First time horse box buyer. Advice/recommendations gratefully recieved

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corriehorse

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After a bit of succses at the weekend with my horse, my mum has decided it might be about time we got our own transport rather than relying on lifts all the time. Neither of us like the idea of towing so are looking for a little lorry. Am on quite a tight budget so we will only really be able to look at older boxes so just wondering if anybody could give any advice, recommendations, info, warnings etc for a first time lorry buyer.
Thank you in advance!
 
Very exciting! It's really nice to be able to go out and about with the horses.

A few things to think about off the top of my head:
- get a mechanic to check the horsebox over. He will charge you for his time but it will be the best money you have spent because if you buy a dodgy horsebox you can spend a fortune fixing it up.
- check the weight loads the lorry is allowed to carry and see if they fit your needs re how many horses you want to carry (don't forget the extra weight of passengers, tack, etc)
- check the conversion of the lorry and that it is suitable for carrying horses, e.g. heavy, suitable ramp, re-inforced floor in good condition, correct weight distribution

Spend your money on mechanical soundness and don't be fooled by looks. A death trap can look really shiny and tempting with a new coat of paint.

And finally...keep in mind that it will cost you a few hundred pounds a year to get it through its MOT/plainting and get roadside assistance with a specialist horsebox company!
 
Great advice from Booboos! Horseboxes are coming down in price but the 3.5 tonne ones are really sought after so be wary of anything that seems very cheap - if it looks too good to be true it probably is! Particularly be wary of the Renault Master type van conversions - these are fine if converted properly but there is a lot of rubbish out there!

As well as getting a mechanic to check it - have a really good look round first yourself - have a look under any mats if fitted to check the condition of the floor and look carefully at the ramp and partitions to make sure they are sound. This is particularly important if your mechanic is not horsey or used to looking at horseboxes.
Make sure you have a decent drive in it, including round some bends or a roundabout to get a good feel of how it handles.
We budget around £1000 per year to include tyres and breakdowns, although our lorry is a 7.5 tonne so it is more expensive for a plate than for the MOT at 3.5 tonne needs.
 
I bought my first wagon last year and was so so excited about looking for one. This soon changed as its very daunting with so much to look out for and being non mechanical and not knowing anyone to check it, I was really scared.
I would say looks definately arent everything, Ive heard so many horror stories including one that was bought, went for its plate months later and then pretty much wrote off as a death trap. In fact the owner scrapped it and it wasnt an older wagon and looked fantastic. You definately need someone to check it over.
I looked at a few and was suprised at how flimsy things like partitions were, sharp edges in the horse area, very low internal lockers that a horse could easily stand on and worse ... go through. Wide grilled head dividers that a hoof could fit through. It does happen! Someone I knew bought a wagon and didnt stop when he put his foot on the brakes on his drive home. He smashed into a parked car to stop it.

I ended up getting one converted with the emphasis being on the horse area but I didnt have anyone to check the chassis and did have to have work done on it mechanically (it came with 12 mths plate too) The first thing I did when I got it was get it checked over (found a bloke after I bought it???) I had a full service and the essentials checked like brakes, steering just so I knew I would turn and stop.
Just to add to this, I have now decided to sell mine as I just havent used it enough to warrant the cost and will probably hire one or try the demon horse in a trailer again. Wagons really do need to be used for cost and them just standing there isnt good for them. Iveco brakes sieze if left standing, I end up just driving it every couple of weeks to keep it going.
Sorry for the negativity of my post but it is really daunting. I hope you find a lovely lorry.
 
I recently bought a 3.5t truck and whilst looking I came accross one which was a good price and I liked but there were a few of the mechanical things that I was not so sure about. I got a guy to asses it for me it cost £200 and it was the best £200 ever spent there were loads of little things wrong which I would have tried to get a price reduction for but the big thing was it had been clocked by a minimum of 150,000 miles.

You can do a free quick check on this yourself on this website http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/ all you need is the reg no and either a MOT cert no or the V5 log book number. This will give you all the MOT certs for the last 5ish years on these are the milages so it will give you a hint of if it has been clocked.

I ended up getting my truck from this company http://www.freewebs.com/traveltwo/ and they are incredibly helpful and happy to help and advise as much as possible, in the guest book there are a whole load of questions and answers that are quite helpful
 
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