Fitted Swan Neck Towbar Package with Dedicated Electrics in a Standard Duty Specification

Fitted, not just posted: a swan neck bar, which is the neatest fixed option and the one that upsets parking sensors least.

Towing is the one thing you can buy for a car where the wrong part is not merely disappointing. Every towbar listing here states the type approval number, the D value, the maximum noseweight and whether the bumper has to be cut, because those four facts decide whether a bar is legal on your vehicle and whether it will pull what you want to pull. Every electrical listing says plainly whether it is a dedicated loom or a universal one with a bypass relay, and what each will and will not do. We would rather lose a sale to a cheaper part than sell you one that does not fit.

Specification

• Fits: vehicle specific. Send us the registration and we confirm the exact kit, the approval number and the fitting time before we take a penny
• Approval: UNECE R55, approved for the make, model, body shape and year of your vehicle. Every car first registered in the UK after 1 August 1998 must be fitted with a type approved towbar, approved for that specific make, model and body shape. The approval number is printed on a plate riveted to the bar and it is stated on every towbar listing on this site. A bar without one is not a cheaper towbar, it is an uninsured one.
• Rating: chosen above, and the vehicle handbook figure is what actually binds you. We print both on the certificate
• D value: from 7.8 to 17.0 kN depending on the bar specified for your vehicle, and the figure for yours is confirmed before the order. The D value is the measure of how hard a towbar can be pulled. It is worked out from the towing vehicle's maximum mass and the trailer's maximum mass together, in kilonewtons, and the bar's D value has to be equal to or greater than the figure your combination produces. We publish it on every bar and there is a calculator linked from every towbar page.
• Noseweight: 75 to 150kg depending on the bar. Noseweight is the downward load the trailer puts on the ball, and the figure you may use is the lowest of four numbers: the towbar's S value, the vehicle handbook's noseweight limit, the towball's rating and the caravan coupling's rating. Most people know the first and none of the other three, and a combination that is legal on paper is often over the limit on the one that matters.
• Ball height: 350 to 420mm laden, checked on the vehicle at fitting rather than assumed from a drawing
• Electrics: a dedicated loom as standard on this package, with coding included. A dedicated loom plugs into connectors the vehicle already has. It talks to the car's electronics, so the rear parking sensors switch off when a trailer is plugged in, the trailer stability programme arms itself if the vehicle has one, the bulb failure warning understands the extra lamps, and on many cars the fog lamp is muted as the regulations require. It costs more and on most cars it needs coding with a diagnostic tool, which we include on any kit we fit.
• Fitting time: two to four hours, included in the price
• Bumper: we tell you before you order whether your vehicle needs a bumper cut, and where. This is the single thing people are most often not told, and on some cars it is a 40mm slot that nothing hides
• Materials: the standard specification, which covers the great majority of cars and caravans on UK roads
• Weight: approximately 21.6 kilograms
• Guarantee: a lifetime guarantee on the towbar weldment and two years on the electrics, plus two years on the workmanship
• Included: the bar, the dedicated loom, the diagnostic coding, the labour, and a printed certificate with the approval number on it
• Certificate: keep it. An insurer asking about a towbar wants the approval number, and a buyer for the car later will want it too
• Where: one of our centres, or a mobile fitter at your address, chosen above
• Sensors: on a dedicated loom the rear parking sensors mute when a trailer is plugged in, which they will not do on a universal loom
• Lead time: usually within a week, and same week on common vehicles

What arrives

• the towbar and every fixing
• the dedicated wiring loom
• the diagnostic coding
• the labour
• a printed approval certificate
• the fitting instructions for your records

Fitting

Two to four hours at one of our centres, or at your address if you have chosen the mobile option. The fitter confirms the approval against the VIN before starting, torques every bolt to the stated figure, codes the vehicle, tests every function on the trailer socket with a load tester rather than a test lamp, and leaves the certificate with you.

Before you order

The reason to buy a towbar fitted rather than as a box is not the labour. It is that the kit is confirmed against your VIN, the coding is done, and the socket is tested under load. A test lamp will light on a circuit that cannot actually run a trailer's lamps, which is why a great many self fitted looms work in the driveway and fail on the motorway. Every car first registered in the UK after 1 August 1998 must be fitted with a type approved towbar, approved for that specific make, model and body shape. The approval number is printed on a plate riveted to the bar and it is stated on every towbar listing on this site. A bar without one is not a cheaper towbar, it is an uninsured one.