Typically when we go camping, we go pretty spartan. A tent, a few sleeping bags and half a car of camping gear is all we really need. Late last year though, we decided to go a bit more “classy” and hired a caravan instead. It was a pleasant change. In order to pull the caravan though, I needed a new towbar installed on the jeep.
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.
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.
From there is was a simple comparison of the increments (between cheap and quality) with the prices of the items the towbar was looking after. So between the two bikes we own, there is about $6,000 worth of equipment to start with.
I didn’t know how much caravans were worth, I had to do some research on them to figure that one out. But I now know that you’ll be lucky to get anything under $5000 for a caravan and they actually go all the way up to about $120,000. That certainly is a “heavy” load for the towbar.
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 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.
Firstly, they have an accessory called a Weight Distribution Hitch. This important piece of equipment, when fitted properly, reduces the ball weight and therefore, the drag on the vehicle. If you are looking to save money on your towbar, think about this. Paying the extra dollars for this towbar and accessory will actually pay you back many times over down the track. Reducing the drag improves your fuel efficiency. That means that when you are towing, you use less fuel and save money at the bowser. This is an on-going saving, not the once off I was considering by going cheap with the 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.
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