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Towbar recommendations?


Ezcritique
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Hi, 

As the dealership have quoted the princely sum of £793.84 + vat to fit a detachable towbar!!!  I wondered if any forum users know of a more reasonable alternative for the 2019 Rav4? 

 

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maybe worth trying the likes of "Towbar Express"...no doubt less expensive..and they can come to you.

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presumably that includes supplying & fitting the bar &  the electrics too? tbh it's probably not too bad as there seems to be very few approved towbars for the new RAV4 so far.

Possibly you may be able to source the parts cheaper from a dealer & have an independent fit (my local Mr T subcontracts out towbar fitting anyway).

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It was an all in quote and I couldn't find many approved for 2019 model as yet either.... I didn't know if any other members had already sourced one elsewhere... I may well have to hang on a while until more companies get involved... 

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Even Witter & Bink/Thule don't seem to have bars available yet. Because you need a type-approved bar these days & that costs the manufacturers money for testing they have to be certain of shifting enough units to recover their costs https://www.witter-towbars.co.uk/help-advice/regulation-55-approval-at-a-glance so you may be waiting for a while.

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Toyota themselves list Toyota PW96042000 and also the electrics kit on eBay now. Parts total not far short of £600 so I'm tempted to fit them myself. There are plenty of US alternatives which are much simpler to fit but don't look very strong when they only have two bolts to each side member holding flat plates. No doubt regulations prevent the use of these in Europe.

I've also found some instructions for a Brink towbar but too big to attach I think. Brink number appears to be 6634

OK managed to attach zipped pdf.

663470.zip

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Interesting as the Brink pdf clearly shows new shape Rav4 and says Euro compliant but when I search on their website... Product not available?? 

A great find though as Brink a reliable aftermarket and no doubt way cheaper than Toyotas own.. Id still want it fitted, perhaps this may be the model towbars.co.uk would ultimately supply and fit but as yet nothing is clear...   

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19 hours ago, Ezcritique said:

Interesting as the Brink pdf clearly shows new shape Rav4 and says Euro compliant but when I search on their website... Product not available?? 

A great find though as Brink a reliable aftermarket and no doubt way cheaper than Toyotas own.. 

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Toyota one is manufactured by Brink/Thule. Maybe they have come to an agreement limiting availability only via Toyota for an initial period of time (am I a cynic? 😛)?

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Not cynical at all.... Wouldn't surprise me... I can wait a while if I'm likely to save a few hundred pounds but I am surprised with the Rav being marketed as a recreational vehicle that more of these functional add- ons are not more readily available. 

 

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Towbars, I used to fit them and all the electrics for a living. The local Lancia dealer used to charge the customer £500+ for the job and that would only be the single 'N' socket so customers assumed they were getting a genuine Lancia towbar. So in their nice warn showroom, I made sure the trolley jack was clean and fitted a Witter one and all the electrics, cost them about £150.00 at the time making a very healthy profit, the dealership has gone now purely that they didn't sell enough cars overall. Mike.

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6 hours ago, IanML said:

Available on eBay? - link

Brilliant!! So Brink compatible aftermarket towbar available to buy for under £200 for a full kit. Bypass relay required on top if towing a caravan or trailer but still much better than the stealer ship.. Even vectoring in professional installation it's going to be way cheaper. I'm going to explore this further as I'm not going to find a better deal... Thanks... 

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28 minutes ago, Ezcritique said:

Brilliant!! So Brink compatible aftermarket towbar available to buy for under £200 for a full kit. Bypass relay required on top if towing a caravan or trailer but still much better than the stealer ship..

if you are towing anything that requires lights you probably will need this https://www.pfjones.co.uk/13-pin-electrics-kit-inc-bypass-relay.html

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On 8/24/2019 at 10:54 AM, Ezcritique said:

Hi, 

As the dealership have quoted the princely sum of £793.84 + vat to fit a detachable towbar!!!  I wondered if any forum users know of a more reasonable alternative for the 2019 Rav4? 

 

Please see my current eBay post at this link https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153618008259 which is self explanatory. 

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Just a word of warning.  The instructions for fitting the Brink for 2018-on require sawing a cut-out in the rear bumper.

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2 hours ago, IanML said:

Or just buy this one, and save a bomb.

that doesn't include the 13-pin plug etc. though & tbh if it were me I would be happier buying elsewhere - their recent Amazon feedback isn't good.

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1 hour ago, Heidfirst said:

if it doesn't fit your 2019 why should it fit his? 🤔

Yep "self explanatory" fits a 2017 rav4

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10 hours ago, IanML said:

Just a word of warning.  The instructions for fitting the Brink for 2018-on require sawing a cut-out in the rear bumper.

Never thought of that, thought it would have a "knock out". 

Backs my initial thoughts up re getting it professionally fitted. 

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