New Skoda Not Approved To Tow - Buyer Beware

Thanks for posting this. We are currently looking for a Skoda to tow. One main dealer was exceptionally blurry about towing but another took me through the pricing and spec sheets and showed me where to look as some models were clearly marked 'not homologated for towing' but it would easily be missed if it hadn't been pointed out. He also gave me the info about 'tow bar prep' that is the same as in your post whilst the other dealer told me it must be carried out by Skoda.

Have you taken this up with the Technical People in the Club? They always seem to use various Skoda models for their TCOY.

Maybe they should be made aware of this, even if only to inform members in the magazine.

We were thinking of using a Skoda Superb Estate but the weight limits let it down so I never got around to talking about towbars with the sales people.

Not taken this up yet with technical, I'll wait to see what happens tomorrow with the dealer.  Two options they can replace the car VIN plate (unlikely) or change it (no idea what for, not many New Octavia's in stock in the UK). 

To be clear this happens with many manufacturers and specific variants of model ranges. There was a recent thread about Mercedes C class with some versions certified for towing and others not. Just because one version of an Octavia isn’t certified doesn’t mean they are all affected. It can even apply to something with the same engine but different trim/suspension.

TCOY vehicles are what manufacturers put forward (  from info) for each class not chosen by the club?

Yes I realise that JVB.

It's been mentioned by the OP and by Flatcoat that there may be certain models within the range tested by the club that won't be able to have a towbar fitted, so if a member sees that Skoda XYZ model has been tested and given a good write up but decides to buy a variant on XYZ model as he assumes there will not be a problem then he could be making an expensive mistake.

The issue is made worse by the Skoda configurator on there website. It could in theory be possible to spec a vehicle with tow bar prep and tow bar as a factory fit that could not be built. I recall when I ordered my 2014 Yeti I could spec an item on my vehicle that was unavailable

Colin

Hello!

Just been caught out with the same issue. Same Skoda Octavia model. Dealer agreed to arrange a towbar fit once the vehicle arrived as part of the sale. The fitter then tells me the 0kg rating means a towbar can't be fitted.

I find it incredible that a car that wins in categories for 'towing car of the year' has this problem linked to it and even the dealers don't seem to know there's an issue.

A case now logged with Skoda by the dealer so I wait to see what the outcome is. Not keen on the VIN plate being changed as I think the problem is more fundamental than that so it will be a car exchange that I'll be looking for here.

Interested to know if you had a result, Chris?

Trish

Trish,

Sorry to hear about your problem. I was supposed to have my towbar fitted on the 16th April but as you know from the tail of woe above the fitter couldn't fit due to the 0KG Gross Train Weight issue.

Went straight over to the Skoda Dealer who didn't know anything about the issue with GTW but did admit that I had mentioned that I wanted to tow a caravan to which he said the Octavia would tow up to 1500KG (way over the 85% by the way!). To cut a long story short, the dealer has taken back the car and replaced it with another as Skoda will not change the VIN Plate. It is costing me a little more per month as I've had to go for an SE First Edition Diesel (2.0TDI) as against the SEL TSI Petrol as it seems that mainly the Diesels that have a GTW quoted if the car is not fitted with Towbar Prep at the factory. For some reason the Towbar Prep (two wiring looms from the passenger dashboard fuse box area to the boot) make all the difference. Apparently there are no cooling or any other mods for the UK market (but worth double checking that). The Towbar Prep option costs about £200 when ordered from factory build, you will be lucky to find one with this option from UK stock! My dealer has said that they plan to order Towbar Prep for all cars for their stock from now but these won't be available for many months yet. One issue I did find is that with COVID impacting supply chains, there isn't a great deal of stock out there. Worth noting that the Towbar fitter mentioned he had the same issue last week with a customer with a Hyundai Hybrid.

So basically, it took TWO weeks to arrange the car swap, the dealer paid for the private plate swap and sorted the new service plan out at their expense.

Today (7th May) I've been back to the Towbar fitter to have a fixed Swan Neck and 13 Pin Dedicated electrics fitted (£435 inc VAT). I'm bringing the van home in a few days from storage so we will see how it works (need to get a few more miles on the new engine first). 

Please, please, be aware of this before signing for your new cars. It's not just Skoda!

Let us know how you get on Trish. Hope your dealer is as proactive as mine.

When we looked at the Skoda Superb PHEV we were informed we had to specify the towbar preparation kit for type approval