3.5T boxes - price

[Walrus]

Hi,

I know 3.5T lorries have been done to death on here but what price have people paid for reasonable box? There are a few on preloved for between 2.5K and 5K which is lower than I expected but more manageable! I'm not looking for anything fancy (unless a lottery win happens) but something reliable and sound. I understand you get what you pay for but some of the cheaper ones look quite reasonable from the photos and I was wondering what people had paid (if that's not too cheeky) and what you got for that money (a load of hassle or a reasonable box!).

Thanks

 

[Sunshine]

I think we landed very lucky with our first wagon, even though she's old and slow and doesn't have power steering. It's a 2 horse racemaster and was built by Lambourn on a new Iveco chassis in 1987 for Ian Balding. The ad was in H&H and we paid just over £3k with tax, plate and a whole folder of paperwork and bills for over £6k work - new ramp, cab tinwork and respray - in the two years prior.
In the 4 years since the maintenance has cost about 1/4 of that for my 54 plate Disco!

 

[Walrus]

Sounds like you struck it lucky with that one. Did you get it checked out by a mechanic at all? Is there such a thing as a "vetting" for horseboxes?!

 

[MissTyc]

I viewed my current one with a mechanically minded friend.
In the end I paid approx £3000 including purchase + service to get it roadworthy once more + MOT.
That was several years ago and it was 24 years old at the time! Since then it has had some work done but nothing exciting. My mechanic is good at sourcing cheap parts. TOUCH WOOD!

 

[kelly_s1]

Hi,

I bought mine in November for around £3, its a merc, 2.5 diesel, no power steering and has always been a horsebox, lovely to drive and in good condition and has started every time even in the frost but it does get run up at least once or twice a week. It also came with a years MOT.

Here are a couple of pics, I looked at quite a few and personally thought I was very lucky with this one

 

[L&M]

Ford transit with coach built body - good condition, power steering 'p' reg, 97,000 miles on clock bought for £4500. Sold for £3500 5 yrs later but did look after it and only put a few thousand miles more on the clock.

New lorry - diesel renault master van style, with high quality build and finish, 'y' reg, 103000 miles on the clock, 1 yrs mot and recent service, bought for £8500.

 

[Abacus]

3 years ago I paid £9k for my 03 reg Vauxhall Movano, newly converted and done nicely. Think it had 90k mileage and hasn't had much go wrong with it. Am trying to sell it now and asking £6.5k - it's on Ebay so fingers crossed!

But there will be more of them around in the next few months when the weather picks up and thoughts of competing start to emerge - don't seem to be many for sale at the moment.

 

[SS.89]

I've just bought a vw lt35 for just under 3k. Brand new box on the chassis, cut through cab, extremely low mileage, came with a years worth of mot and tax, nearly 5k worth of work done to it whilst its previous owner had it (8 years), fits my 17.1hh in easiiiiily and its actually working out pretty cheap to run.

Only one pointer
is that its coming up to its 31st birthday!! I was so dubious about going to see it with its age but took my mechanic uncle with me who couldn't believe how well it had been looked after. Also advised me that if I was going to buy it the volkswagons go for years.

It just passed its most recent mot last month and the garage were amazed.

You can definitely find one in that price range which is decent but it does rake some looking

SS x