Tow bar manufacturers like Westphalia sell tow bars for C1s so there is no doubt that they can be fitted. I’ve come across a dealer being unhappy about fitting a tow bar once before and that was for a much larger car. A colleague liked the VW badged cycle carrier that I used with my Golf and decided to get one for his Passat. He did not have a tow bar so tried to arrange for that to be fitted at the same time as he picked up the cycle rack. The VW garage said, No. We asked why not. They replied that although the Passat was a big car its 1.6 litre Turbo Diesel engine wasn’t up to towing a caravan and that my colleague needed a more powerful car. After a bit of persuading they did back down but I don’t think that they were happy doing so.
As has been pointed out go to Feu Vert or Roady and ask them about getting a tow bar fitted.
The only tow bars I have seen for these little cars are those that then take the Bike carrier…
Does anyone know what weight the C1 can legally tow (including trailer) … ???
It will doubtless relate to a percentage of the car’s weight… or something like that I suppose… but I have no idea what that is/would be…
Thank you all for your replies seems it is the stopping power of a small car with a full trailer that counts even though you can get towbars to fit will invalidate your insurance
Hi David… thanks for that clarification. Makes sense when you think about it. Even a small trailer can be quite weighty, depending on what someone puts in it…
So, what car are you looking at now ??
The official towing capacity of a Citroen C1 is 712kg. As most small trailers are limited to 500kg they can be used quite safely. There are even some small lightweight caravans that fit into this category! Some degree of common sense would need to be taken into consideration when towing but that applies to all vehicles.
In France most vehicle insurance includes cover for a trailer up to 500kg, go and talk to your insurance company and see what they say, will they provide cover for a small trailer? If so you have got nothing to worry about. I used Westphalia as my example in my previous post as their products are made to comply with the German TüV. That classification would prevent them from producing a product that was unsafe for use on the road.
As you say Dave, common sense, I had a ‘Nevada’ for hauling Brico’ materials around, and a load of sand etc in the trailer, dramatically affected the braking capacity, of even that fairly heavy car
Hi Stella looking for lhd 1.2/1.5 cc manual petrol up to 6000e
You can check the “trailer-weight” link to work out which cars might be best in your situation…
If you’ve something to trade-in (or even if you haven’t) its worth chatting with the local independent garages as well as the “big names” around you…
Buy a car from your local garagiste and you will gain a friend for life… 
Other than that… Le Bon Coin…
You don’t say where you are David.
I have seen some recently advertised on a selling group on FB. ie; Citroen C2 -€2,200
Balledent 87290
2006 white LHD Citroen C2 61,000km very good condition 22 months CT.
CHEVROLET AVEO -€4,250
Saint-Maurice-la-Souterraine
for sale chevrolet aveo, 2010
super condition, GPL et essence. new CT 27.04.2020. 61000km .4.250 euros ono
As Stella says, the smaller local garages are a good bet. They often know what will be ‘coming in’ for part exchange against a new car. Also you will get at least a 3 month guarantee and usually all the paperwork done for you 
Sorry I am in Chef-Boutonne in the Deux-Sevres have tried all local garages within 40 klicks now car gone kaput very tricky now
A long way from here David…good luck !
Have you been to all the garages in and around Angoulême and Niort? In my town less than 40km from Chef Boutonne the local garages have cars within your price range.
We have a tow bar on our Citroen Dyane…
I’ve not got a trailer or tow bar but do like an Estate for My Border Collies…picking up family and luggage from the airport and diy trips to the bricolage…but I just wanted to reiterate Stella’s suggestion about having a friend for life if you buy from a local garagiste…mine is wonderful…all the headache of the paperwork sorted and he’s starting the process for scrapping my uk RHD next week…prochaine semaine…(he corrected me gently on my clumsy pronunciation of next week and my son corrected him on his pronunciation of “polo”…(my son’s car)…hilarious and heartwarming…but as Stella says…,.friends for life now…The price for mine was well under your budget and comparable to uk for the make and model…) x
Hi, if the car is now kaput as you say, thank goodness you didn’t put a towbar on you could have killed yourself . . . . .
The car I was asking about was the new one I plan to get - not the one that has now retired!!! Thank you very much Terry.
I saw a tow bar on a latest model Renault Twingo this evening. You don’t get much smaller than that.
on the front? I 'ope 
Hi, I have just bought a Skoda Fabia, 999cc petrol, 1541kg in weight, and 2341kg max allowed weight of vehicle plus a trailer/caravan. An 800Kg trailer is my limit.
You can read the carte grise for this info - F2 is the unladen weight of the vehicl, and F3 is the max allowed weight of vehicle plus a trailer/caravan. This will give a pretty fair indication of just what you can do, and as Dave artin points out, most small trailers are limited to 500kg .
Here is a handy page of what regulations and whether you need a carte grise for a trailer/caravan…