On a recent family camping trip, we decided to go andquot;luxuryandquot;. So instead of packing tents, we hired a caravan. Almost belatedly I realised I'd need to get a towbar fitted to the jeep. (This was actually an accessory I'd wanted for ages, I just needed a good enough reason to convince my wife it was necessary). So I made my way down to All Vehicle Accessories (AVA) in South Melbourne with the intention of getting a cheap towbar installed. On arrival I was thinking the less money I spent on the towbar, the more I'd have for the holiday. In discussing these ideas with the AVA professionals though, I quickly learned just how silly this attitude was.
They were actually pretty good about it. What they did was show me the nominal cost increments between cheap and expensive towbars. They pointed out that this piece of equipment was all that was protecting whatever it was I was towing. In my case, obviously I wanted to tow the caravan on the trip we were taking. But I also intended buying some bike racks as my wife loves triathlon. Bike racks would be really helpful on those early morning trips into the hills for a training session. 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 had no idea how much caravans cost to buy so I had to look it up. Boy they are expensive. The cheapest I could find was $5000 and I have to say, it was pretty ordinary. I found many nice ones well in excess of $100,000. That's a crazy lot of money to trust to a cheap towbar. The conversation really changed my opinion on the type of towbar I needed. When you really start thinking about the value of the goods you are towing, from bikes, to caravans, to boats, its a bit silly scrimping and saving on the only piece of equipment that is holding it to the vehicle. Its certainly a risk I decided not to take. I'd upgraded my preferences on quality lines. Instead of going cheap I decided I wanted as robust and safe a towbar I could get.
Having decided that, I delved further into the different towbars on offer. I was surprised to find out that there was only 1 towbar in Australia that offers a lifetime guarantee. Only Hayman Reese has that much faith in their own product. I thought that was a really interesting fact. So looking further at the Hayman Reece products, I also found 2 excellent accessories that really help with safety and efficiency.
They have this thing they call a andquot;Weight Distribution Hitchandquot;. 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.
I have to thank the guys at AVA for their help on this one. They gave me perspective, an understanding that finding the cheapest towbar is probably not the cheapest way to tow and ensured my tow set up was as safe as it could be. What more could you ask for?

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