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I have a Thule easybase which i got for my van but was thinking of fitting a towbar on my A4 estate so i can carry my bike and other stuff..
I Got a quote of £345 fitted for a single electrics. I thought that was quite expensive for a basic towbar.
Has anyone fitted their own??
How much have people paid for a towbar fitted??
Thanks.. 8)
I've just fitted a towbar to my Kia; it cost about £130 for all the bits from [url= http://www.just-tow.co.uk/ ]Just Tow[/url] - extra £8 or something for next day delivery; but it came with all the instructions and wasn't too bad to put on.
£345?!? was that from a main stealer or something?
Last time I got one fitted (to a 2005 Focus) it was around £180 all in
About £100 for the full kit. 1-2 hours to fit. Pick a dry day and follow the instructions. Some cars are VERY easy. You can usually view the instructions online before you buy.
I offered to fit one to a pal's Golf. He passed up the offer and shelled out £400ish to the VW dealer. I pity the fool. VWs are mainly a simple bolt-on job. Threaded holes and everything IIRC on his Golf.
£345 was an independent local company. Probably because its an audi they put the price up 🙄
Costs go up quite a bit if you use the proper wiring harness or just go with the crappy scotchlok stuff. Fully integrated unit on my car stops the rear fogs coming on, senses bulb failures on th trailer and does something with the traction/ ABS too (Ford S-Max)
Have a look at the towequipe website.
Besides the towbar they give you all the bolts and in some cases a wiring kit(probably a scotchlok one).If you want to pay extra then you can have the proper wiring harness.I bought the towbar,bolted it up myself then took the car to an auto electrician to wire the 7 pin plug.
Fitted a removable witter to my a3. Took about two hours and was about a third of the price a professional
Wanted. Dead simple too.
Cloudnine, my A4s going in for a towbar for the same reason on Monday at Northwest Towbars in Stockport. Options there are roughly:
£210 - standard flange
£230 - standard (swan neck)
£330 - removable swan neck
+£140 for Audi combox to make electrics compatible with parking sensors and ESP.
I'm going for removable, but not bothering with the combox. From the phoning around I did this seems pretty competitively priced. Think from memory Audi was a ridiculous £650 factory fit.
Its all proportional
It'll all go up in thirds so
Main dealer £600
Local independent £400
Self fit £200
Just as a rough example 😉
I did it to my Punto a couple of years ago. I seem to remember when researching that the thin wires on modern cars don't like the increased load caused by the extra bulbs. I bought a proper relay box for about 35 quid which uses the car wires as a signal but needs a 12v feed from the battery or some higher power device. Obviously if you don't go for the proper manufacturers fitting kit, any warrantee you have will be void.
Most difficult thing about actually fitting the bar was getting the bumper off.
we have had one fitted to our last three towing cars all average about 170. much less hassle than fitting your own . once had a guy come out to fit one to a punto never heard a guy swear so much it was a real pain.. get a man in SOOO much easier and it wont drop off..
Fitted my own last monday to my T4.
£75 including electrics.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270926044770#ht_1442wt_1395
Just needed to get some female blade connectors to connect to the rear light cluster instead of splicing in.
Did the same to my Freelander last year for only a little more.
Stoner's point about using blade connectors is a very good one. With a bit of effort you can install a completely removable installation that does not cut a single wire. Depending on where you do the install, it doesn't necessarily effect Multiplex systems.
Cost me £359 inc vat last Feb from Autobars - fitted to my Ford Ranger. That was a Witter though with twin electrics and a 3.5t ball & pin.