It’s the first of May and a Bank holiday weekend here in the UK. Many of our customers are hooking up their caravans and heading for a relaxing break, or attaching their cycle carriers and having a family day out on theor bikes.
Unfortunatly we are still getting calls from people who are not getting away because their tow bar electrics are either not working or are faulty, and as usual they can’t get in touch with the person who fitted thier towbar. We can’t ephasise enough the importance of getting your tow bar fitted by a reputable company and getting a written guarantee.
We are unable to help when someone elses customer’s towbar wiring is faulty, as the damage may be more than just a loose cable. (We’ve seen a few cases where cheap wiring and badly fitted tow bar electrics has caused the vehicle’s body controler to fail, resulting in costing the customer over a thousand pounds for the dealer to replace and re-program.)
The best way to make sure your tow bar wiring is reliable is to make sure the person fitting the wiring is experianced, to make sure that you are paying a reasonable price, please don’t call tow bar fitting companies asking for the cheapest possible price, and also… if your car is less than 10 years old… always have vehicle specific wiring fitted. Most reputable companies will fit this as standard, but always ask to make sure. Plus make sure you get a guarantee.
If you”re one of our customers then you will know that all of our supply and fit towbars and electrics come with a written FREE vehicle lifetime guarantee.
Fitting Delays
There’s a shortage of vehicle specific wiring throughout the motor industry, due to the war in Ukraine. (Vehicle wiring looms are manufactured in Ukraine and Poland.) This has caused delays in getting stock for all tow bar companies. Fortunatly we have quite a few popular wiring kits on stock and are buying the stock we can source, meaning that in most cases we aren’t experiancing the delays other tow bar fitting companies are seeing.
Price Increases
It’s getting to be common place that each month manufacturers and suppliers of tow bars and vehicle wiring kits are increasing their prices. This month it’s dedicated wiring kits seeing a price increase of around eight percent plus VAT. This might not sound like a great amount but in reality it’s adding around £20 to the retail price. We’re holiding our price increases while we can.
We will hopefully be adding a new vehicle specific wiring supplier on board within the next few weeks. This should give us the ability to offer a wider range of wiring kits, in particular for the electric vehicle market and give us more flexibility when we need kits that are out of stock in the UK. We will be busing direct from the manufacturer, so we hope that we can keep one step in front of the never ending price increases.
Electric Vehicle Towbars
This month we will be adding electric vehicle tow bars to our website for customers to purchase directly, or for supply and fitting. As more electric vehicles are being purchased the need for EV towbars is increasing. Although a couple of suppiers are now starting to add EV towbars to their portfolio many of them are general motor retailers with zero knowledge about tow bars or tow bar vehicle wiring. We’ve heard horror stories where the vehicle owner has purchased a tow bar and the fitter has used bypass wiring, resulting in the vehicle shutting down the ECU and the customer being left with what is basically an expensive ornament on their drive. If you have an electric vehilce and need a towbar then make sure there’s an approved wiring kit for it.
Trivia…
Ever wondered why the word Mayday are used in emergency radio calls for help?
Frederick Mockford, was a senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London when he came up with the idea for using the word “mayday” for an emergency broadcast word to draw attention due to it sounding similar the French word m’aider, that translates to “help me.”
If you’re looking to have a tow bar fitted, to buy a tow bar for an eletric vehicle, or need a vehicle specific dedicated wiring kit then get in touch.
For a tow bar fitting price visit our main page and you will find the links to get a quote https://www.ultimatetowbars.co.uk/
Happy Towing
Team Utimate Towbars.
