Hi, im new in this Forum. Got my new Dacia 1.4 laureate last week and enjoying it very much.As we Dutch are very interested in saving money, its a great deal to purchase a Dacia. Trying to save some more money I have planned to go on holliday to Croatia next summer, and I would like to fit a towing-hook to my car while staying in Croatia. Can any-one provide me some prices including wiring and labour-cost? In Croatia I will be visiting the local dealer in Porec. Thanx for your help. ps more prices of accesoires in Croatia will be great!!

I will ask my local dealer for the prices and post them.

Good choice for a holiday

I have the same car since May and i can only say WOW 14mpi is just the job
a great little workhorse and an eyecatcher as you will have noticed
Stu

Stu , its absolutly an eye-catcher, especialy here in Holland, cause there have only been sold 700 last year.People stop their own car, to get a look at the dacia.Firtst I though it was because of the appearence of my beautifull wife, but I found out they are far more interested in the car.
This summer will be the 3-th time to visit Croatia( Medulin) and I realy hope to get a good bargain on some accesoires fot my Dacia!!
Best regards, Daciafreak Peter

Yes that is what I found .I drive 2 times a year to England and we have NO Dacias there
Also you get a lot of tailgaters who drive very close to the rear of the car to read the name
Like I said i also have the same car without AC who needs that when you have windows
I will be buying some soundproofing for the hood when i am in England later this year
Have you seen the German site here http://www.fetscher-car.de you may find it cheap to buy the Part here and fit it in Croatia
anyway look at the site it is nice and it is in German which you can read
cu
Stu

I don't think that Dacia produces cars for right-hand drive markets.

Daciafreak, excellent choice for a vacation, indeed.

Btw, i saw one MCV yesterday here in Belgrade, looks much better than sedan or on a picture.

@daciafreak: Congratulations for your vacation destination. I intend to go there as soon as possible too. You could also think of the alternative to buy the accessoires from other country you cross during the journey (why not even Romania ). And if you are a guy who just loves to travel, you should better save the money for an MCV

However I would just want to mark that you should not expect to any bargain regarding the accesoires. In many cases you should better purchase the accessoires from a store with universal car accesories rather than buying the original one's (where is possible of course) because from what I feel the politics of Dacia is to earn as much money as they can after they have sold the car, so don't be surpise if most of the prices will be pretty high.

This post has been edited by minny: 24 Feb 2007, 22:34

Thanx Minny for your respons, I know that the prices of original Dacia parts will be high,but still I hope that the cost of labour, to fit the towinghook to my car, will be less in Croatia. Here in the Netherlands its quite normal to pay 65 Euro for 1 hr. of labour in a Renault -garage. And of course there are some "lost-cost Fitters"like Kwikfit, who could do the job for less.
reason that I bought the sedan instead of the MCV is that my wife is having a problem with big cars. She had to 2 small accidents with our former car, a hyundai Santa Fe, driving the car backwards...You know, women and cars... repait-cost almost 1000 euro, so we decided to get a normal sized car with a good capacity for luggage.And bying a bigger car for just 5 weeks holiday in Croatia makes no sence, couse the car will be not fully used the rest of the year.Also the MCV is much heavier, 1200 kilos, and here in the Netherlands we pay taxes by weight of the car.Usage of more expencive gasoline of the MCV compared to the sedan also is in faviour of the sedan.Stu thanx for the great link to the German web-site for accesoires.I got some new ideas that will be usefull, thanx mate.

Best regards, Peter the Daciafreak

I was not saying that you should buy an MCV only for 5 weeks (but it would be great to have a car for each time of the year, is'n it ?) I was just wondering if the MCV wouldn't fit better to your needs but finally I understoond the reasons of your choice. But what exactly do you want to buy ? A box for luggage on the hood ? This should be easy to install by yourself and it would be great to have it on the car even from the beginning of your journey ... I mean .. you could gain some space for the extra luggage isn't it ? And if you are ready to spent some money why not buying something from Thule. I know they are seen as one of the best car accessoires makers from Europe.

A box for luggage on the hood ?


HUH ???
sTU

Minny, I am interessted in a towinghook to b able to pull a caravan. The last thing I want to have is a luggage-box on my hood. Although I have seen pictures of trucks in countrys like Pakistan , where they stock luggage and people all over the car...No I will put my luggagebox on the roof, if you dont mind .

Best regards, Daciafreak

i think he meant on the roof not on the hood..

anyway... you could take any towing hook and just weld it underneath your rear bumper.. you weld it on the frame.

this is a less expensive thing.. also it is maybe better if welding is done corectly.. also.. put some paint over the welding to avoid rust.

Asi
I dont want to be behind you while you are towing a caravan with your "JUST WELDED" towing hook
Stu

I feel the same !! "Just welded" is that simular for glue?? thats the reason I want to let the job done by profesionals. My caravan has a weight of 790 kilo and I dont want to loose that on the "autobahn"

OK, just got off the phone with my dealer. The towing hook together with installation is 1630 kuna, what is cca 220 EUR.

Thanx Boris , that is great news !! 220 Euro is a lot lest than the 400-450 I have to pay in the Netherlands. I will be in contact with the local dealer in Porec next summer and in the meantime visit the beautifull city/beach of Porec. Thanx a lot mate.

Daciafreak

And I was just thinking: being a foreigner in Croatia , bying this towinghook,might
lead to a tax-refund when I leave the country again. You see, we Dutch are always trying to get good things for a small price, haha

see you, Daciafreak

Look what I have found Daciafreak right on your doorstep http://www.gernijkamp.nl/dacialoganmcv/

Stu

You can buy a towinghook since this week for a MCV at Westfalia Automotive GmbH, Am Sandberg 45, 33378 Rheda- Wiedenbrück Germany, Fon ++49 5242 -9070 for a Price of 159 Euro without the E- package and plus p+p

This post has been edited by Jonny_Logan: 28 Feb 2007, 07:13

Thanx Stu, I already noticed the dutch-website of Ger Nijkamp. Unfortunatly his website is focused to much to the MCV to my opinion. I have good reasons to drive a sedan and will stick to that...
Johny Logan, I dont think a towinghook for the MCV will fit under my sedan.

Best regards, Daciafreak

aH no problem just about all Dutch can speak English
Stu

let me explain myself.... welding IS a strong connection of the towing hook to the car.. welding must be done by a professional welder!! welding it's almost an art, but if you know... almost all rollcages are welded, many winch-es for 4x4 offroad vehicules are put on an A-frame that is welded to the frame of the car.. an so on.. welding is a strong inexpensive bond of the metal.

also welding for best resistance should be done with a MIG or WIG technology.. if done with oxi-acetylenic flame the carbon from the steel rises up and it makes it more fragile and less strong (but not with much.. let's say about 10-50 N/mm*mm).. electric welding is ok, it's really strong.. but it needs a lot of preparations before welding.. it is very hard to do it right.. the welder should be a master!.. it's easy to screw it up..
so stick to the MIG, MAG, WIG technologies for a good sturdy weld.. and I do not think that a trailer can rupture a good weld..

besides.. all really BIG machines.. their big components of chassy or other heavy complicate pieces of metal ARE welded.. and mostly automatic for uniform welding.. but there is a lot of manual welding involved as well.. and works just fine.

This post has been edited by Asi: 28 Feb 2007, 22:27

There is one problem, in Croatia you are not allowed to have the towing hook on when you are not towing anything so it must be detachable => welding is off.

I don't know about other countries.

Boris, that is a surprise to me!! I have used my old car offen in Croatia while my caravan was standing on the camping, and my towinghook was not detachable!!
So I had a risk beiing stopped by the police? Are these rules only for citizens of Croatia or even for foreigners visiting Croatia?? If its a rule for everybody, than I will have to fit a detachable towinghook on my Dacia.

And for Asi: thanx for your explanation about welding, and because you noticed that it should be done in a propper way(it is very hard to do it right.. the welder should be a master!.. ,) I still feel that private-people should not try to do this by themselves, but leave it to proffesional welders.

thanx, Daciafreak

ha ha ha. I don't know what I was thinking about Yes I meant on the roof of course . Since you have not said what accesoires you are searching for I could only guess. Unlucky guess Good luck with the towing hook

electric welding is very hard to do it right.. but it's quite cheap..
for mig, mag, wig welding technologies all you need is that welding machine and a bit of experience.. it's not hard.. any welder could do it right.. just to have that welding machine.. it's quite expensive

I have looked in the Official Gazette and the regulations say that every car registered for the first time in Croatia after 1.1.1999., and every car that has a towing hook installed after 1.1.1999. must have a detachable hook.

So I guess that the regulations don't apply to strangers, because they don't register their cars in Croatia, and if you install a towing hook in Croatia now it's most probably going to be detachable.