Towbar fitting Gloucestershire

lakelandterrier · 23 January 2018, 08:39

Has anyone any recomendations for a towbar fitter in the Gloucestershire area? - I need to have detachable swan-neck fitted to the Kodiaq.

I have couple of quotes, one (more expensive) from local fitter - (but local), one from larger national business (risk of poorer service/). both in the £450-£490 range, Both quoting Tow-Trust kit vehicle specific electrics.

I am not going to try to fit myself!

thoughts and wisdom appreciated as always.

Cheers

LT

Pikey Dave · 23 January 2018, 10:21

I had a Towtrust on the last D4, good kit & an absolute doddle to fit. I know it varies from vehicle to vehicle but it's worth five minutes on their website perusing the fitting instructions. The one I had listed at nearly £400 just for the kit, I got it for £160 from my local dealer & fitted it in 1/2 hour. Most of the electrics these days are plug in. Give the Skoda dealer a ring & get a price for the harness, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Pikey Dave · 23 January 2018, 10:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikey Dave

I had a Towtrust on the last D4, good kit & an absolute doddle to fit. I know it varies from vehicle to vehicle but it's worth five minutes on their website perusing the fitting instructions. The one I had listed at nearly £400 just for the kit, I got it for £160 from my local dealer & fitted it in 1/2 hour. Most of the electrics these days are plug in. Give the Skoda dealer a ring & get a price for the harness, you might be pleasantly surprised.

PS, just had a look. Towtrust quote 45min fitting time. No drilling involved, all the mounting points are already there.

PPS
have a look at PF Jones
https://www.pfjones.co.uk/tow-bars/t...q-towbars.html

lakelandterrier · 23 January 2018, 10:39

Thanks PD,

Had quote from PF Jones they were far more pricey that the others.

Skoda will only fit their folding electrionc towbar to a Kodiaq - at an eye-watering price. In any case I don't want electronoally operated bits of kit anywhere near - or as far removed as possible from a wet salty environment - needless technology & more to fail

Thanks for the vote of confidence in Tow-Trust kit.

LT

Pikey Dave · 23 January 2018, 10:43

[emoji106]when I said contact Skoda, I meant just for the towing electrics wiring harness from the parts department. It will "probably" be a plug in harness complete with the 13pin socket moulded on the end. The whole kit for the Disco was under £100 and that was from the dealer. It literally just plugs into a socket behind the N/S rear light cluster. All the relays, split charging etc are already built into the vehicle.

charliee · 23 January 2018, 11:47

I had a removable tow bar fitted by a "National" and was assured that a BMW Plug and play harness would be used - needless to say when the techie started to attack the wiring loom with side cutters and a soldering iron I put a stop to the job, after a bit of toing and froing a 2nd techie arrived with the BMW Part and all ended well.

HDAV · 24 January 2018, 23:06

Kodiak seems awkward for towing with many models not able to tow (manuals)

https://etowbars.com/Towbars/Skoda/Skoda-Kodiaq-Towbars

mhb100 · 25 January 2018, 00:09

I've just spent an hour looking and it seems there was a bulletin last year along the lines that the manual 5 seater did not have Type Approval for towing which must be wrong. Particularly when the 5 seater seems to have higher towing limit stated. Seems to be limited to a certain 17/18 model.

Not sure which model you have, but worth checking v5c and chassis plate to check the towing limits documented for your vin as theoretically exceeding these would be legally regarded as dangerous.

On the tow bar front some seem to use the separate loom and plug in box, and these seem to be about £150. So may explain quote differences. Personally I'd pay the extra for this.

Some tow bars still need some bumper cuts to the underside, not visible. Some don't.

Definitely seems a good idea to go with someone that has done your model before, as even though the chassis seems based on an old vw I expect the electrics is quite different.

Get it booked in with a credible company and you won't pay until it's all working, and plug your lightboard in to check all is OK including parking sensors, etc.

I can't find anything about whether a main dealer needs to enable settings as I know one person with a skoda (not kodiaq) had to do this last year as the plug and play loom was not enabled for some reason throwing up error codes and parking sensor issues.

Does your local skoda dealer recommend anyone?

lakelandterrier · 26 January 2018, 19:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDAV

Kodiak seems awkward for towing with many models not able to tow (manuals)

https://etowbars.com/Towbars/Skoda/Skoda-Kodiaq-Towbars

I don't think so.
My new manual 2.0 diesel 4x4 has 2200kg capacity.

Just don't want the official Skoda electronic folding towbar - the only "approved" one. Certainly not at dealer fitted price!

Get towbar fitted on Thurs....can feel a winter day on the water coming soon.

Xk59D · 26 January 2018, 19:49

Post up how you find it please, quite fancy a Kodiaq.

In my case would be the auto though, not doing the manual towing thing again if avoidable.

I'm in 2 minds what to get as the xc90 I have just now has only done 4000 miles in about 18 months, only use it for towing the boat. Spends its life sitting in driveway as it is too expensive for 70 mile trip to work.

lakelandterrier · 27 January 2018, 15:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xk59D

Post up how you find it please, quite fancy a Kodiaq.

Hi Xk59D,

Had the Kodiaq 2 weeks now covered 1450 miles already. Very pleased with it so far

As for value for money compared to simliar, no comparison.

It is 2litre diesel, 5 seat version (didn't want to be d*cked for being the main taxi for the girls teams / clubs)- which also gives spare wheel and lots of under boot storage.

Very roomy and comfortable inside, reversing camera - only gadget I had fitted is good - will make hitching up a doodle (I hope

).

MPG-wise averaging high 50's on a run and over 40 in town. Early days I know. I was tempted by the DSG gearbox, but with the business miles I do I wanted to max the fuel economy so opted for manual.

Will report back on towing ability and ease once I have the towbar fitted and have chance / weather to get Lunasea out for a run.

lakelandterrier · 01 February 2018, 18:50

Had towbar fitted today, looks smart on the vehicle and even fits nicely in the well behind the spare wheel when no in use

Doodle to line up exactly on the hitch of the trailer usung the reversing camera too, as I'd hoped.

Just 2 problems
1) found that 2 bulbs on the lighting board aren't working - will have to take apart and poke around over the weekend

2) where to store the OEM rear bar (sure there's a proper name for it). Now have large white length of formed steel taking up space that didn't exist even beforehand in the garage

Can now start planning a trip out.

69cmw · 01 February 2018, 19:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by lakelandterrier

where to store the OEM rear bar (sure there's a proper name for it). Now have large white length of formed steel taking up space that didn't exist even beforehand in the garage

In the skip, unless your planning on taking the tow bar off [emoji848]

lakelandterrier · 01 February 2018, 19:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by 69cmw

In the skip, unless your planning on taking the tow bar off [emoji848]

I can't bring myelf to throw away a perfectly good piece of car

Xk59D · 01 February 2018, 20:13

I have 4 sitting in my shed and probably another 1 will join it shortly when the xc90 goes...I keep saying I'll take those to dump....some day.

HDAV · 01 February 2018, 23:05

eBay? In demand for anyone who had a rear end shunt?

That said mine was skipped from last car current car had towbar fitted by dealer.... they didn’t offer me the rear brace.......

lakelandterrier · 01 February 2018, 23:08

When I traded in the trusty X-trail, I threw the original rear bar into the boot....seemed only right it stayed with the car and I didn't want more steel stored in the garage. Bet it's ended up in some dealer's metal skip for some cash,. What a waste.

I anyone wants a spare rear bracing strut for a Kodiaq / Tigun / Alteca etc...for "any" reason, send me a pm