Buy a towing vehicle now or wait?

[AntiPuck]

Looking for some opinions as I'm not sure if I'm putting the car before the horse, if you like, and overthinking.

Planning to start looking for my first horse in April/May, but need to buy a car now.

My partner suggested that we may as well buy a larger car that can potentially tow a trailer, as I would eventually plan to buy one, perhaps after the first year or so of owning, to go <1 hour distances with a single horse. Thinking that renting a trailer to tow myself is likely to be cheaper in the meantime than paying for full horse transport each time I want to go somewhere.

However, I'm aware that not every car can just tow any horse/trailer combination - I'd be planning to buy a 15.2-16.2 potentially ISH or sturdier ID type, so probably not light. From reading some posts on here, it sounds like there's a danger of buying a larger car that wouldn't end up being up to the job anyway.

All this in mind, would you suggest just going for a small car for now, and paying for occasional horse transport in the meantime - or is it likely that a 2.0L 4x4 will be up to the job, generally speaking and as long as the trailer isn't a very heavy model?

 

[HorseMaid]

I think there are lots of smaller cars that can tow 1 horse in a lightweight /downplated single or double trailer easily. One combination I often see bandied about (other cars are available!) is a Skoda Octavia scout/4x4 which if I remember correctly can tow 2 tonnes legally, if this was coupled with an ifor Williams single horse trailer this would give you plenty of payload to legally tow one decent sized horse, whilst having a car that was still economical to run on a day to day basis.

If you do your research well you will find that there are lots of options available to you if you genuinely only ever want to tow one horse!

 

[Widgeon]

I would also look for something capable of towing 2000kg (ish) with the aim of maybe buying a mare and foal Ifor or a lighter make of trailer. I had planned to hire a trailer but actually once you factor in the time to go and pick it up, and return it afterwards, it just meant I never did it. So I took the plunge and bought a refurbished Ifor 401 from a local dealer. Our elderly Volvo, which is not a big car at all by today's standards, is well capable of towing that (with horse) and I use it regularly. A good second hand trailer should hold its value well.

 

[AntiPuck]

Thank you both, that's really helpful. Good point about the practicalities of renting, Widegeon!

 

[Bobthecob15]

You'll need something that can tow 2000kg plus and a lot of 4x4 cars can only tow 1500 so do check! We made this mistake with ours but only have a 350kg pony so are ok with just the one in the trailer...definitely couldn't tow a big horse with it.

 

[asmp]

Also be aware (as I’m sure you are) that second hand car prices are silly at the moment. Hopefully they’ll go down soon.

Agree with above about buying a trailer. I bought mine brand new some years ago and it amazes me that I could sell it now for not much less than I bought it for.

 

[Anna Clara]

I had also been looking at towing vehicles/small lorries and have come to the conclusion that I am better off just hiring. There's a box on our yard that is £50 for half a day and £90 for a full day so even a fortnightly trip, rotating half and full days is going to cost me about £150 a month. Realistically, with work etc, I'm probably not even going to go out that much. There's also enough payload to split with a small pony and share that cost.

When I factor in the "lost" costs of a lorry - insurance, tax, fixing it, keeping it at yard, depreciation etc. or the extra costs of a huge car, compared to current little run around - fuel, tax, fixing it, servicing trailer, storing trailer, depreciation of both, etc I think for my limited use hiring will be simpler and cheaper even though it feels like a lot of money each time. That's how I'm justifying more regular trips anyway

 

[asmp]

I had also been looking at towing vehicles/small lorries and have come to the conclusion that I am better off just hiring. There's a box on our yard that is £50 for half a day and £90 for a full day so even a fortnightly trip, rotating half and full days is going to cost me about £150 a month. Realistically, with work etc, I'm probably not even going to go out that much. There's also enough payload to split with a small pony and share that cost.

When I factor in the "lost" costs of a lorry - insurance, tax, fixing it, keeping it at yard, depreciation etc. or the extra costs of a huge car, compared to current little run around - fuel, tax, fixing it, servicing trailer, storing trailer, depreciation of both, etc I think for my limited use hiring will be simpler and cheaper even though it feels like a lot of money each time. That's how I'm justifying more regular trips anyway

If you can rent one off your yard that is so much easier than having to go and pick one up on the day so sounds like a realistic solution.

 

[AntiPuck]

I had also been looking at towing vehicles/small lorries and have come to the conclusion that I am better off just hiring. There's a box on our yard that is £50 for half a day and £90 for a full day so even a fortnightly trip, rotating half and full days is going to cost me about £150 a month. Realistically, with work etc, I'm probably not even going to go out that much. There's also enough payload to split with a small pony and share that cost.

When I factor in the "lost" costs of a lorry - insurance, tax, fixing it, keeping it at yard, depreciation etc. or the extra costs of a huge car, compared to current little run around - fuel, tax, fixing it, servicing trailer, storing trailer, depreciation of both, etc I think for my limited use hiring will be simpler and cheaper even though it feels like a lot of money each time. That's how I'm justifying more regular trips anyway

That does sound lovely and convenient, being able to hire from your yard!

 

[Anna Clara]

True, being able to pick it up from the yard makes it much easier!
We have so many lorry hire places round here that even before that there was a couple I could pick up with just a 20/25 minute total journey which I don't mind. What's a bit more faff on top of the rest of it

 

[ROG]

I think there are lots of smaller cars that can tow 1 horse in a lightweight /downplated single or double trailer easily.

No need to down plate any trailer to tow it with B+E which we all have now