LR one every time. As already stated they will try to blame any future problems on the wiring and with the electronics in todays vehicles its not worth the risk.But thats only my opinion.

I went for a witter detatchable from an after market fitters, superb job, had minor prob with the relay but was rectified, 13pin electrics, no bumper cut, and towball cleaned of paint and degreased to suit the van's stabiliser, £495 all in. Think as previously said its a get some quotes and make the decision. Mines a 1500kg single axle and tows superbly.
Jay Set low standards and constantly fail to achieve them!!!!!!!!!!!
Sleep Deprivation Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi

I went on the Witter site and had one fitted in Kirkcaldy by one of their approved fitters. Excellent job , no probs with electrics. Supplied and fitted for £350.

Cheers

I guess experience varies. Having checked out the aftermarket price it is not much different when you add in the dedicated harness.

I'm still not convinced that dealers are any better than the professionals - as I said my experience was of a bodged dealer fit (Honda) where the problems were blamed on my van. Eventually the local expert recommended by my caravan dealer actually showed me what had been done wrongly and wrote it up so I could try and claim the cost of the repair back from Honda. They only gave me some money when I told them I was going to send the report to the Caravan Club for inclusion in their magazine.

On a related note would people suggest getting single socket electrics now and rewire my current van or get double socket electrics now and change the towbar wiring in a few years time when I change the van?

Have earlier this year changed mine from 12N and 12S to the single 13 Pin which seems a much better connection. I still need a standard 12N socket to take a standard 12SN Plug better a simple inline adapter solved that. I did run for a year with the 12S & 12N Plugs to convert to the Trailer 13 Pin but it gave me about 12 inches of extra length to lose plus extra plugs and sockets and the more connections you have the more risk of faults. I have a Detachable Towbar which is almost hidden away and only one 13 Pin Plug to be seen it keeps the rear of your Freely tidier. IMHO

My experience with the dealer here in North Suffolk is that they did a good job on fitting towbar and electrics. I doubt they farmed it out. There were no problems with it and the caravan (12N & 12S version). Using the LR dedicated kit and dealer coding gives you a reassuring 'trailer indicator' in the dash that flashes in unison with the indicators.

I got the removable but would probably have chosen the fixed swan neck had I known the sockets remained so visible.

There aren't that many towbar fitters in this area, fewer that I'd trust. I now realise that the LR stealer's price wasn't entirely exorbitant: I've changed to a Galaxy and had a removable towbar and 13-pin electrics fitted by a NTTA member. Excellent job and they coded the car too - but it was over £600. Still it is invisible when removed.

Skypilot617: The answer depends on whether you definitely plan to replace the caravan while you have the new car or not... or if you thik 13-pin will be 'better'...

I went for 13-pin this time and I changed the 12N and 12S plugs for a 13-pin plug with a two-cable entry grommet from ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...2121wt_698 They supplied a table of wire colours etc.,. and it was simple enough to do - but you do have to be careful to ensure that no stray wires can short between pins/fixing screws in the plug. Start with the 12N then progress on to the 12S wires.

Depending on your caravan make you can get a replacement wiring loom with 13-pin plug. (Sargent do them for Swift vans) OR you can buy the correct 12 core cable from Sargent and make your own. If using the cable there is a 'right end' and 'wrong end' to connect to the plug apparently (all to do with the cables matching up with the pins without any cross-overs).

The 13-pin arrangement is meant to be better, but my towbar fitters said they still give problems and my FL2's plug/socket arrangement had no signs of overheating in the two years we used it.

Firestar, thanks for a full reply.

I think I'll go for the single socket option and get the plug or wiring harness on the van changed. It is a 2007 Swift so should be easy enough. Not likely to change it for 2 years (need to pay for the SD4 first!) but probably in the time I have the car.