If there are “non auto “ tow bars avaiable in the Audi list of accessories the dealer would arrange supply, and often they are fitted by third party techs, but the Audi warranty is maintained. Anyway Van Fisher seems to be aware and is taking action wrt the Dealer’s stonewalling.
"Invalidating the warranty" is almost always sales BS - a third party towbar can't invalidate the warranty, or compromise CRA rights unless it is the cause of the problem - which since towbars need to be type-approved is extremely unlikely.
I think the reference is to the electrical wiring as that could affect the car's software. We were told the same about fitting a dashcam, but the Nextbase dashcam connection power source is simply replacing a like for like fuse. A lower spec dashcam fitting was £650, but buying a higher spec dashcam direct from Nextbase and them fitting the camera, cost us over £200 less!
Not sure about most cars pre-wired for the electrical towing connection? No way is the dealer paying the labour cost. It is always the consumer that pays for the labour plus the extra profit that the dealer is making on labour for the fitting.
If the towbar is dealer and not factory fitted it doesn’t count as factory fitted, especially in the case of German car manufacturers. This is because in their home market, the manufacturer issues the V5c equivalent with the car as it leaves the factory and towbars have to be entered into that document there. This procedure avoids the need to have the registration document amended later if the towbar is dealer fitted.
I think what Birdman is saying is that effectively the dealer may sub contract a specialist technician solely to fit the Maker supplied towbar. IE Labour services only. Of course at the end of the day the charges fall to the customer. But when I bought a maker supplied tow bar for Volvo it was an all inclusive price in the Volvo catalogue including fitting. But it wasn’t fitted by the Volvo dealership.
Times have probably changed a lot since you bought your Volvo due to the software in cars being so technically advanced and incompatible with normal fitting. Maybe for new cars the wiring between the 13pin socket and the pre-wired car connection is specific to that car and may not be readily available?
My friend bought a Tucson last year and the tow bar was part of the order, but it was fitted in the dealership by a local NTTA company. Tow functions aren’t that new my two Subaru Foresters had them in 2014. What they didn’t have was the all singing and dancing reversing aid, but a trailer stability assist was OEM and caravan bulb failure indication too.. Met my needs.
In many cases it depends whether a new car is built to order or just allocated from manufacturers unsold stock - judging by the number of new cars stored at ports ready for draw-down, the majority of cars sold new in the UK are the latter and towbars requested as "factory-fit" are actually fitted subsequent to original build.
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