Alexanders Horseboxes

[cymro]

For a very long time now I have been wanting to buy a 3.5tonne little lorry that I could manage to drive to competitions by myself - and I have finally got enough money!!

So I was just wondering if anyone had any experiance with Alexanders Horseboxes based up in North Yorkshire. I have been researching this for a while and this company seem to provide better/more for your money. I have also looked at the equi-trekk and bloomfied makes, but still think the alexander seems to be better value.

I want a well made lorry but not one with a rediculous price tag! Any experience or comments would be greatfully received

 

[Burnttoast]

My share's owner looked at various boxes, including Alexanders, but in the end got one from here: http://www.equimarkhorseboxes.co.uk/ and is very happy with it. It was finished to her spec, including Norwich City colours - the Boy is tall & long so they were able to push the horse space out a few inches and do several other things she wanted.

 

[Louby]

Ive seen an Alexander 3.5t, ok it was a few years ago so improvements have probably been made but IMO it was flimsy. The owner was very dissapointed with it. He did say you got what you paid for but wished he had spent more to get something sturdier. I do think it does depend on the size of horse you are travelling, ponies great, horses no.

 

[foraday]

Seen one but like already said 'flimsy'

Would seriously look at Gazeley Horseboxes in Newmarket

David Gazeley was the works manager of 'the world's most sought after horseboxes' for 35 years before setting himself up.

Go there and check out the quality!

Good luck

 

[blood_magik]

have you looked at kevin Parker? he's just started doing a 3.5T

I have one of his 7.5T lorries and the build quality is excellent

 

[ladyt25]

We went to Alexanders a few years back as we considered going down from a 7.5T to a 3.5T. However, we soon realised they obviously do not carry two horses and also thought you don't really have much room for stuff.

We looked at some of his conversions though and he likes to talk the talk. However, I wasn't keen on their ramp design (mainly how the top bit opened) and thought there were things they could have done better inside and made more use of the space that was there.

JSW are based in N Yorks and have been dealing in horseboxes for years

http://www.jswhorseboxes.co.uk/

There's also S&L who do a decent job as well.

The thing you need to look at is the quality of the work and especially the horse area (as far as I'm concerned anyway as essentially they're the ones that need to be the most comfortable).

 

[irishdraught]

We went to the showroom last year to look at them when we were thinking of upgrading. They are very flashy and have some good safety ideas but...

There wasn't the opportunity to see the boxes being built as it was a showroom we visited and not a workshop, the smaller boxes are very heavy and they were very inflexible on what you could and couldn't have. They were also very expensive.

I don't know what it was but I just didn't get the right "feel" about them.

We decided for a box by JM Horseboxes in Lancashire. We saw an assortment of boxes in various stages of build, they built to our spec, and offered advice and solutions to our requirements. The family has horses awell so they knew exactly what we were after.

They have now started to build 3.5t boxes with a very good payload.

 

[Hen]

I looked briefly into these but the Alexanders model I was interested in (which had sleepover capability) had such a poor payload I didn't get as far as investigating build quality and opted for a Boss instead, which I have run now for a year very happily and which suits me down to the ground.

 

[kathygreen37]

hi, i bought one of there york boxes a couple of months ago and it is absolutely fab! the guys down there were really patient with me as i didnt know what i wanted but after talking to them about what i did we soon concluded the right box. i found the build quality very good and the safety features are a no brainer. love my colour and absolutely love my box

 

[cymro]

thanks everyone - a lot ot think about. I will have a look at the other sites mentioned. Do your horses seem to travel well in the boxes?

 

[JenTaz]

One of my friends got an alexander 3.5t last year and they were really flexible and easy to deal with she had a lot changed in the lorry, for example the padding on the partition she got moved down because she only has 2 small ponies and it was to high otherwise she got the back bit moved forward so she had more "living space" at the back as she would never be taking anything bigger than 14.2 to need the extra length and they were very cooperative with her phoning every couple of days to find out how things were going and to change her mind on the colour she wanted it up untill the day before they were going to spray it!

 

[Newlands]

Hi. I don't know about Alexander's sorry. But we have a Foxy Twin that we had built last year that we are very pleased with, we sat down with the man and went through the design we wanted, talked about payload and what would help keep it low but safe and strong. Just to throw another name into your search- happy shopping.

 

[Carolynmac]

I bought an Alexanders York SE in November and really love it. I did loads and loads of research and finally went with Alexanders. They are flexible as to what you have within the chassis type that they use; there are some things you cant have cos won't work.

I found the service was great, Jules who I dealt with was really helpful and kept me in the loop at all stages.

I think the build quality is great, not flimsy at all and high quality. It was the safety features that really swung me though. Having the collapsable breast bars and the extra wide back door for me was essential in the type of box I was getting (no diver between horse area and jockey door).

They are a car dealership as well and like any cars salesman you need to be strong and not go with first offer on the table; I wanted an automatic chassis and I would not pay what they were looking for so 'pulled out' of deal and they did come back with a much lower offer; what I expected!

My horse travels really well in it, I had a Merc Spinter 3.5t previously, it was great but had a bit of a 'roll', this is much much better and really really easy to drive.

Overall I would really recommend Alexanders, especially for the 3.5t boxes, the York SE gives 1t payload, there are lots and lots of them out there that have no where near that level; 3.5t's are great but you do need to recognise the payload limitations that come with them.

Good luck with your box hunting.

 

[Mlini]

No experience with their boxes but went in to look at a car. They weren't very friendly or helpful, looked down their noses at us from the moment we set foot through the door. Wouldn't even let us test drive the car.
Apparantly we had to pay up front in full to take it out of the showroom! And there was no way we were going to give the guy 13k to drive an overpriced BMW up the road and back.

I had a sneaky peek at the boxes when we were there and wasn't very impressed....

If I were to buy a horsebox, I wouldn't go to Alexanders.

 

[Bernster]

Another vote for Foxy Twin. He's based in the SE but he gets them built in the north west I think, so you might be able to arrange viewing from there if that's nearer to you. He was by far the cheapest (although no 3.5s are cheap!) in the SE that I saw, had a good range and was nice to deal with. You can order to your spec. Good lorries, although check the payload as with all of these. I've had mine a few years and has been brilliant, love it !

I did find the partition a bit high for my 15.2 and had that lowered a bit, although some people like em high cos of those stories about horses rearing up and getting caught over the bar, although never heard of anyone having that personal experience and think most horses aint that nuts or if they are that nuts, they could get into just as many difficulties in another type of build!

http://www.foxytwinhorseboxes.co.uk/

Mine's the one right at the bottom of his current stock list

 

[Horsehairdresser]

I never delt with Alexanders Horseboxes but i have had a friend who wasnt very impressed.

She went to Missina Horseboxes instead and was impressed with the service and the build quailty. They where happy for her to got to the workshop and have a look and always answered called her back.

They maybe in Devon but are happy to bring there demo vehicle to you so you can look and even load your horses if need be!!

Remeber when looking at 3.5 tonne horse boxes most only have a payload of 1ton or less which is roughly 1 horse and some stuff!!

Good luck with what ever you go with its a bit of a minefield !!!

 

[Nevergrewup]

I went to see them a couple of years ago looking for a 3.5. I wasn't super impressed with the build quality or the ramp weight (I couldn't lift it!). And the showroom experience reminded me of a car dealership in all the wrong ways.

But two people I know bought one from them in the last 12 months and they both rave about theirs.

Incidentally, I also had a good nose round an equitrek last year and thought some of the build quality on that was also disappointing.

 

[shywhitebadger]

Three newbies all raving about about one company???

 

[Leg_end]

Try foxy twin...

 

[EstherYoung]

We hired one to pick up our baby arab, and it was a really lovely little box. They are quite heavy though and the payload isn't great - on the website they are a bit cheeky as they don't clearly disclose the payload on the various models. We were OK with one baby arab in a box with no living, but I wouldn't have wanted to put much more in there, or had one that had all the extra bells and whistles some of theirs have.

It gave our baby arab a most excellent ride for his first trip though so I can't knock them too much.

 

[PaddyMonty]

Three newbies all raving about about one company???

You have a suspicious mind

 

[Horsemad12]

I know two people with a Bloomfields one and they are both very very pleased. We went to have a look but they were out of my price range, however I was very impressed with what I saw. If they are in your price range and you want to design from scratch then I would certainly go and pay Dean a visit.

 

[tiana812]

Look all showing and glitzy to me!

I have hired a marlborought hunter from Wentworth Horsebox hire and it was very practical and lovely to drive. Wentworth use them all the time which says alot for them being able to do the job well.

I understand from other people that they are hard to get hold of second hand as they keep there value and when advertised sell very quickly, which says something there.

 

[kippen64]

Don't know what they are like. I understand from reading the description that they have an internal height of 8 feet. Am impressed by that and have put it on my wish list when I finally get a truck built.