Towbars - What To Consider When Looking To Purchase One
As a family, we love to drive off and go camping for weekends, or weeks at a time. We mostly keep it really simple, a tent, sleeping bags and a car full of provisions. Last year though, for a change, we decided to rent a caravan and do it that way. Not having a towbar on the jeep, I clearly needed to get one installed.
So I made my way down to All Vehicle Accessories (AVA) in Thomastown to get a cheap towbar installed. The cheaper it was the better it was as far as I was concerned. After all, we were about to go on holiday and I wanted to use my spending money there. Luckily for me, the guys at AVA were professional enough to talk me out of using price as a means of discriminating when choosing a towbar.
To begin with, they got me thinking about the types of things I wanted to tow. Obviously there was the caravan for the upcoming trip. Following on from that though, I'd probably buy some bike beaks too as my wife loves triathlons. We could take the bikes up to the Dandenongs for a ride.
They then showed me the value of the objects I was going to be towing. To start with, my bike is a bit of a cheapie. I only spent about $800 on it. My wife's though, well given her passion for triathlon training, she spent over $3000 for hers.
I ended up Googling caravan sales to get a feel for how much they are to buy. I didn't realise they were so expensive. I couldn't find anything for less than $5000 and I found quite a few which cost more than $100,000. You can buy property for that much... The one we rented was mid range, costing around $50,000 new. Its quite a "load" on the towbar when you think about it in those terms.
I was convinced. I had to change my attitude toward this towbar. If I was going to pay the money regardless, I may as well have it done properly. Instead of finding a cheap towbar, I realised I needed to find a quality towbar. Paying the few extra dollars didn't matter anymore, when taken in perspective with the items being towed.
Having a better idea of what I was looking for made the product choice a little bit easier. For example, did you know that Hayman Reece are the only towbar that comes with a lifetime warranty anywhere in Australia. Personally I think this speaks volumes for the quality of their products. They are clearly the only brand which fully trusts their own product. The great thing about Hayman Reece towbars too ,are the accessories you can get with them. They have accessories which make their towbars safer and work better with your vehicle.
They have this thing they call a "Weight Distribution Hitch". When applied to your towbar, this hitch actually reduces the drag on your vehicle by reducing ball weight. And you know what that means. By paying a little more for a quality towbar and weight distribution hitch, all of a sudden you are saving money on fuel, on tyre wear and all the other things that wear out faster when you are pulling something. So it actually is a dis-economy to go the cheaper option on a towbar.
They also sell this cool gadget called Sway Control. It basically keeps whatever you are pulling on the straight and narrow, despite high winds, trucks coming the other way etc. Have you ever seen those retired people who are pulling a caravan behind them when a truck drives past the other way. Have you ever seen how much their caravan swerves all over the road when this happens due to the blast of air. The sway control stops this happening to you, making for a safer and once again, more efficient trip. This is very important to me given my family will be sitting next to me in the Jeep.
This experience was a rare one for me. Usually when told I am wrong its like a red rag to a bull. The guys at AVA explained to me the importance of a quality towbar though, in a such a professional way that I didn't feel in the least bit miffed. At the end of the day, they are the experts and they were just helping me protect my family. - 21396
So I made my way down to All Vehicle Accessories (AVA) in Thomastown to get a cheap towbar installed. The cheaper it was the better it was as far as I was concerned. After all, we were about to go on holiday and I wanted to use my spending money there. Luckily for me, the guys at AVA were professional enough to talk me out of using price as a means of discriminating when choosing a towbar.
To begin with, they got me thinking about the types of things I wanted to tow. Obviously there was the caravan for the upcoming trip. Following on from that though, I'd probably buy some bike beaks too as my wife loves triathlons. We could take the bikes up to the Dandenongs for a ride.
They then showed me the value of the objects I was going to be towing. To start with, my bike is a bit of a cheapie. I only spent about $800 on it. My wife's though, well given her passion for triathlon training, she spent over $3000 for hers.
I ended up Googling caravan sales to get a feel for how much they are to buy. I didn't realise they were so expensive. I couldn't find anything for less than $5000 and I found quite a few which cost more than $100,000. You can buy property for that much... The one we rented was mid range, costing around $50,000 new. Its quite a "load" on the towbar when you think about it in those terms.
I was convinced. I had to change my attitude toward this towbar. If I was going to pay the money regardless, I may as well have it done properly. Instead of finding a cheap towbar, I realised I needed to find a quality towbar. Paying the few extra dollars didn't matter anymore, when taken in perspective with the items being towed.
Having a better idea of what I was looking for made the product choice a little bit easier. For example, did you know that Hayman Reece are the only towbar that comes with a lifetime warranty anywhere in Australia. Personally I think this speaks volumes for the quality of their products. They are clearly the only brand which fully trusts their own product. The great thing about Hayman Reece towbars too ,are the accessories you can get with them. They have accessories which make their towbars safer and work better with your vehicle.
They have this thing they call a "Weight Distribution Hitch". When applied to your towbar, this hitch actually reduces the drag on your vehicle by reducing ball weight. And you know what that means. By paying a little more for a quality towbar and weight distribution hitch, all of a sudden you are saving money on fuel, on tyre wear and all the other things that wear out faster when you are pulling something. So it actually is a dis-economy to go the cheaper option on a towbar.
They also sell this cool gadget called Sway Control. It basically keeps whatever you are pulling on the straight and narrow, despite high winds, trucks coming the other way etc. Have you ever seen those retired people who are pulling a caravan behind them when a truck drives past the other way. Have you ever seen how much their caravan swerves all over the road when this happens due to the blast of air. The sway control stops this happening to you, making for a safer and once again, more efficient trip. This is very important to me given my family will be sitting next to me in the Jeep.
This experience was a rare one for me. Usually when told I am wrong its like a red rag to a bull. The guys at AVA explained to me the importance of a quality towbar though, in a such a professional way that I didn't feel in the least bit miffed. At the end of the day, they are the experts and they were just helping me protect my family. - 21396
About the Author:
Damian Papworth realises the expense of quality towbars and bike racks are mimimal compared to the vehicles they are towing.
posted by X - Men @ 2:56 AM
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