Hello all

I fitted a towbar to my Vectra Estate a few years ago. It cost me £90 for the kit and after a bit of muscle and some head scratching I managed to do the job and get the electrics working with a bypass relay.

The Octavia we've just bought has parking sensors so I should use a detachable towbar kit - £190.

Then there's the dedicated electrics - £130.

Then there's fitting - £150

Then there's the re-coding of the car.......£??

I wondered if all that's required is to use the VAG-COM plug/software. In which case, are there any local forum users who can do this?

Thanks

Rich

I want detachable one for my VRS to tow a lil bike trailer but its scary the money it will cost inc trailer so I have decided to just ride bike long distances :( If you get a good price all in off anywhere id travel to just about anywhere in the UK to have it done!

You could always fit it yourself?! Check out this comprehensive guide.

Here is the towbar I was looking at which comes with single electrics, they also do double electrics and bypass relays in their eBay shop for reasonable prices.

just had a fixed towbar and single electrics fitted(including bumper protector) for £201,i do lots of towing and havent got parking sensors on my octy 4x4, a mate of mine had a octy elegance 06 reg and had a fixed one on that (no bumper protector, had no issues with parking sensors.

It was either a Witter or Westfalia detachable bar that I was going to buy, and probably from PF Jones too.

The bypass kit is OK but not as easy to fit as you might think. They come with Scotch Lok connectors which I found to be unreliable so ended up soldering everything in my previous car. However, the dedicated kit is £130 and still requires dismantling of the interior trim to run a cable. I might opt for the bypass to start with and in time for our holiday in August when we need the trailer. I can always to the dedicated electrics at a later date.

Fitting the towbar isn't a massive concern to me. It looks quite involved but the instructions available seem clear enough and PF Jones have a free helpline. The only reason for considering a professional fitter was because £150 didn't seem like a big cost for the peace of mind. However, that turns out be £220 once I've paid Skoda £70 to do the electric recoding!

Hi there,

I recently purchased a witter fixed towbar on ebay for £60.00 used. It came off of an Audi but hey-ho...I fitted it myself in about 4 hours. The holes in the chasis are all there and the hardest bit is a small cut in the bumper. The reversing sensors did pick up originally but found that if you remove the plastic cap from the tow-ball the sensors clear and work fine. Now the electrics.... took advice from many, and found conflicts with all. A local towbar company took the job on for me, had it done in 40 mins with dual electrics, no remapping and drove away for 40 quid. There are a lot of people who try to make this job more complicated than it is by quoting fixed wiring looms etc but it can be done from the rear light cluster and a permanent fused supply from the fusebox. Any half tidy fitter will know how to do it....

That sounds like a good result brummie.

So, with the bypass relay you have a fully functioning set of lights on the trailer and the required signal (beeper I guess) to let you know when the indicators are operating?

But you won't get the trailer recognition for stability, braking and parking sensors......which isn't necessarily a big issue if it's just a small trailer I guess.

If I could just find someone with VCDS who was willing and able to recode the car once I've done the dedicated wiring install then I'd be really chuffed.