Towbar, rear parking sensors and excise duty

[Alzibiff]

I have just placed an order for an NX - standard model with Premium Pack and Panoramic roof. I also asked for a towbar despite it disappearing as an accessory from the Lexus website "build an NX" pages.

As this is a genuine factory fitted accessory, I am assuming that the wiring harness and electronics will disable the rear parking sensors when anything is attached to the towbar - is this a reasonable assumption? At the moment, I have a third party fitted towbar to my current car, (not a LEXUS), and whenever I load my Thule ebike carrier onto the back of the car and put it into reverse, not surprisingly the rear parking sensors start beeping away and I am hoping that with genuine LEXUS parts, this will not happen.

On the same subject, the factory fitted option at £650 takes my car above the £40K list price figure and will cost me an extra £310 in road tax compared to not specifying this on my new car order - makes it a very expensive towbar! Can such towbars be fitted by the dealer after the car has been bought? (Can't think why not although there may be some reason for such things being specified as factory fitted).

[NemesisUK]

Must admit to thinking these accessories were all dealer fitted even when optioned at purchase?

A quick phone call to your dealer needed?

[Alzibiff]

Thank you. Got a reply back from the dealer just now. To have the towbar fitted at the factory is £650 - and this takes the list price to just over the £40K VED mark but to have it fitted by the dealer is a whopping £1150! All down to the fact that they have to remove a lot of the back end in order to do the job and then of course put it back again. Somewhere in the order of 5 hours labour.

Kept the order as a factory fitted accessory - will cost me more in the long run with road tax after the second year of ownership but I would prefer the car to be delivered to me without anybody - no matter how competent - having taken it to pieces first!

[vu5ter]

Thank you. Got a reply back from the dealer just now. To have the towbar fitted at the factory is £650 - and this takes the list price to just over the £40K VED mark but to have it fitted by the dealer is a whopping £1150! All down to the fact that they have to remove a lot of the back end in order to do the job and then of course put it back again. Somewhere in the order of 5 hours labour.
Kept the order as a factory fitted accessory - will cost me more in the long run with road tax after the second year of ownership but I would prefer the car to be delivered to me without anybody - no matter how competent - having taken it to pieces first!

Thanks for the feedback was looking at getting this done but probably not now

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[pobrown]

I’ll try to remember to check when I get home. My 2018 NX had the detachable tow bar fitted by a Lexus dealer after it was a month old. The invoice may still be in the paperwork but it was definitely lower than £1000 fitted. This was carried out by the original owner so I may not have kept the paperwork - I bought the car at 5 months old. 

[pobrown]

The previous owner of my NX paid £700 to have the detachable tow bar fitted by the dealer - see photos

 

 

[olliesgrandad]

Just a thought - are you sure that the towbar is factory fitted in Japan and not fitted before going to the dealer in the UK. 

I mention this because living in Gloucestershire I know that a lot of modifications are carried out at Mitsubishi HQ in Cirencester before the cars go to the dealerships. 

Wonder if it's the same with Toyota vehicles. If that's the case then might be prudent to get dealer fitment 

[Alzibiff]

Thank you both (above) for the replies.

Before the towbar disappeared from the "Build your car" thing on the LEXUS website sometime over the last weekend, I recall that its price was £650 for both the 7 pin connector and the 13 pin one which I need. The photo posted by pobrown it certainly appears that there has been a massive price hike over the last year. 

As for being "sure" that the towbar is factory fitted in Japan, I can only go with what my dealer tells me. As for the price for fitting when the car is over here, I assume that the layout figure - amounting to £500 is derived from a LEXUS computer system which specifies the time taken for various jobs - in this case dealer fitting of a part which retails at £650.

I have no real alternative but to trust the dealership to be honest - this will be my first LEXUS having been a loyal MAZDA man for something like 28 years. (I am replacing one Mazda and keeping my MX5).

[azuldiamondavid]

I installed my towbar after I bought the car from Lexus.  It was part of a deal but the car was second hand. Price was around £600 I think.

It's a great tow bar.  you can take it off and you see nothing on the back of the car but a small square piece of metal underneath the car.

 I did post some pictures on this forum a few months ago.

Cheers!

[ColinBarber]

Here is the installation guide, looks quite a bit of work so understand the cost of retro fitting at a Lexus dealer.

Final_NX_Towing Hitch Detachable_PZ408_X2550_00_AIM 004_185_1.pdf 

Lexus_NX_THWH_7pin_PZ457-PW5D0-78561_AIM 004 130-1.pdf

[Alzibiff]

1 hour ago, ColinBarber said:

Here is the installation guide, looks quite a bit of work so understand the cost of retro fitting at a Lexus dealer.

Final_NX_Towing Hitch Detachable_PZ408_X2550_00_AIM 004_185_1.pdf 6.41 MB · 1 download  

Lexus_NX_THWH_7pin_PZ457-PW5D0-78561_AIM 004 130-1.pdf 3.49 MB · 1 download

Sheesh! You’re not kidding - not exactly like assembling a piece of Ikea furniture is it? (Although the style of the instructions is similar 😊). Think I have made the right decision in getting it factory fitted. Thanks for the reply.