Tow bars and trailers

[crossy67]

Hi all.

What is the term for a tow bar?  I have tried barre de remorquage but all I can find is the solid bar used to tow cars, not what we know as a towbar.  Whilst I am here, where would I be likely to find one close-ish?

And one final question if I may.

Are there places I could hire a trailer from, do such places exist? 

I have a cellar full of rubble and have spoken to a really nice chap who has a truck but the dechetery wants €80 a m3 from him as he is in a commercial vehicle.  My thinking is get a tow bar, hire a trailer (or buy a cheap one if I can find one) and move it in that using his labour to help get it in and out of the trailer.  This way when I create more mess I can clear it up as I go along.

Thanks.

Ian

[dave21478]

Towbar = Attache remorque  or  attelage   or   boule d'attelage, although this mainly refers just to the ball itself rather than the whole frame.

Plenty places hire trailers - there are a couple in my nearest city. Look for locaton remorque online or in yellow pages.

Buying a cheap one here in France means buying some rotten old piece of shit with no paperwork and probably no floor. Decent, useable second hand trailers are so expensive, the prices will make you weep. Buying new is not much better. Something that I would consider a usefull general size ie 4' x 6' bed, twin axle with sides maybe 2' high will set you back nigh on a thousand euros from most places. It should also be noted that most trailers this size are only rated to 499kgs (or is it 749? I cant remember off-hand) to avoid the need for a carte gris and insurance - despite having axles rated able to potentially carry much more weight. This also means they are un-braked.

[crossy67]

Nice one.  Thanks a lot for that Dave.  I can now start searching.  I am aware of the 750kg limit (I think) and need to read a bit more on it.  I also remember if you have a French licence you need trailers listed on it or something of that nature, I have a UK one so I didn't worry too much about the details :-).

Leclerc have a big trailer for €600 if I recall.

[sid]

You can hire trailers from Kiloutou for example  http://www.kiloutou.fr/Location/Location-Transport/Location-Remorque/Location-Remorque-basculante-CU-360-kg

That one will take a load of 360kg... not an awful lot if you're shifting rubble, and of course it depends how far you're going to have to take it. No brakes so the car takes the strain.

I have a similar trailer bought several years ago, just a little bigger than that one and it has been indispensible but for moving rubble I would get someone else with a lorry; it's back-breaking work and takes ages otherwise. Oh, and a lot of these trailers have a tipping facility (basculante); impossible to use when it's got a full load, just too heavy to tip!! So you have to fill it at home and then shovel it all out at the dechetterie! From experience it's worth paying the extra and have someone shift the stuff in a day!

 

[Chancer]

Just to confirm that the laden weight limit for an unregistered trailer is 500kg, the ones with twin axles actually have a lower payload than the single axle ones [:-))]

Towbars are also expensive here, a friend has asked me to get him one in the UK, the cheapest he can find here is €200 for the bar only, no ball, no electrics plus the frais de port, I was surprised to see how much they have gone up in the UK, Towsure were always about £35 all in but i am going back some, the bar for his car in my 2006 catalogue was £55 it is now just under £100, the same part number, its not one of the  EU conforming ones.

Does anyone know who is cheap now for towbars in the UK, I have found some E-bay sellers at about the same price but with the ball, electrics and delivery thrown in, is there a better/cheaper mail order outlet?

[nomoss]

I believe towbars are supposed to be homologated for the particular car here, and fitted by approved installers. Mine both have ID plates riveted on them, but don't seem to be on the Carte Grise. I guess you can always remove it for the CT, but you might just get checked on the road.

I borrow a tipper truck from a builder friend on Saturdays to take large amounts to the dechetterie. They are not worried there that it is a commercial vehicle, as it is my rubbish and they know where I come from, as I take smaller loads in my own trailer. That may be an option for you if you have the correct licence and insurance cover.

[crossy67]

Thanks for the info and the links.

My local dechetery is only about 3-4k from us so not far.  I have had a price of someone with a lorry to shift the rubble, his quote for moving it was very reasonable.  Problem is the dechetery want €80/m3 as he is a business.  I have 4ish (maybe 3, maybe 5) so I could quite easily get to €500 where as with a trailer and towbar I could get it done for €200-250 and I will still have the bar for further rubble and I won't have to pay for tipping it.

Good to hear you can hire trailers easily enough though thanks.  I am happy to risk not having electrics with a small trailer over such a short distance, people should be able to see my lights if the trailer's quite small.

[pitway]

It is a few years ago, but I bought a towbar for my peugeot from Towequipe (link below) I saved a fortune even  having it sent to france

Ordered and paid online, it arrived in just under 3 days! being heavy some of the packaging had split and a part had got lost, phoned them up and explained which part was missing and they dispatched a replacement bit no quibble!

Total cost from memory was about 124 quid! including 48hr delivery, took it to Auto leclercs they fitted it for about 60 euros. A whole lot better than the 300+ euros I was quoted from the garage for the towbar only!! fitting extra!!

http://www.towequipe.co.uk/

[sid]

I bought my towbar and electric kit whilst on a visit to UK; it was considerably cheaper than anything here. Also I wanted a detachable ball... it's neater and you don't keep banging your knees on it in the dark!!

I used this firm http://www.towbarsdirect.co.uk/homepage.htm and collected the whole package while I was "oop t'north"; it was handy for me but there are plenty of other suppliers.

As stated previously by another poster, towbars have to be certified now and you can't for example put a secondhand towbar on a newer car. There are other regulations too which I can't find at the moment.

I have had towbars on my cars for over 30 years and have plenty of experience of fitting them. It's not difficult to fit the actual towbar these days as they all have to be manufactured to fit the mounting points built into the car by the vehicle manufacturer. The more complicated part is for the electrics; many (most?) cars now use electronics in their wiring systems (multiplexing). It's not too difficult if you just want trailer lighting, but if you're fitting feeds for auxiliary power, like a supply for a fridge on a caravan, then it's more complicated.

I always use Witter bars.

[Anton Redman]

For prices keep and eye on the local publicity. If the car is a popular French model local Max Auto, Feur Verte, Renault or PSA outlets frquently have offers. I paid well under € 180 fitted.

[AnOther]

[quote user="Chancer"]Just to confirm that the laden weight limit for an unregistered trailer is 500kg, the ones with twin axles actually have a lower payload than the single axle ones [:-))][/quote]Yeah, in theory [blink]

I recently bought one of these which was on special offer at Castorama in Toulouse http://www.trigano-remorques.com/trelgo/VA853DE_T.html

If you click Voir les déclinaisons de ce modèle you'll note that each axle is rated at 500kg and with the exception of the weight specs and the brakes all 4 models are absolutely identical in every respect !

I of course scrupulously ensure that mine never goes a single gramme over 500kg [Www]