Hi Boris
Back in 2012 I had a towbar fitted by the dealer on a new Tiguan. The contractor that fitted it made a complete balls up of it. They did not fit a genuine wiring kit and all the lighting on the caravan was all wrong.
I contacted another well know towbar fitter in Manchester and they said then that the Tiguan needed a genuine wiring kit. I took it in to them and it was sorted no problem whatsoever after that. I know this is 6 years ago but that was my experience of not having the correct wiring kit.

 

There is other posts on here regarding retrofit towbars Vw does not update software for them ?? Think they have to go back to supplier to get software updates might be better getting dedicated

 

Even when I got a dedicated one fitted my Tiguan had Lane Assist. When they put the dedicated harness on it knocked out Lane Assist as it was quite a new function on VW's at the time. The company who fitted the dedicate harness rectified this by contacting VW and all was it needed a new code.

 

I don't think the trailer stability system would work with out the dedicated harness, and the rear sensors wouldn't be disabled.

 

Thanks for you help guys.

I will be going for the dedicated wiring!

And I don't think £650 is too bad, I have heard it's £1000+ with VW?

 

£850 I was quoted by vw.
I have gone for buying and fitting my own (£150) and then getting a tow bar specialist to wire and code it with a dedicated kit (£250).

 

I've paid £730 for factory fit, and there's a discount on that.
Interestingly when I look at a Kodiak tow bar was over £800 from memory.

I don't think £730 is expensive as my last towbar a detachable for the Mazda CX-5 was £450 back in 2013, with out dedicated electrics.

 

I agree with xtrailman, VW tow bar would be best fitted by VW.

There are special codes only available from VW that need to be programmed into the car.
Even if the independent fitter codes it VW won't update the codes as they didn't fit the tow bar ( there is a thread on here about that)

Many things happen when your caravan is connected, for example the ACC changes and pin 9 is switched on for caravan atc.

 

Why is it so expensive?