Dear all, further to an earlier post, I have decided to have the complete towbar installation, including wiring loom, removable tow ball and coding.  However, neither of my nearby Skoda main dealers (Mitchells or Furrows) undertake this work but both have recommended Direct Towing of Wrexham.  has anyone any experience of these guys please?  I am conscious of the fairly significant 'Gutting' of the car's interior - Can this lead to unwanted side-effects such as creaks, squeaks etc?

Apparently it will cost me £696 including VAT.

Thanks, Alan

Most dealerships will push you to an independent. £696 seems on the high side.

Hi I thought so too!   The price started at £375 for a fixed towbar with minimal integration with the vehicle electronics.  This rose to £560 for a removable tow-ball and then the £696 for the fully integrated system, including a replacement loom and VCDS Coding. (My car was not fitted with the optional 'Tow Hitch wiring).

I guess if I want the integration I have to expect to pay for it.  I paid £800 in 2009 for Underwoods Skoda in Essex to fit a similar system to my month old MkII Octy Estate.  It also took them almost a week to complete the work and involved stripping out most of the car's interior!. 

I had BRINK towbar installed with dedicated electrics. I got it in writing, that it should work exactly as OEM part. Well, it did not. Had error codes popping up (engine, central electrics and park/steer assist). Got my own VCDS cable and was able to check this myself no error lights on dashboard. Went to dealers and changed electrics to OEM. Towbar itself is excellent. Because I got functionality promise in writing, they will now give me hefty discount when I will go to change my cambelt to them.

Just to clarify - garage has been nothing but honest and they have been helpful and have not been denying or running away from responsibility. Brink promised to them, that electrics will work as OEM and they had no reason not to believe them. So they are just stuck between me and promises that brink is unable to deliver.

Just be careful and make sure that you know what you buy, and get every promise of functionality in writing before you let them touch your car.

Edited 5 March, 20197 yr by TonisT

@AlanOsborne the price is a little high but, ensure you get complete software integration, it really is a matter of life & death

Hi, thanks for the information.  Do I need to specify that the oem tow  hitch wiring is installed, not a third party one?  I must admit to feeling nervous about this! Cheers Alan 

From previous posts my understanding is that the dedicated loom integrated with the vehicles system ensures that the parking sensors are muted/disconnected when in reverse. It does not allow stability control to be switched off, won't allow the DSG box (if you have DSG) to coast as per eco mode and I'm sure there's a couple of other things too.

 

Price wise a quick look at phones website would suggest a detachable tow bar with dedicated electrics would be around the £3-400 Mark depending type of electrics and tow bar. Possible fitting to add on top.

According to my research (in this forum and ross-tech) you have 2 options electrics wise:  OEM electrics (pricier but works 100%) or westfalia electrics (cheaper should work 100%)

People in the know, in this forum, say that westfalia is the manufacturer of OEM towbar systems and everything works  without errors.  I have also seen in ross-tech forums that people have everything coded and have no problems when using westfalia.  https://forums.ross-tech.com/showthread.php?6459-Skoda-Octavia-1-4-tsi-combi-2016-retrofit-oem-westfalia-towbar-coding-issue

Hardware does not matter so much. I am very happy with brink towbar. But electric wise I would avoid everything else except those two options.

I know westfalia also offers 7 pin option but škoda, as far as I know, only offers 13 pin electrics.

 

However do your own research!