Buying a horsebox privately that's miles away?

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Walrus

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Has anyone bought a horsebox from miles away and if so how did you work it logistically? I've seen a 3.5T box that I'm interested in but it's about 6 hours away. In terms of finding someone to check it over mechanically and horse wise - can you get people to do that? I'm not mechanical at all!

There seems to be a scarcity of decent 3.5T boxes on a budget (seems it's the holy grail!) so that's why I'm even considering travelling this far!

Or am I being unrealistic on price - I'm looking for a 3.5T box for a 13.2hh - am very interested in the van type ones as opposed to the coachbuilt. Budget is about 5-5.5K - is this unrealistic?

Thanks

:)
 
that's a healthy budget for a box for a small pony:) i'm selling my little ldv which fits 16.2 hh...isn't a beautiful looking thing, but mechanically sound!
 
Not sure about budget for 3.5'sas we have an old 5.5 tonne dodge - great old reliable thing. My OH is mechanicaly minded so we did all that ourselves - it was bout 3 hours away so we went down to collect it on OH's motor bike and brought the bike back in the lorry.
 
Yes, I bought a horsebox from a distance away. I used a company that advertises on H&H, they do horsebox inspections all over UK. It cost about £200 to get that done but the report was good so I went on the train to try it for myself. Then paid for it and drove it home.
It was a long day! But having it inspected by a competent mechanic meant I could be sure it was reasonably sound, so not a complete waste of time doing all that travelling.
 
I'm sure there are companies out there that will check it for you, the aa do it for cars so maybe worth asking.
Or a specialist that can look at the horse side of it too.

Your budget seens decent enough, but its that time of year so there will be lots of buyers.
 
I drove 6 hours for one very cheaply priced and I was honestly told the problems.

Got there and it was as stated, but the engine cut out and refused to start. After a closer look it had siezed. I left it there.

I had.effectively thrown away £300, but had the engine been easily replaceable I would have brought it back.

Saying that, with your budget I doubt that scenario would be viable. As someone said, knock £200 off the budget for the inspection, maybe even be a little Cheeky and try and get that £200 knocked off the price :p
 
Thanks for the comments guys - the motorbike option is genius - sadly I have neither a motorbike nor a mechanical OH!

Any further comments regarding what you can get 3.5T-wise for 5k?

:D
 
Personally I would never buy a box on someone elses opinion. Even though you are doing all the right things by getting a mechanic etc to check it over they may not be particularly horsey and to be honest designs vary so much as do peoples opinions on what may be 'good condition' in their eyes might not be what yours is.

For your budget I would say you have a good chance of finding what you want - the smaller pon boxes tend to go cheaper but I would always go view it first hand so you can see how it would work for you and your horses. A mechanic will only tell you that its not going to fall to pieces/blow up within the very near future. Its you who needs to make the decison wether it will suit your horses and be safe and suitable for what you want to do.

I spent a good six months trawling up and down the country before finding one that was literally 6 miles away from my yard - sods law!!!
 
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