Hi, I am getting a tow bar fitted to my Vauxhall Antarra,
Ive rung a few companies and the quote from £240 t0 £400.
Are they any specific questions I need to ask, At the moment Im asking for a 13 pin Alko ? anything else ?
We live in Cambridge so any recommendations would be good.
Im not looking for the cheapest just the correct one
I'd go for swan neck towbar, looks neater & ok for Al-ko hitch. Difference in price of quotes will probably be more expensive quotes for vehicle specific wiring which on a modern car is the one to go for, I would have thought.
I used Towbar Express on my last car and will probably use them again on my new car. They will do the re-coding. That's a good question to ask because that can cost you an arm and a leg at a main dealer if the fitter doesn't do it.
I'm in the same boat. I have a Peugeot partner tepee with some manufacturers warranty remaining, I've had a reasonable quote from an independent fitter who has fitted many for me, but they say it does not meet Peugeots warranty conditions.
They also fit tow bars for a local Citroen main dealer. Sounds like an unfair term of contract to me.
So either cough up Peugeots extortionate prices or invalidate the warranty.
I'm not sure about that, Nawer, I think there's some EU legislation that makes that kind of threat illegal. There are thousandsof people with brand new cars with third party fitted tow bars. I read that as long as the bar is fitted in accordance with manufacturer's instructions such as dedicated electrics etc, and that the company is a VAT registered entity, that you would be fine. Of course, you have to take on the lawyers of the French motor industry should you need to.
Quote: Originally posted by navver on 12/2/2015
I'm in the same boat. I have a Peugeot partner tepee with some manufacturers warranty remaining, I've had a reasonable quote from an independent fitter who has fitted many for me, but they say it does not meet Peugeots warranty conditions.
They also fit tow bars for a local Citroen main dealer. Sounds like an unfair term of contract to me.
So either cough up Peugeots extortionate prices or invalidate the warranty.
It works like this. Fitting a towbar yourself or one fitted by outside fitter does not in itself invalidate warranty but if you get any probs on car that you can't fix & main dealer decides these were caused by poor fitting of towbar &/or electrics then you pay for repairs. It does not invalidate whole vehicle warranty though.
If towbar is fitted by main dealer or by approved towbar fitter then any towbar faults are covered under vehicle warranty, whatever.
To meet warranty conditions I'm guessing OE supplied specific wiring loom, cost over £100 will need to be used but your cheaper quote is for bypass relay wiring which can indeed be used ok on current Partner/Berlingo models. Its your choice but properly fitted bypass relay should not be problematic.
Your fitter probably fits towbars at Citroen using the OE supplied towbar & specific electrics. He is 'approved' by that Citroen garage but possibly Peugeot garage uses its own fitters to fit towbars.
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I am awaiting delivery of a new VW Golf firms car in April, according to the firm who does my tow bar fitting, you can order the VW Golf as "Preperation For Towbar" which basically means the electrics come already done, this saves having to spend £1000 on a factory fit towbar, but means that a third party towbar just then needs to be bolted on and the electrics just plug in, saves around £150 on a third party towbar fit, that would normally be around £400, so worth doing if your company know what they are doing, unfortunately mine doesn't.
I don't even think there is any extra cost for having the VW Golf come with "Preperation for Towbar" it is just a case of ticking a box, when the car is placed on order, the firm I work for has ordered around 20 VW Golfs for delivery in April, but it was just to much trouble for them to tick the box on mine, hey ho.
Mind you we don't even get to choose the colour, so there was little hope for me getting them to get it with "Preperation for Towbar"
I also learned that most Audi models come of the production line as "Preperation for Towbar" as standard, which is odd as they are all part of the same company VAG.
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Topic: Tow bar companies recommedations
