Someone decided to reverse into my car and destroyed my existing boot mounted bike carrier so thought it would be a good time to look at a towbar mounted rack. First i need a towbar though. I've had one quote for fitting with single electrics but is higher than i thought it should be (250). But haven't really got a clue, is this a normal sort of price?

depends on the car and the towbar really, I paid that for a dual electric removable neck one on a Renault.

Depends on the car, and whether dealer or other fit – but its that kind of ballpark for a cheap/standard one.

I'd recommend Witter as a make, and go 2-bolt not swan-neck – more rack options.

I paid £260 recently for a Witter towbar on my focus, single electrics. I was offered a cheaper option with those plastic clips (can't remember their name) to hold the wires instead of soldered joins, but I reckoned it was worth the extra…

+1 b r pendle rack behind the towball plate mount

Was looking to get one of the Thule racks with rails that the bikes sit on. Not interested in any where the bikes hang from the top tubes, so range of rack options not really an issue and towball will only be used for the bike rack, no towing if that makes a difference. But if that's the sort of price it is i might just end up getting another boot mounted one.

I paid £250 to have a towbar fitted to my honda after a hamfisted mate scratched the c-post of my car getting his bike out of the boot 👿 to be honest it is the best £250 quid I've spent. Just wish I had done it before the clumsy great buffoon did the damage. (hope he's reading this)

depends on how often you transport bikes, and how much you like watching your pride and joy wobbling around on the back of the car. I use my rack for about 75% of the time I use my car, so the towball mount makes sense – I don't intend to do towing. And the wheel-mounted racks keep your bike still and safe.

My old rack was a thule clip on high rack, so bikes were still sat in rails and very solid, just not great on fuel economy hence looking at towbar mounted

sounds about average. A mate paid a lot more than that to have a bar mounted to a VW Golf (previous to current model) at home…

250 sounds reasonable actually, might investigate myself…

His rack is excellent.. will look it up.

£194 for a Witter bar and single electrics supplied and fitted to out Foucs estate earlier this year

Agree with above, definitely very well worth spending the money if you carry backs regularly. I paid £320 for towbar and 3 bike Thule carrier at Indysuspension on a Golf estate (incl assembling carrier and they threw in the number plate) and its been a great investment, miles better than a boot mounted carrier in every way.

Paid just under £200 to get tow bar fitted, and got one of these, from, yes, halfrauds.

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_172555_langId_-1_categoryId_165477

They were even cheaper in store. Can't fault it.

Oh and +1 for Witter.

£250 is about right. I pay similar for commercial ones. The only thing i would make sure is of the eletrics. The modern vehicles with caan bus electrics dont take kindly to 'scotch locks' (The plastic things reffered to above) being used or any other botching. Any spikes in the electric current or other such surges can inflict damage to the ecu of your vehicle or at best give you warning lights all over your dash due to it not communicating properly.

I get a thing called a multiplex wiring kit fitted to all of my installs which even though i am not mechanically/electrically minded to know what it does properly, i know it protects my vehicles electrics and maintains their warranties. Oh this is included in the price i usually pay.

I paid £360 for my Mazda 3 for a detachable. Don't why I got the detachable one though cos it is always left on the car.

I have an Atrea Strada http://www.me4pm.co.uk/bikerack from

http://www.roofbox.co.uk/scripts/rbvehsel4_tab.php/car-accessories/atera_strada_dl_3_to_4_bike_carrier_uk_lights_no_ar2603/njNA_v1HqTo9~w7HCO3kxz3uBtkB,~4RYoJEYzTmI

And it fits in the boot when not in use without having to put the back seats down. COuldn't do that with the Thule.

And it fits in the boot when not in use without having to put the back seats down. COuldn't do that with the Thule.

That's not a feature I'd spend an extra 200 quid on.

I think youll find the Thule G5 (or what ever the top spec one is) is actually more expensive than the Strada.

I looked at the CHEAPEST Thule, which looked ok for irregular use, but was very fiddly to operate and quite flimsy looking.

But i wouldn't be getting the most expensive one. Looking at getting a Thule ride on, like the one on Halfords linked to earlier. In my experience nothing Thule makes is flimsy

I would personally recommend that you see a Thule Ride-On that has been assembled. Would hate for you to spend the £100 and then be disappointed.

Just a piece of advice, but hey, its your money and your bike….

very happy with my thule ride on, stays on the tow bar, bikes are secure, what more could you need?

I've seen one assembled, and i know a few people who are more than happy with them

http://www.aistoncycleracks.co.uk/

Bomb proof rack

I'm not really interested in rack recommendations, and i'd never buy anything off the internet with a cheque. Seems like the price i was quoted was about right. Have to reconsider whether 350 for towbar and rack is worth it over 120 for a rear mounted rack.

I've fitted a few, & if you want to save a few ££'s they aren't difficult to do. Put one on our Mondeo a few months ago, that was easy enough.
The muliplex wiring module is a good idea, also stops the car's circuits thinking the slight voltage drop is a blown bulb.

TBH fitting a towbar is piss easy.
As long as you get one designed for your make of car it should bolt straight on, 20 minutes tops in my case and I'm not very mechanical minded.
I got one from a breaker, new bolts from main dealer.

Saved a fortune on new prices.

The info i found online suggested that for my car a plastic section underneath the car also needed to be cut. Not sure we'll have the tools to do it and wouldn't know where to start with the electrics

If your cars straight forward to do (you can usually find the fitting instructions on 'tweb) do it yourself. I dodn't do mine as it involved some bumper cutting and as a ham fisted left hander I would have ended up with soem interesting shape 😆 It cost me £180 for mine earlier this year

it'll be part of the bumper needs cutting out to allow the bar to fit to something substantial – some modern cars plastic bumpers go underneath the car a long way and drop down relatively low.

regarding the electrics bit:

Make sure you either get PROPER crimped connectors OR soldered joints.

DO NOT let them use scotchlocks, they are the spawn of automotive wiring evil.