Folks,

I've just had DM Keith call me back with a quote to have a towbar fitted with single electrics on my 64 plate superb estate - which has Towbar prep from factory.

The quote was an amazing £580!!

Can anyone guide me one price please - as that's crazy money!

If this includes correct coding for the electronic stability control and parking sensors it mightn't be too far off. Towbar prep just means there's a 12V line from the fuse box to the back of the car for running trailer lights (Not caravan charging), so it doesn't reduce the labour that needed all that much, the whole back of the car still needs to be dismantled.

 

My car initially didn't turn off the rear parking sensors when a trailer was connected, indicating that the car and most likely the ESP was not behaving differently when a trailer was connected, so it was upgraded (Under warranty) to a 13 pin setup with a new control module (costing in the region of €300). If you're getting quotes make sure that you specify that the parking sensors and ESP should be coded for a trailer in case they try to fob yoy off saying that the installation is correct with parking sensors beeping at you every time you select reverse.

 

One interesting aside is that if the ESP is significantly changing its behaviour on plugging in a trailer, using a bike rack with a light board will also cause this change, which may not be desirable...

One interesting aside is that if the ESP is significantly changing its behaviour on plugging in a trailer, using a bike rack with a light board will also cause this change, which may not be desirable...

 

This is one thing I have wondered about as I only use my towbar for cycle racks (for now). Especially as my car doesn't show any signs that you've plugged a trailer in (reversing camera rather than sensors), though it does have trailer stability control and I got the full wiring jobby, so I expect its active.

You can easily check if you have TSC: Plug a trailer in (or a bike rack) and switch the ignition on. If your ESP light switches off about 1 or 2 seconds after the ABS light, than TSC is active (without TSC or when nothing is connected, they switch off simultaneously).

I have a Subaru so not sure that applies. The only way I think I can find out is by doing a moose test with a caravan behind me

That price sounds about right.  I've had 3 quotes in the last few weeks, for Detachable towbar, with single electrics, and vehicle specific electrics on my 12 plate Superb Estate.  Cheapest price was £500, and the most expensive was £650 (and that one didn't include programming!)

£599 when I had my Witter fitted about 3 years ago by an independent local company.  I didn't have towbar prep and I have a 13 pin detachable flange (not a swan-neck) fitted including reprogramming.

 

They didn't quite fit the bumper back correctly though it wasn't obvious for a couple of years until a paint chip popped off from the bottom-left of the tailgate where it had been scraping the bumper all that time 

We had our Superb done last week with Trailer Trek and it was £533 including 2.7% CC charge.  Think it was £519 without that. This was for a detachable and included coding as well.

 

I should also say that Skoda wanted £750 to do the same.

Hi

I've just paid £565 last week at North west Towbar centre for a Westfalia with 13 pin socket and recoding

As said when I've tried a light board and put in reverse a picture of car and trailor come up on screen

I paid £485 for a removable swan neck on my Superb without coding. Didn't see much point as on my previous car which had Stability control etc didn't recode there either and had no problem. Most places charge an arm and a leg for recoding. Cheapest all in price was well north of £600!

That sounds way to expensive, if you have towbar-prep from the factory. That means, all the hard work has been done, and the interior does not have to come apart. You could buy an original kit from skodateile.cz (£250-ish). The fitting takes around 3 hours, now the electrics has been done from the factory.

 

I would strongly recommend NOT to use non-OEM solutions, specially for the electrics.

I've been trying to buy a towbar from skodateile since May, however apart from an initial email from them acknowledging the request I've had no responses to my (very polite) attempts to place an order. Time has run out now and I've had to look elsewhere; it's a shame as it would have saved me a considerable amount and I'd have been likely to order other stuff from them.