Hi
I have a lot of branches and garden stuff to get rid of. Yes I can burn it like the rest of my "farming" neighbours or I can take it down to the dechetterie.
Depending on size but trailers can be bought new from about 400 to 500 Euros.
Off to my car dealer, Audi, to be told that the attachment that links the trailer to the car would cost 1,400 Euros. Basically a bit of metal with some wires that link into the car system.
I was absolutely gob smacked!
Does anyone know of a company that does this type of work that might be a fraction of 1,400 Euros.
Thanks
Peter
PS Every time a type 1,400 Euros I go back to the Devis to make sure I have not misread it!
I have a 2013 A4 Avant, I had the Audi spec tow are fitted here in the UK by a firm called Toys for Boys in Plymouth Devon it would have been nearly a grand at Audi. IT WAS £612. There is a lot more to it the just chucking a bar on the back. Admittedly I went for the detachable tow ball one but the wiring loom makes up nearly half of the price. It may depend on what year and model Audi, but on mine there is a box section behind the bumper which is removed and the towbar goes in its place. If you have a uk reg car it has to be legal in the UK and that means only type approved tow bars may be fitted.
Hi all
I have been as always overwhelmed with great idea, some I had not considered and some I did not know.
All I have to do is work out what is best for us.
For the last 10 years we have been restoring the inside and whilst keeping the garden sort of tidy left it to itself. Big mistake!!
I have about 50 metres of Laurel bush about 6 to 7 metres high and as wide to be cut down into a manageable hedge, plus about, haven't counted them recently, 25 fruit trees seeking to touch the sky and that is besides the normal collection of shrubs that we planted that need their annual prune.
Ah well, we did choose this house and location so cannot complain too much but then I was just a slip of a lad and now ...
Thanks
Peter
A 'broyeur de végétaux' can be bought fairly reasonably priced through Amazon.fr, Priceminster and so on. A broyeur can also be hired quite easily.
They repaired the existing one, checked all the wiring through the car itself, so it took longer than fitting a new one. There was no charge for the new parts, just an hours labour. I thought it was a good deal.
Peter how about a garden shredder? cost less than the towbar let alone the trailer and once shredded it's good garden mulch for the soil. No CT needed for a shredder.
3hours! I should hope they only charged for 1, could have fitted a new "thingy" in 30mins
whereabouts are you please, as my son is a mobile mechanic and could advise you
Hi! We bought our trailer at feu vert. We already had a towbar on our Audi, and the thingy for the electrics......towbar was fine, but the connectors inside the electric thingybhad all corroded. They were marvellous, took the car into the workshop, stripped it all down, repaired the part and although they worked on it for nearly three hours, they only charged an hours labour! So, my advice would be to go to!feu vert, ask about a tow bar etc and see if they can give a good deal for the lot.
We are lucky enough to live in a no-burn area. Not even in the middle of winter, no garden fires of ANY type!!
Just burn it like everybody else or if you want to do the right thing find a corner and put it there to rot. But then there is the permaculture method which my potter neighbour has just stated to some success.
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
worth a try
We have a little Renault 4L with a tow bar for those tip runs. cheap and fun.
I had a new tow bar fitted to my e class merc while I was in the UK a while ago. It was done by a proper third party outfit and reluctantly agreed to the £400 price tag. Thing is..... As an ex-mechanic I was amazed with the amount of work required to fit it.
The guy doing the job was well versed on what needed to be done and was very speedy as he zoomed around the back of the car. Even so it still took him nearly 3 hours to fit it all. I am very good at doing things like this and if I were fitting one on a car like this for the first time I could well see it taking a whole weekend to do.
Pulling the arse off of a modern car is a really big job and a huge alloy cross-member had to be removed from the back of the chassis and replaced with an even bigger one in steel. In fact it was so big, even though I wanted to take away the old alloy cross-member so I could re-use the material in my workshop, I couldn't get it in the car and had to leave it behind.
I did not even ask Mercedes how much they wanted to fit one. :/
If you buy the parts, then take it to your normal service garage it is cheaper. Reckon with about €600 all told. As John says, man with a van is cheaper,in fact allowing for inflation it is about a decade's worth of savings by not getting the trailer and tow hook, which if you change car you need to do all over again :-(
Going to your Audi dealer is the most expensive way to get a tow bar and electrics. Go to one of the auto specialists like Feu Verte or Roady and get a quote from them. It will still probably cost €6-900. There is a bit more to a towbar than a bit of metal and a few wires, the bar that you use to take your cuttings to the tip has to be capable of towing caravans and larger trailers as well. If it’s a once a year decheterie trip that you need it would be cheaper to ask a friend or put an advert on a local site for a man with a van.