Another Question - Tow Bar or Spare Wheel

[pdrisc]

I am 2 weeks into owning my new L&K car. When i saw the original advert on line the car had a tow bar fitted. However when i collected it the tow bar was missing. The dealer has been trying to source it but have now offered me £250 back instead.

I don't actually have a need for a towbar (at the moment) but have no idea how much one costs to fit or replace the missing hook. I cant see any sign of electrics beneath the car so i assume the hook was a ticked option that was never fully utilised.

 

One the other hand i may take the money and just use it to get a space saver wheel and tool kit from a local dealer. 

 

Any advice?

 

Edited 25 March, 2021 by pdrisc

[john999boy]

I’d be more concerned about the reason why it wasn’t there!

[Baxlin]

Looking on eBay, tow bar ironware can be not far off £250, without fitting and electrics, but then if you don’t want/need a tow bar, it’s money for nothing.

[Colin170CR]

Seems a bit of a cheap offer in lieu of a towbar. When I last looked into it for my car towbars were a minimum of circa £600 fitted. If you have no need of a towbar the I would deffo have a spare wheel / tyre instead. 

[SurreyJohn]

Actually you are in a very strong position legally, as the car is not as advertised

If it was advertised with a picture of a towbar included, then that is part of the sales advert

 

Therefore I think you can do rather better than £250

I suggest you point this out to the dealer and suggest he changes his compensation 3 fold to nearer £750

You don't need to feel charitable towards the dealer, if seller misled him, they can sue seller to recover the £750

 

A properly fitted, fully coded towbar is likely to be nearer £600 (or more), so don't settle for less than £600

 

 

 

Edited 26 March, 2021 by SurreyJohn

[unclerichy]

Is the whole towbar missing (in which case how did they manage to list one??) or is it a removable one so you're just missing the hook bit? I would have thought that the the latter would be fairly simple to source.

[Hozz]

When an after market towbar is fitted to a Superb the section beneath the rear bumper is replaced by a new crossbar.

It is unlikely this part will have been removed and therefore you just need the missing hook bit as stated above.

Presumably the electrics should be there too, perhaps hinged up underneath.

If the electric 7 or 13 pin socket is not there it might suggest there wasn't a towbar in the first place.

Edited 26 March, 2021 by Hozz

[john999boy]

Could it be that the OP hasn't noticed the manual tow drop inside the boot as it may have been a factory fit?

[pdrisc]

Thanks for all your advice. The manual drop switch is not in the boot. I checked that after seeing the video on line.

 

There is definitely a bracket underneath to connect the tow hitch to but as far as i can see there is no wiring visible. I did try and price a tow hitch today but skoda weren't much help.

 

What i will do is take the money and use it to buy the spare wheel and jack set which is something i will get far better return on. I was going to look at getting a wheel anyway.

 

If i ever need to get a tow hitch i will revisit that in the future. In thirty plus years of driving I've yet to actually tow something so chances of it happening are probably low. 

Edited 29 March, 2021 by pdrisc

[MikeM46]

Just hope your L&K is not a superb estate with 190 tdi, dsg & 4x4 config ‘cos apparently only a factory fitted (on order) towbar is acceptable. Part of the preparation includes an upgraded cooling system & retro fitting is not appropriate.

 

So on that version of the estate a fully prepared factory fitted towbar  setup is worth more like £2K plus.

[kentdale]

4 hours ago, MikeM46 said:

Just hope your L&K is not a superb estate with 190 tdi, dsg & 4x4 config ‘cos apparently only a factory fitted (on order) towbar is acceptable. Part of the preparation includes an upgraded cooling system & retro fitting is not appropriate.

 

So on that version of the estate a fully prepared factory fitted towbar  setup is worth more like £2K plus.

We have just bought an 8 month old Superb sportline plus 190 tdscr 4x4 dsg and told by Skoda dealer that the car could have a retro fitted tow bar, all in writing, in fact this was the main requirement that it had to be suitable for towing a caravan,traded in a 15 year old Volvo d5 estate used for towing.

Dealer said that the factory towing prep had been carried out during its build.

 We organised to have a Westfalia detachable sysytem fitted rated at 2,200 kg with appropriate coding  

On the v5 it clearly states un breaked tow limit of 2,200kg.

Are you suggesting Skoda dealer have got it wrong.

Interested to hear how you got your info

[Ootohere]

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/466445-towbar-preperation-fitted-as-option

 

[Berisford]

Seems it’s not possible to get a definitive answer- personally I suspect you get very little with the ‘prep’ option, I mean, it’s less than £200, can’t see Skoda doing cooling and electrical upgrades for such a low price?

[SurreyJohn]

7 minutes ago, Berisford said:

Seems it’s not possible to get a definitive answer- personally I suspect you get very little with the ‘prep’ option, I mean, it’s less than £200, can’t see Skoda doing cooling and electrical upgrades for such a low price?

It’s not that much at the factory, they already fit a fan, and one with bigger blades or slightly bigger motor is only marginally more cost.  Its same with other bits, all very marginal to substitute a bigger size.  
 

Some other parts are included regardless of spec for standardisation, as others have found out, eg when a wiring loom has a plug that doesn’t seem to be used.  Software differences probably has no cost at factory either as have to upload a version regardless of what settings are selected.

 

 

[kentdale]

2 hours ago, e-Roottoot said:

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/466445-towbar-preperation-fitted-as-option

 

Hi , looking at the link you and reading it all, the visible height of a suitable radiator are supposedly 6 inches tall as opposed to 1 inch tall, just looked at my radiator and it has dual fans, is this normal fitment for a towing prepped Superb.

Also I thought it would be more common to improve engine/ oil cooling as well.

Martin.

[NJRJ]

15 hours ago, kentdale said:

On the v5 it clearly states un breaked tow limit of 2,200kg.

 

V5 is wrong then as braked limit is always 750kg or half the cars weight if less, if it's 2200kg braked then that's the traction start figure on a hill (8% or 12% depending on maker) but that's only a ballasted flat bed trailer not a huge white box on wheels in a sidewind which is why caravan clubs suggest 85% of kerbweight (stops the tail wagging the dog). A Superb is erm superb for towing but don't get carried away.

[kentdale]

12 hours ago, NJRJ said:

V5 is wrong then as braked limit is always 750kg or half the cars weight if less, if it's 2200kg braked then that's the traction start figure on a hill (8% or 12% depending on maker) but that's only a ballasted flat bed trailer not a huge white box on wheels in a sidewind which is why caravan clubs suggest 85% of kerbweight (stops the tail wagging the dog). A Superb is erm superb for towing but don't get carried away.

Not the V5 its me thats typed it incorrectly, braked limit 2,200 kg

[kentdale]

12 hours ago, NJRJ said:

V5 is wrong then as braked limit is always 750kg or half the cars weight if less, if it's 2200kg braked then that's the traction start figure on a hill (8% or 12% depending on maker) but that's only a ballasted flat bed trailer not a huge white box on wheels in a sidewind which is why caravan clubs suggest 85% of kerbweight (stops the tail wagging the dog). A Superb is erm superb for towing but don't get carried away.

Not all caravans are 'white'boxes, previous ones were but this one we bought is slightly different.

[NJRJ]

1 hour ago, kentdale said:

Not all caravans are 'white'boxes, previous ones were but this one we bought is slightly different.

Oh very pretty! I like some of the Knaus(?) with good graphics.

[kentdale]

1 minute ago, NJRJ said:

Oh very pretty! I like some of the Knaus(?) with good graphics.

Its an Adria,although not surfac graphics, or surface paint, somehow laminated to the alloy side  panels so it appears to be within the panel if that makes sense,I don't think of it as pretty, just a bit marmite.

Only 2 in the country as it didnt sell, over 20 different side combinations.

Martin

[pdrisc]

On 08/08/2021 at 03:01, MikeM46 said:

Just hope your L&K is not a superb estate with 190 tdi, dsg & 4x4 config ‘cos apparently only a factory fitted (on order) towbar is acceptable. Part of the preparation includes an upgraded cooling system & retro fitting is not appropriate.

 

So on that version of the estate a fully prepared factory fitted towbar  setup is worth more like £2K plus.

 Forgot to post an update on this.

 

Never got anywhere with the towbar from the garage and seeing as I didn't really need it, i used the money they gave me to buy a spare wheel and tool kit. I am more likely to have a puncture than have to tow something. 

 

My L&K is the hatchback version.