Top 5 Reasons People Get a Towbar Fitted
From weekend cycling trips to family caravanning holidays, here are the most common reasons our customers decide to get a towbar fitted — and why it's one of the best additions you can make to your car.
A towbar is one of those additions that people often put off for years — and then wonder why they waited so long once it's done. Whether it's for a specific trip or an ongoing lifestyle need, the uses are more varied than most people realise.
Here are the five most common reasons our customers get a towbar fitted.
1. Bike Racks
This is by far the most popular reason we fit towbars today. A towbar-mounted bike rack is simply the best way to carry bikes on a car — safer, more stable, and far less hassle than a roof rack.
With a roof rack, you're lifting heavy bikes above head height, worrying about car park height barriers, and adding significant wind noise and fuel consumption at motorway speeds. With a towbar rack, the bikes sit low and behind the car, are easy to load and unload, and many racks tilt down so you can still open the boot without removing the bikes.
Whether you've got one road bike or four mountain bikes, a towbar rack makes cycling trips genuinely stress-free. And with e-bikes becoming increasingly common and heavy, a rear-mounted rack is often the only practical option.
2. Caravanning and Camping
The classic reason — and still one of the most common. If you've recently bought a caravan, or you're thinking about getting into caravanning, a towbar is obviously the first thing you need.
But it's not just touring caravans. Trailer tents, folding campers, and camping trailers are all towed on a towbar, and they're an increasingly popular middle ground between a tent and a full caravan. Lightweight and compact when folded, they give you a proper sleeping and living space when you arrive.
For customers who are new to caravanning, we often fit towbars ahead of the season — so everything is ready for a first trip without any last-minute rushing.
3. Trailers for Moving and DIY
A small flatbed trailer or box trailer is one of the most useful things you can own — and you only need a towbar to make use of one.
Skips are expensive and not always practical. A hired trailer from a local hire centre costs a fraction of the price, and it goes exactly where you want it — to the tip, to a relative's house, to the builders' merchant. Whether you're doing a house move, a big garden clearance, shifting furniture, or collecting materials, a trailer saves a significant amount of money and hassle compared to alternatives.
Many of our customers tell us they get their towbar fitted with a specific job in mind — moving house, clearing a garage — and then end up using it regularly for years afterwards.
4. Dog Carriers and Pet Travel
This one surprises people, but it's genuinely one of the fastest-growing reasons for towbar fitting. Rear-mounted dog carriers that attach to a towbar are a brilliant solution for dog owners.
The carrier sits at bumper height — so your dog can walk in and out themselves — and frees up the entire boot for luggage, pushchairs, or shopping. They're particularly popular with larger dogs that take up the whole boot, owners with two or more dogs, and families who want the dogs separated from the car interior on longer journeys.
If you've ever spent a road trip covered in dog hair with a muddy Labrador sitting on your back seat, you'll understand the appeal immediately.
5. Towing for Work
Plenty of our customers aren't towing for leisure at all — they need a towbar for work. Tradespeople towing plant trailers, equipment trailers, or tool stores. Landowners moving quad bikes or machinery. Business owners transporting stock.
A mobile towbar fitting is particularly useful for work vehicles because we come to you — whether that's a business address, a depot, or a home address. There's no need to take the vehicle to a garage and lose it for a day.
We fit towbars to vans, pickups, SUVs, and cars, and we can usually turn around bookings quickly when a work vehicle needs to be back on the road.
Whatever the Reason, We Come to You
At The Towbar Man, we fit towbars across Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Birmingham, and the wider Midlands — coming directly to your home or workplace so you don't have to go anywhere.
Call us on 07508 135577 or get a free quote online and we'll get you booked in.