capability, additional cooling could be useful. I'm guessing a larger fan could be retro fitted - anyone know what's involved?

[chriskelland]

I think most of the confusion in the dealerships is caused by the fact that they need to be well up in electronics to understand modern cars. Because they and Yeti use the can-bus system which in itself is complicated. This means that the electrical system is data controlled rather than analogue. No separate wires to tap into for a towbar. Towbar prep involves (as far as I have been able to find out), apart from body parts is to replace the rear light control box with one for a towbar. The box not only senses when a trailer is attached to the car but sends signals back to the main controller. For example with parking sensors, if you have a trailer attached and you reverse the system remind you that you have a trailer and shows it on the dash screen.

If you Google towbar can-bus there is a lot of information on the Witter site. I note also, Witter say that the can-bus can also make changes to the safety systems, I wonder if this makes towing heavy trailers safer?

http://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/towbars/faq5.php

Also Google Skoda can-bus gives a lot of information, none from Skoda though.

Chris.

[Sara. S]

I have just called 3 separate Skoda dealerships to ask how much it would be to have a non-detachable towbar fitted to our Yeti (when it arrives ). The first dealer said it would be £750, I asked if that included the software upgrade and the chap said "I think so". I asked how much it would be if our Yeti had the factory fit towbar prep option and he said "I'm not sure, I would have to have a look at the car to say whether it would be any cheaper. We don't just Scotch-lock the wiring, we have to run it right through". :S The second dealership couldn't find anyone available to give me a price. The third quoted £749.95. I asked what the price would be if the factory fit towbar prep had already been fitted and the young lady said "It would be the same price, it's a big job you know. They have to take the bumper off, cut a hole in it and run the wiring right through, it takes a long time".

So basically I'm none the wiser and to be honest I don't think the dealers are either.

Sara. :(

[900000]

I've once seen a thread on this forum that the price difference from a dealer for fitting the towbar was £50 whether you had the factory prep or not... Hence I decided it is not worth it.

But then I will only rent utility trailers or attach a bicycle rack to my towbar for which I do not need an upgraded cooling fan. If you were to tow a caravan regularly and far I'd definitely go for the Factory towbar prep.

[geordiebroon]

With factory tow bar prep the fitting of the "electrics" to enable fully functional caravan towing is much simpler and takes MUCH less time.Dealers should reflect this time reduction in their price :0)

So if there is a small chance that you might tow a caravan or intend to sell within a couple of years I would go for factory prep. I didn't and although everything sorted out fairly speedily it was not without it's difficulties knowing what I know now the answer is factory tow bar prep.

[countryboy]

I have just had a swan neck towbar and vehicle specific electrics with coding fitted to my Octavia by a company in Hampshire called Phil Taylor towbars. Cost £390 all in, good value and good service.Hit the car mob handed and got the job done in about 1 1/2 hours, so not that big a job. I believe when you have factory fit towbar prep, not only is the bumper cutout already done but the wiring from the front of the car to the rear is installed on the line, saves having to dismantle the interior trim so that when the towbar is installed all the fitter has to do is plug the trailer sockets into the plug behind the trim in the boot. If not the trim down one side has to be removed to enable the wiring to be taken to the front of the car where it plugs into the central convenience unit I believe. The car is also already coded to accept the towbar electrics I think.

Even with canbus equipped cars, you can use bypass relay wiring, scotchlocking into wiring by another term, but you don't get the potential benefits. I had that option but decided to go for the vehicle specific wiring with coding, quite a bit more money but worth it in my opinion. Without it, whenever you engage reverse with a trailer/caravan attached, the reversing sensors would blare out continuously, would drive me up the wall. Other benefits include the fog light on the car is disabled when a trailer attached, you have the bulb failure warning checking the trailer as well and yes chriskelland, there is a program in the cars systems if you have ESP called T-ESP. If you get a snake effect build up in the trailer, the car will detect this through the sensors on the car and knowing there is a trailer attached, will make adjustments to the car to bring things under control again.

So Sara.S, if I were you, I'd be looking outside of the dealer network to have your towbar fitted, providing they use the proper kit then the warranty shouldn't be affected.

Ian

[Sanqhar]

My understanding is that with the factory preparation the electrics are already installed to Skoda specs. This means that you don't have to pay for the dealer time to remove one side of the inside of the car to feed the electrics through and for the dealer to make the cut out and fit the removable panel (and wait 24hrs for the glue to set!). I think it is at least 2hrs labour extra if you don't have the factory prep. You dealer will have all this information. Salesmen just sell cars and collect their commission, the parts/servicing people deal with this sort of thing, talk to them.

tom

[redocty]

Do they not do a factory fit tow bar? No just prep. All sounds a bit pricey. Dealer charged me 350 for detachable witter bar. Contracted it out though. Find out how much the updated fan is. Would it be possible to get the fan fitted from a dealer, and get a good local tow bar co. To do the bar.

As long as the bar is type approved it shouldn't affect the warranty, at least that is what BMW told me for my 5 series.

[rockhopper]

Do they not do a factory fit tow bar? No just prep. All sounds a bit pricey. Dealer charged me 350 for detachable witter bar. Contracted it out though. Find out how much the updated fan is. Would it be possible to get the fan fitted from a dealer, and get a good local tow bar co. To do the bar.

No Skoda UK don't give us the option in the UK. Now if we were across the channel.........

I suspect that the fan would cost far more than the towbar prep.

[Sara. S]

My understanding is that with the factory preparation the electrics are already installed to Skoda specs. This means that you don't have to pay for the dealer time to remove one side of the inside of the car to feed the electrics through and for the dealer to make the cut out and fit the removable panel (and wait 24hrs for the glue to set!). I think it is at least 2hrs labour extra if you don't have the factory prep. You dealer will have all this information. Salesmen just sell cars and collect their commission, the parts/servicing people deal with this sort of thing, talk to them.

tom

Unfortunately it was the service departments I was talking to, not the salesman. :(

We will be towing a caravan on a regular basis so thanks for all the advice about the larger fan. One of the dealers called me back and gave me the number of the towbar specialists they contract their work out to. I called them but they said they needed a chassis number to give me a quote but I haven't got a chassis number yet. They did say that they would work out a price and get back to me though.

We still have a long wait for our Yeti, we've only been waiting 2 months so far, so I am going to call our dealer in the morning and ask them to add the towbar prep to our order.

Sara.

[Llanigraham]

Sara,

personally I would go for the whole towing bit, that will give you:

the bigger fans

the factory cutout bumper

the battery and fridge wiring

the stability programme

It is what I have and it saves all the problems.

And if you think Skoda is expensive, which I don't think they actually are, be grateful you don't have a BMW. Someone was on the UKCampSites forum today who has been quoted over £1000 to have all the bits fitted to a new 6 series! Even Ford are now charging over £300.

Edited 11 April, 2011 by Llanigraham

[redocty]

BMW are pricey, but if you order a tow bar as a factory fit it comes with all the bits and is normally 600 across the board. Not too bad, and they are grnerally fancy self retracting jobs.

However to retrofit one is a minefield. Extra cooling required etc and the cooling fan alone is over 400 plus bar and labour.

[chriskelland]

I think Skoda towbar prices are quite fair. I have just look at my invoice and towbar prep is costed at £131.90 plus the cost of the Skoda towbar.

Many years ago I had a Peugeot 306 estate that I ordered with a full towbar and twin sockets from the dealer in Oxford. I had servicing done at a Peugeot garage near home. All was fine until a problem arose with the caravan electrics and the servicing garage refused to even look at it.

These days I always use the manufacturer option especially as the towbar electrics form part of the car electronic system and can be interrogated by the diagnostic system.

[marcusthehat]

However per a comment I saw in a recent Superb brochure the factory electrics option @ £125.00? does not include for a split charge facility, scratches head.

OK I presume one gets

(i) the extra or electronically tweeked cooling fan/fans (what is the difference btw?)

(ii) bumper cut out

(iii) I would think the stability programme is a dealer "tweek" on der computer, so no odds there.

So all one really gets is the extra cooling facility.

Which for the £125.00 seems about right

Edited 13 April, 2011 by dieseldogg

[Sardom]

Well we spoke to our dealer yesterday and he said that they don't drop the price of the dealer fit removable towbar even if you have the factory prep. We then asked about the neat little hatch that you get and was told that they can do that. I'm not fussed that it takes 24hrs to dry the glue as some people have mentioned because it will still be at the dealers as we will have not picked it up yet.

[rockhopper]

I feel that the main point of the towbar prep is the bigger fans for towing. seeing as there is more work involved in a non towbar prep vehicle, there ought to be a price difference. Just for your piece of mind, ring a few other Skoda dealers and ask them for the price for either....

[Sanqhar]

Well we spoke to our dealer yesterday and he said that they don't drop the price of the dealer fit removable towbar even if you have the factory prep. We then asked about the neat little hatch that you get and was told that they can do that. I'm not fussed that it takes 24hrs to dry the glue as some people have mentioned because it will still be at the dealers as we will have not picked it up yet.

Is he saying that the towbar itself costs the same? Which it would.

However the fitting costs should be somewhat different.

tom

[Sardom]

Is he saying that the towbar itself costs the same? Which it would.

However the fitting costs should be somewhat different.

tom

When we ordered the SM there was only one price for the dealer fit removable towbar.

We haven't got the car yet so I'm assuming there is a different price for it if we'd taken it off the forecourt and took it back some weeks later to be done.

He said the price would still be the same (around £680 (forgive me but the paperwork is not infront of me)) whether we have the prep or not, although we would have to pay for the factory prep on top, another £170.

[jlwah]

And if you think Skoda is expensive, which I don't think they actually are, be grateful you don't have a BMW. Someone was on the UKCampSites forum today who has been quoted over £1000 to have all the bits fitted to a new 6 series! Even Ford are now charging over £300.

A friend was quoted £2,000 for a detachable tow bar on an X5 from a BMW stealer!

With the Yeti I don't think it's the price that irritates people the most, it's the complete lack of definitive information from Skoda UK and their dealers. It really is very poor.