Hi, thinking of purchasing a caravan I  the next few weeks, rang my dealer today for a price and they said they do not fit tow bars, rang a few tow bar fitting centres and was quoted around £300 plus with vat for single electrics, or closer to £400 for removable,  is rhat about as good a price I will get, also they said I may need a removable tow bar depending on reverse senses. Does a fixed tow bar get picked up by the sensors?, also one quote was over £400 fixed saying the tow bar once fitted needs programing into car, is this correct?....

Hi Powys, the tow bar itself should not be a problem as it is fixed to and moves with the vehicle (hopefully) If you get the full electrical package, the reversing sensors should be overridden when you have a trailer attached - and the trailer stability system should also be enabled when a trailer connection is made. There is a tow bar preparation package so that the CanBus system works correctly, this may be what your fitter is referring to. I understand that there are two types of electrical packages for the trailer electrical connections - only the more expensive one (naturally) will work correctly, with all the available functions, with the vehicle CanBus. The removeable option sounds a lot neater if you aren't towing all the time, although the fixed bar might stop those damn Audi's tailgating you all the time.   

I opted for a fixed swan neck tow hitch this time as I found the removable one awkward to err remove. The reversing sensors work normally unless something is plugged into the socket when the system is disabled and the towing stability system is also energized.

I have removable towbar but tend to leave it in place these days as tow a trailer a lot. Sensors don't pick it up when not towing. The prices you have been quoted seem a very good price. I fitted my own and coded it in. Even so I paid trade about that for genuine parts.

4 hours ago, POWYSWALES said:

Hi, thinking of purchasing a caravan I  the next few weeks, rang my dealer today for a price and they said they do not fit tow bars, rang a few tow bar fitting centres and was quoted around £300 plus with vat for single electrics, or closer to £400 for removable,  is rhat about as good a price I will get, also they said I may need a removable tow bar depending on reverse senses. Does a fixed tow bar get picked up by the sensors?, also one quote was over £400 fixed saying the tow bar once fitted needs programing into car, is this correct?....

For those prices you need to confirm what electrics they are fitting, if they are vehicle specific and coded to match it is a good price, if they are bypass electrics they will only do the basics and will not integrate with the safety systems on the car.

15 hours ago, POWYSWALES said:

also one quote was over £400 fixed saying the tow bar once fitted needs programing into car, is this correct?....

Programing the car may cost a few more quid but, the stability systems are so good they can save lives as well as a bit of time when you're towing.

 

Not having the car programed for the towbar is a bit like harnessing an Ox to the front of the car to save on fuel, efficient yes effective ? Hell no

6 hours ago, themanwithnoaim said:

Programing the car may cost a few more quid but, the stability systems are so good they can save lives as well as a bit of time when you're towing.

 

Not having the car programed for the towbar is a bit like harnessing an Ox to the front of the car to save on fuel, efficient yes effective ? Hell no

 

I've towed quite a lot, never had dedicated electrics, I'm still alive.  If you need to rely on aids to stop you crashing you probably shouldn't be towing.  Having said that, I've seen the way you drive normally Tony!!

Probably not worth trying a non removable towbar. I have a removable one but recently left it on for a couple of days when not towing. One day reversing sensor was triggered, popped round the back and found the towball cover sitting at an angle, straightened and normal service was resumed. The margin between working and not working is very small!

 

Worth noting that unless you have vehicle specific wiring the reversing sensors will sound every time you reverse with the trailer and there are changes to stability settings which are invoked with dedicated wiring. I have generic wiring which is fine for me as I only tow 750kg trailer and don't do it that often.

Edited 15 June, 20178 yr by CCTaylor

Hi thank you for your help, getting my towbar fitted next week for £280 including vat. Said they are fitting a westfellia tow bar with Dedicated wiring which will disable reverse sensors when towing. They are also supplying me with an erde 143 trailer with cover, spare wheel and holder bracket plus number plate for £559 ready built, decided against caravan and sticking to camping, just got to find myself a good deal on a bell tent. https://belltentboutique.co.uk/collections/belltents/5m-tent?sort_by=price-ascending

Edited 20 June, 20178 yr by POWYSWALES
Edit

13 hours ago, POWYSWALES said:

Hi thank you for your help, getting my towbar fitted next week for £280 including vat. Said they are fitting a westfellia tow bar with Dedicated wiring which will disable reverse sensors when towing. They are also supplying me with an erde 143 trailer with cover, spare wheel and holder bracket plus number plate for £559 ready built, decided against caravan and sticking to camping, just got to find myself a good deal on a bell tent. https://belltentboutique.co.uk/collections/belltents/5m-tent?sort_by=price-ascending

 

£280!? Where's that at?

£280?  I need me some of that too!!

Non detachable Westfalia towbar is about £100 supplied, detachable one is about £190 supplied

 

Dedicated wiring kit is about £130 to £150

 

Assuming it's just a fixed one means they are fitting at a very low cost or are banking on it not taking very long! The fitting on my Superb took a good 3-4 hours (remove bumper, strip back end down, cut bumper, route cabling, wire up, reverse fit everything and then code to the car)

 

Are they including coding to the car in that price? There is more to it than just plug and play.

 

Does seem very very cheap to me.

 

Yup, I paid a lot more for a fixed Westfalia to be fitted, with the coded wiring kit which cost £100 by itself. Around £400 all in iirc.

Edited 24 June, 20178 yr by gregoir
Age

Trailer Stability Program. In case anyone is unsure of the system there is a good write up on the Towforce site.

http://www.towforceuk.com/esp-tsp-tipping-caravans/

 

 

Sorry for the late reply,  Tow bar was fitted at Salop towing shrewsbury, guessing it was all installed correctly as when selecting reverse for example an image of a trailer is displayed on screen and sensors are disabled. http://www.saloptowing.co.uk/

 

The original garage that gave me the quote of £280 was Direct towing in Wrexham,  but unsure now if that was going to be programmed in etc, I was just assuming they would be doing a good job as they were recommended by my dealer "skoda oswestury" who said they use them regularly. 

Edited 27 June, 20178 yr by POWYSWALES

i've been quoted £550 for non-removable - £850 for a removable one! That is from a main dealer mind. Great price you got there. 

Forgot to mention that it was a Brink towbar that got fitted on the day, I also got handed back a large piece of what looks like the rear chassis, which I'm told was replaced with a much stronger part that came with the towbar. Is Brink as good as westfellia and witter? 

Edited 29 June, 20178 yr by POWYSWALES
Edit

You will have been handed back the original crash bar.  Not heard of Brink.....

http://www.towbarsdirect.co.uk/towbarmakes.htm

Quote

Thule Towing Systems/Brink

Brink were until recently Europe's biggest towbar manufacturer with a wide range of flange, swanneck and detachable towbars including the Brinkmatic range.

Brink have now been purchased by Thule and the Brink name is being dropped, all new towbar designs will be branded just as Thule.