Cheeky questions about horse boxes.....

Slightlyconfused

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18 December 2010
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So we are looking at getting a 7.5 tonne that will take three nags in the future.....

My question is how did you pay for yours....loan/save up etc......and what make price should I be looking at? I was going to go with a £5000 limit?

Argh this is confusing:(
 
We remortgaged our house to buy ours :o It was quite fun trying to explain to the young lad in the Indian call centre why we wanted to borrow the money - 'what's a horsebox?' :D
 
Buy the best you can afford. I cashed in most of my savings,and got a small Loan for the rest,which I had to top up again when I recently changed my box again,as my requirements had changed because new Horse at 17.3hh was too tall for my last box.
Tip,here,buy a box with 8' headroom,even you don't think you need it as you may find your needs change!
My last 7.5t cost me £12500. It was a 1999 daf,with an older body, 7'2" head room.
Fast forward to last year,had to unexpectedly have the tallest horse pts,and so new big boy came but didn't fit in lorry!
Sold it for £9500, which was quite cheap but I had a personal situation arise whereby I needed it gone and to get the new box,from a dealer so I was sure it would proceed, quickly.
New box is 1993 iveco,but with new ish body on it. Cost £10000.
 
I am starting to look at options now although I probably won't actually buy for another year or so. Starting to research lorry types, coachbuilders, costs of sourcing a chassis and having a body put on vs buying one already done etc. Thinking of a budget of 25k ish should get me something nice.

It will be a combination of savings and small loan or credit card for the remainder of the cost
 
Tip for payload to legally take 3,btw.
Look for shorter boxes with smaller living. Last box payload was 20' long, I laden weighed 5.2t. New box is 22' long, unladen is 5.5t. So, though new one ok for 3 smaller horses it wouldn't take 3 of my new big lad plus people and equipment.
My old box had day living, with small bench seat which was fine. We could use the Luton to sleep on. New box has bigger living, with bed on Luton and table that converts to bed, and I suspect that is where the extra weight has gone.
Make sure you get a weight certificate with it. Also, pay a proper lorry mechanic to check it over, costs about £150, but worth every penny. For my 3.5t box, I must have sent mechanic to check about 5 out which I thought ok, but he condemned them, this saving me more money having to fix them up to make them safe, or put expensive things correct.
 
Dad is a HGV mechanic and class one driver so got that part sorted:D

We are looking at daf or Scania but as long as it drives smooth and isn't falling apart it will do.....not bothered about living as would much rather have a bigger weight carrying ability if that makes sense.
 
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