3.5t horsebox- how much?

timbobs

timbobs

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Hi,

I'm after some advice on 3.5t horseboxes.

I'm considering starting to save for a horsebox so I can get out and about without having to rely on other people and would prefer a box over a trailer.

I've had a look at a few adverts online and prices seem to vary from 6-30k! Can anyone recommend a type of box or any to stay away from and what they would consider to be a reasonable price?!

Thanks for your help!
 
Its really hard to say a reasonable price as £30,000 would be a great price for one lorry whilst 3k would be a great price for another!
To give a rough Idea we looked last year and had a budget of £10,000. The sort of thing we were seeing were mostly van shape conversions (which I didn't want at the time). If we upped the budget to £13k approx. we viewed an 2006 Movano Lorry type, 140,000 miles. New conversion but the cab was old and tired looking and the miles put us off.
We eventually, and it really did seem like eventually! found an older R reg Renault Master lorry in good condition, nicely done and with lower miles recorded for £9000 which is what we bought.

Ideally id love something a little newer but for us its great and does the job. Its got a 2.5 engine which compared with my friends 2.7 feels really underpowered so id say go for a bigger engine!
 
I was looking a few years ago I had a budget of £8,000 looked at some pretty bad conversions the worst was a ford transit that had been converted badly, another few we saw were the van type like the other poster has mentioned, I ended up driving up north to look at a few and ended up buying a Renault Master lorry not van, its a N reg done 80,000 miles its a bit shabby outside but its an Equipe coachbuild and it looks brand new in the back and its lovely, I love driving it the horses travel really well in it and it was only £4,200 so had change from budget, I would say have a good look around look at quite a few and if you dont mind traveling you can pick up a bargain, I would not consider the van type conversions unless its for a very small pony the ones I saw were not suitable for horses in my opinion.
 
They fetch a premium price because there are now so many post 1997 licence holders about - having B only licences

You might have to go down the B licence towing route ...............
 
I was after one last year after deciding to downgrade from a 7.5t. After looking at both second hand and new conversions (coachbuilt not van shape) I saw exactly what you mean, the prices varied so much! I ended up with a small coachbuilder in Leicestershire (relatively close to me) who built me a lovely box to my spec (steel bulkhead, emergency horse exit, tack lockers, barn doors, good payload etc) for 13.5k (06 movano with 89k). I love it to bits and use it constantly so in my opinion you don't have to go for the most expensive ones to get a decent lorry, but do your homework and visit during build if possible if you are going to buy new. Good luck
 
I'd advise you to avoid the very cheap new build van conversions, e.g. £8K all in - they seem to be based on 10yo+ vans with very high mileage (I saw an ad for one with 250K on the clock the other day and although van mileage isn't like car mileage its still a lot!) so you're essentially putting a new horsebox onto a van that's not got much life left in it. And I've looked at a couple that friends have bought and I'm not all that impressed with the build quality either.

If you don't mind getting hay seeds on everything and your horse is sensible enough / too small to try and jump the breast bar then van conversions can be a great cost-effective transport option. Marlbroughs have the best reputation and the second hand ones are generally very sturdy, if like gold dust to try and track down! Try Travel Two Horseboxes, as they specialise in second hand 3.5s (both van conversions and coachbuilt) and have a great reputation http://www.traveltwohorseboxes.com/

Also watch the payload - a van conversion or coachbuilt 3.5 will give you 1.2t MAX and some are as little as 850kg. One horse + human + tack + fuel + water can add up very quickly so demand to see a weighbridge certificate for whatever you end up looking at.

I'm upgrading (now need full living and the payload to go with it) and putting my 3.5 on the market in a few weeks so will watch this thread with interest as I'm trying to work out a price!
 
One other thought - if you're worried about the 'trying to jump out' aspect, you could always fit an anti-weave grill on top of the breast bar - I noticed that one of the ones of Travel two's sold' page has it.
 
we have just been through exactly this! we had to up our budget to about £13k and we found a nice new build coach built Movano, 9yo body - it drives lovely has a little more mileage that we wanted but we bought from the place that built it so have warranty on chassis and body so gives us a little piece of mind!

we've had it four days and i've already taken mine out twice and its a lovely little drive :)

as ROG says 3.5t can command any price someone will pay for it whether it has 250k miles on the clock or not because more and more people are needing to drive them!
 
sidewaysonacob said:
I'd advise you to avoid the very cheap new build van conversions, e.g. £8K all in - they seem to be based on 10yo+ vans with very high mileage (I saw an ad for one with 250K on the clock the other day and although van mileage isn't like car mileage its still a lot!) so you're essentially putting a new horsebox onto a van that's not got much life left in it. And I've looked at a couple that friends have bought and I'm not all that impressed with the build quality either.

If you don't mind getting hay seeds on everything and your horse is sensible enough / too small to try and jump the breast bar then van conversions can be a great cost-effective transport option. Marlbroughs have the best reputation and the second hand ones are generally very sturdy, if like gold dust to try and track down! Try Travel Two Horseboxes, as they specialise in second hand 3.5s (both van conversions and coachbuilt) and have a great reputation http://www.traveltwohorseboxes.com/

Also watch the payload - a van conversion or coachbuilt 3.5 will give you 1.2t MAX and some are as little as 850kg. One horse + human + tack + fuel + water can add up very quickly so demand to see a weighbridge certificate for whatever you end up looking at.

I'm upgrading (now need full living and the payload to go with it) and putting my 3.5 on the market in a few weeks so will watch this thread with interest as I'm trying to work out a price!
Click to expand...

Could you pm.me.with what you need to upgrade to and what you are selling? On phone and cant om.people
 
I paid £10,000 for my Marlborough Hunter, which has 265,000 miles on an 04 plate.
It was a commercial horse transporter when it was first converted, and so was serviced at regular intervals. It has needed a few minor things in the two years I've had it, costing less than £800 in total.
I love driving it and horse is very happy in it. I looked at the travel two website for advice and ideas; if she'd had anything in my price range, I'd have snapped it up.

Personally, I wouldn't buy one of the van type ones and always go for a coach built one. It's definitely one of the best purchases I've made.
 
I think it totally depends. I bought mine 3 years ago, 08 plate 40K miles brand new horse conversion and paid £17K for it. It has a huge tack locker, adjustable anti weave grills (each side can be opened/shut), horse and reverse camera, sat nav, blue tooth and a few other bit's we've added. It's only got 52K on the clock now and TBH I wouldn't advertise it much below what I paid as they hold their value and its really well looked after.
 
Thanks for everyone's replies! Sorry I've been so slow to come back to the thread! It's been my last week at my current job so crazy busy!

It's good to hear about all the different options. I guess I'll basically need 10k+ so I'd better get saving!!
 
There are so many companies hiring 3.5s now that you could consider trying a couple of different models for a day's hire while you're saving up to help you get a good idea of exactly what you do and don't want/need.
 
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