Hi everyone

I've bought a 2024 2litre diesel skoda karoq to tow my caravan with. It came highly recommended for towing my van. I now find out it's definitely not that simple!

Please bear with me as I'm new to all this ...

It's definitely got the pre towing needed on the car but my local skoda dealer will not fit a tow bar but recommend an independent chap. However having read all about the lack of coding and how you have to disconnect the braking sensors I'm so confused. Can anyone explain this to me in plain English please? Apologies as I'm sure this has already been discussed to death but I'm a newbie and really struggling. Thank you

Ask your dealer for a copy of the options fitted to your car. He should supply a detailed list of them.

You need to look for 'fitted with towing system' or something to that effect.

If it does then you need to get the correct towbar orded and fitted. If your dealer can't or won't do it then poor show IMO.

Towsure if they're still going should be more helpful.

Thanks for the very quick reply! Sadly I bought the car from another garage unaware that this was going to be such a problem. I contacted the skoda dealer after discussion with an independent tow fitter who said he wouldn't do it because of the coding issues.

Just to clarify the car does have the “fitted with towing system” in its description.

I saw you have also looked on the Facebook Karoq Group - where I also post - you have liked my reply. The 2.0 TDI Karoq is a good tow car. On the 2.0 TDI and 2.0 TSI (which I have) Towbar prep is just the wiring that runs from the front to the rear of the car. On the smaller engined Karoqs it can include additional cooling modifications which the larger Karoqs are built with in the factory.

My Karoq did not have a towbar fitted when I bought it. I had the Skoda Factory fit towbar fitted by RichterSport in Bletchley (Milton Keynes) and they did an excellent job. The Skoda Factory fit towbar swivels down from under the bumper by pressing a switch in the boot, so dead easy to deploy and put away when not in use.

The electrics all work perfectly -because it was coded using the correct Towing module. Connecting the trailer/caravan 7 or 13 pin plug into the towbar socket informs the Karoq's electrical systems so that the revised coding is used. This means Parking Sensors are disabled, Reversing camera alters its view to show the towball, Emergency braking at the rear is disabled when reversing, ABS and other system also adapted to the addition weight when towing.

Avoid any installer who tells you a Bypass relay will be fine -it won't be. The old school wiring method of splicing into the cars lighting cables is potentially very risky - there was an example of this about 10 years ago on the VW Touran Forum, caused around £1500 of damage to various electrical modules.

A 2024 Karoq can be correctly coded - you may have to search for a dealer who is able to do it, fortunately you don't have a 2025 or 2026 Karoq, because although they can still be coded its much harder finding a dealer who is willing to do it.

Hope this helps.

Oh that's exactly what I needed to hear! All the relevant info in one post. Thankyou so very much. I can now go ahead with getting this done. Thanks again. Great idea joining this group! 😁

@Maureenb This forum us very well supported, also compared to Facebook groups it’s much easier to search for information and knowledge.