Tow bar for Yaris Cross

[SinglePointSafety]

Hi, thinking of buying either a new or used Yaris Cross AWD and will need a towbar for my bike rack.

Thanks to IT Troll I've now got the price list for MY23 cars. I've read somewhere that the towbars are not really 'factory fit' - it's actually done by the dealer. Is this true?

And has anyone here actually had a towbar retro-fitted to their Yaris Cross? If so, assuming it was done by the dealer to avoid any potential warranty issues, did they supply/fit for the 'factory order' price or was it considerably more?

[Dexter290]

Ours was done by the dealer. Paperwork says it's the official Toyota tow bar. Rules for tow bars are different in Spain though to UK, has to have a certificate specific to the car as it is added to the official vehicle specification. We have the removable ball version, looks very neat and tidy.

[SinglePointSafety]

Thanks Dexter290, have tried to contact our two local dealers about this, but they seem to have a policy of never returning phone calls or replying to emails

[Dexter290]

Our dealer here is a bit slow sometimes but that may be just Spain in general, we moved here in 2018 and are slowly getting used to it. We ordered through the dealer,not online as we got a much better price for the complete package.

[Donrald]

You may well find that the dealer does not fit the tow bar but sends the car round to an independent fitter.  The dealer then adds a fortune to the cost even though he has not done the job. I know of some who charge well over £1000 more than the cost. Also some dealers don’t understand the electrical side of fitting tow bars, particularly when there are computer software issues. Just go to a recognised independent fitter. He or she will be an awful lot cheaper and is probably the person your dealer would have used. It cannot affect the warranty. The tow bar fitted will be an approved one.

[FROSTYBALLS]

19 minutes ago, Donrald said:

It cannot affect the warranty.

Not quite.

If fitted to a new vehicle by the dealer (whether or not they sub-contract the work), the towbar will be covered by the full 3 year/60,000 mile new car warranty. 

If fitted outside the dealer network, the towbar will carry only the 1 year accessory warranty.

[Parts-King]

11 minutes ago, Donrald said:

 I know of some who charge well over £1000 more than the cost. 

It cannot affect the warranty. The tow bar fitted will be an approved one.

Don't be silly, who would buy that? Let's say the kit is £250 and they put £1000 on top, the customer pays £1250? Not up here they won't 😂😂😂

Says who? What approval? 

Yes your dealer can fit a tow bar, and yes he may sublet it out to an independent. If they do this I would ask for the tow bar and wiring kit to be supplied by the dealer (genuine) most bike racks now use a 13 pin socket. In my 45 years in the job wiring kits and their fitting can vary a lot. Cheap scotch lock fitted kits will cause a world of problems, a genuine wiring kit specific to the car with proper block connections will last for years. We get a lot of Hilux in here that have tow bars fitted by the lease companies "experts" They must be thrown on with minimum effort as they always have problems with water ingress into the wiring almost as soon as they go out the door, you do get what you pay for. A good independent tow bar fitter who has been around for years would be a good choice but stick with genuine parts if you can  

[SinglePointSafety]

Thanks everyone. My local dealer 'thinks' that for a car ordered from new with a towbar, it's fitted in the factory

When we've had a towbar retrofitted in the past via the dealer, it was always - always - carried out by a peripatetic towbar specialist at the dealer premises, and we paid him, not the dealer, but had the paperwork with the relevant official guarantee

As it happens, we're totally unable to locate a used Cross with the required spec, so will probably be ordering new with a factory-fit towbar. I've learned not to trust any ads run by Auto Trader - the cars shown don't exist ('just sold' or 'just reserved' or....) and are probably 'bait and switch'. One dealer I phoned (who was actually very helpful) said he really didn't know why these ads appeared nor who was placing them, having had to explain to several potential customers that the car in the ad (brand new and supposedly in stock) didn't exist and indeed had never been for sale at the dealership. 

[Parts-King]

It will be fitted at the import centre by Toyota, good choice

[Donrald]

Unless I really had no option I would not ask the dealer to fit a tow bar.  Nor would I ask the dealer to supply the tow bar.  I am fortunate to have a friend who fits tow bars and knows more about them and their fitting than the dealers. Hence they use him - and then slap on a big markup!

[pontypwl]

Just been quoted 1,123.96 by a Toyota dealer to install a Toyota branded tow bar (with electrics). Reasonable price, or do you know of any other alternative?

 

[SinglePointSafety]

If you look at eg the Towsure site, their quote for a detachable towbar, 13-pin electrics, all fitted, is much the same price as the dealer quote. The factory-fit horizontal detachable on my YC is actually a joy to use - easy access, very easy to install/remove the towball once you've done it a few times and learned how