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hi, approx how much does it cost to have a tow bar fitted, i am thinking of getting one to free up room in the car, so that i can use my rear window, and keep the tent and all the rest of the gear, seperate. halfords do tailers for around £200

                   thanks john

Mine cost 235 quid on a Mondeo with twin electrics (for a caravan).  It was a swan neck type, so slightly more expensive.

The easy bit is fitting the towbar, the tricky bit can be the electrics, most fitters use the bypas units, this prevents the cars bulb monitoring circuits from having a dicky fit, if your car is new and under warranty then these bypass units could get you into hot water for no reason, so with a new vehicle it is best to have the elecs that use the cars cam-bus plug in circuit, for this to work proper and make the relevent things appear on your dash, the system has to be coded to the vehicle, which involves having a bit of kit that costs 2k to program the cars on board computer, doing things this way keeps you within warranty, but also means you have to get someone in to do the job, fact is on modern cars if they know a trailer is attached, then the Cam-Bus circuit awakes the cars brain, and adjustments are made to reduce snaking etc, of course we all coped in the past without such intervention, but this is how things are to-day, I used to fit my own towbars and elecs, but in this modern age I leave it to the experts, especialy as my car belongs to the firm and gets changed every two years, there fault not mine gov!.

Andy.

Quote: Originally posted by slinger on 24/8/2009

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This is something I've always wondered about since getting my latest car because not only does it have faulty bulb detection etc, it also has rear parking sensors which are obviously going to be affected when a trailer is fitted.
I do want to get a towbar fitted at some point because we do really need a trailer now, but I'm guessing its going to be quite expensive for me to get one fitted.

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Hi slinger.

              When the Cam-Bus plug in electrics are used, you will find with the trailer hooked up, that the car's rear parking sensors are de-activated along with the rear fog light, even with just my Thule Back-Up box, or Thule towbar mounted cycle rack, the reflected glare from the fog light can be a distraction, even though I only intend to tow a trailer, I will be going for the single 13 Pin socket, as this now does the same as the twin socket system, why installers are still fitting the twin set-ups is beyound me, the reason I am going for the 13 pin is so that I can have my leisure battery charging in the trailer, also it will allow the reversing light on the trailer to work, not that you ever need it to, but why not.

Andy.