Looking at getting a new car (new Ford Fiesta) and want to get a towbar on the back for mounting a bike carrier. Haven’t really dealt with towbars before, as I’ve got a boot mounted rack.

Dealer says it’d be £300 for a towbar (unsure if he means removable and with electrics)

Is that a sensible price?

Do I need an electric socket? If so which sort? N-type, S-type, 13 pin??

Thinking of getting a Thule carrier as they seem popular on here.

Could I get one cheaper 3rd party? If so point me in the right direction.

Ta! 🙂

At £300 I’d assume it’ll be a fixed swan-neck with single electrics; and yes, not over-expensive and if Dealer-fit you’ll be covered for warranty etc.

Towequipe or indespension can fit them, its usualy about £250 quid so thays not unreasnoble.

If youre competent with a torque wrench theyre easy enough to fit yourself. You’ll need electrics to run the lighting board. You need 7 pin, 13 is for caravans and has dedicated pins for the fridge and battery circuits as well as side lights etc.

If you fit it yourself, bin the hatefull scotchblock connectors they come with and use propper screw in terminals. And you’ll need a relay.

Yes you should be able to get it cheaper not off the dealer like anything. £200ish is normal depends on car for specific price.
Do you mean third party rack or towbar? For towbars just do a yell or google search for it in your area.
Yes you need electrics, standard single electrics uk style – not sure which of the first of those two it is. Other wise no lightboard and potential police fine not to mention lots of hassle if anyone drives in to the back of you – couldn’t see brake lights = your fault.

And just to put the fear in ….

After spending a couple of hours with my dad diying a tow bar to his dispatch and spending 3 hours wondering why the goddamn supposed plug in and play loom wouldnt work…..

Google foo found we needed the towbar electrics activated by the dealer lexia people. My lexia wasnt new enough.

If you are buying a brand new car, and choosing the spec, then adding a tow bar at the time is often reasonably cost effective.

I recently fitted a detachable tow bar and electrics onto my Audi A5. Towbar and electrics was about £300 – fitting was fairly simple, and the wiring loom supplied with the tow bar pretty much plugged into the Audi wiring loom. The car ECU also needed updating. I went for a fully removable tow bar, so when it isn’t fitted you can’t tell the car has a tow bar.

I bought mine from http://www.pfjones.co.uk who seem to be competitive on price.

I’ve recently had a towbar fitted to my Fabia, cost just under £400 for a fixed swan-neck with 7-pin electrics. Couldn’t find it any cheaper as the rules for towbar fitting have changed.

Basically it has to be a type-approved setup, which means if the manufacturer hasn’t got your particular model tested you’re stumped. My car has full CAMBUS electrics so I had to have the specific kit with the ECU reprogrammed to that the car knows if anything’s connected and warns me of a failed bulb. If I had fitted a piggy-back style wiring loom it’s possible my car could fail the MOT as it’s a testable item on new cars. It would also have voided my warranty!

As for racks, I couldn’t afford a Thule one at the time so got a BuzzRack from a friend unused ( BuzzRack ) and apart from being a bit heavy is perfectly useable. But if you can afford a Thule or Altera get one.

I wouldn’t get the first party ford one, would get an one of the garages that just do tow bars to fit one. Yes you don’t get all the approved fitted eco engine bits but you will save money and a good fitter will do what they did with mine and fitted a fuse before it linked into the cars electrics so if the tow bar flips out it won’t effect the car.

I paid £175 from:

http://www.towbarservicesbirmingham.co.uk/

I booked it in the day before they had the parts and it was fitted while I waited, they did a top job just under an hour and haven’t had an issue since.

I drive a new shape C3 and we all know how bad French electrics can be, but not had a single problem since ive had the tow bar fitted.

I run a thule 2 bike carrier, with its own in built lights and place for the reg plate.

Ps I had mine fitted 2 years ago, if the rules have changed then ignore me.

Just be careful OP with what nose weight your car can take if it’s sod all you may find it’s not worth the cost if you can only put one bike on the back 😯

I drive a Shogun Sport it only has a nose weight of 150 Kg so for small cars best check your manual.

Fiesta will be in the region of 50kg.

You say only 150kg…..wrf are you sticking on it that would be more than 150kg nose weight ? (Other than a badly loaded trailer/crapavan

Thule 2 bike rack is 13kg give or take…..the three is 16. That leaves a fair bit for bikes unless they are dh or enduro monsters.

Wouldnt bother me.

Also milky – only the 13 pin sockets are a testable item the more common 7 pin stuff is visual damage only.- unless you mean canbus warning light test fail?

I had a towbar on my fabia a few months ago. Was under £300.

Think it was this lot
http://towbars.co.uk/

trail_rat my point was if OP wanted to say get a 4 bike rack for him and his mates and 4 downhill bikes for a trip to Wales etc.. He may be in trouble.

For him and his Mrs bike no issues.
Depends on what he needs the tow hitch / bike rack for, just something to take into account before getting an expensive tow hitch added. 🙂

Thanks all. Very useful info.

Definitely going down the non-DIY route. I don’t mix well with electronics!

Nose weight and is 50kg. More than enough for my hardtail and another for wife or mate depending on the scenario.

Cheers!

One other thing to be aware of – a lot of insurance companies now class a non-manufacturer factory/dealer fitted tow bar as a modification and as such if not declared as such on insurance may well void any cover in an accident.

No idea what impact it has on cost of insurance as mine’s factory fitted (cost about £600 from Peugeot so the dealer quote you got seems pretty good to me).

Definitely going down the non-DIY route. I don’t mix well with electronics!

As said, not worth fannying around to possibly save £50 – if you were bothered about £50 you wouldn’t be buying a new car 🙂

Our towbar added nothing to the insurance but they did says its not covered in an accident.

Yeah, was aware of the insurance thing. Mrs is a bit worried whether it’ll affect our premium. I assumed if you rang up and said it was a towbar rather than a supercharger it can’t be too bad!

All towbars are classed as modifications, dealer fit or not, with every insurance company ive been with anyway.

I know a couple of people that have been stung by it in the event of a crash even with dealer fit from new tow bars ….

More so how would you know if the towbar on your 10year old 3rd or 4th hand car was dealer or diy fit ?