Friends borrowing your horsebox

Bernster

Bernster

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 August 2011
Messages
8,140
Location
London
Visit site
Do you do it and, if you do, what sort of arrangement do you have? Do you charge any kind of fee?

And for those who don't let people borrow it, is that because of insurance, hassle factor or something else? Or maybe you just don't get asked?!

Am a bit torn at the moment, have lent mine to a friend a few times but they are now asking to use it nearly as much as me. I feel mean, and part of me thinks - if I'm not using it, why not lend it out. I know how rubbish it is not to have transport. But then again...
 
Bernster said:
Do you do it and, if you do, what sort of arrangement do you have? Do you charge any kind of fee?

And for those who don't let people borrow it, is that because of insurance, hassle factor or something else? Or maybe you just don't get asked?!

Am a bit torn at the moment, have lent mine to a friend a few times but they are now asking to use it nearly as much as me. I feel mean, and part of me thinks - if I'm not using it, why not lend it out. I know how rubbish it is not to have transport. But then again...
Click to expand...

There is an old saying 'never a lender or a borrower be' ! It is the quickest way to lose friends.
 
Remember it is on your insurance. I lent mine, the lady had an accident and broke the ramp and did some other damage, which cost about £3k to fix. I had to claim, and it has affected my lorry and both lots of car insurance (plus my husband's car insurance) for 2 years and will do for another 3 years. I don't blame her for having an accident but I won't lend it again, and this is a reasonable excuse to give to your friend.

It was also out of action for about 3 months from June - it was so annoying to be without it.
 
Mine is only insured for me and my husband to drive. This was done on purpose so I can legitimately say no to requests to borrow it.
I have taken a friends horse to the vet hospital but am not prepared to let others drive it.
 
A friend lent me hers a few times, I know she did it out of kindness as it was for vets visits but I did get the feeling she was not totally comfortable with it. I used to just pay for fuel. I would not have dreamed of asking for competing etc but the treatment was costing lots so having to hire a lorry would have added to the cost! I did almost nearly put diesel in the water hole!
 
I never lend mine out unless some one had an absolute emergency. If someone needs to borrow it regularly then they are at the stage that they need to fork out for their own box. Insurance, wear and tear, damage - the risks are too high. I don't let someone just borrow my car whenever they like, so i feel the same way about the box, its a massive chunk of money to buy one.

I'd be another with the 'problems with insurance, maybe its time to get your own' person
 
Abacus said:
Remember it is on your insurance. I lent mine, the lady had an accident and broke the ramp and did some other damage, which cost about £3k to fix. I had to claim, and it has affected my lorry and both lots of car insurance (plus my husband's car insurance) for 2 years and will do for another 3 years. I don't blame her for having an accident but I won't lend it again, and this is a reasonable excuse to give to your friend.

It was also out of action for about 3 months from June - it was so annoying to be without it.
Click to expand...

Yikes, you know what I never even thought of that but it's such an obvious thing.

Reading all these posts, I feel a bit of a numpty now !
 
You don't sound like a numpty - more like a nice person who once didn't have transport and remembers how hard that can be! Which is exactly why I was rather too kind for a while as well.

At least you have a few good and reasonable excuses that aren't just about you being mean or precious with your lorry.
 
Hmm, am thinking maybe I should just come clean and say it. Get it off my chest and all that, so we're clear on what I was thinking when I first let her use it. My insurance is coming up for renewal as it happens, but not for a little while and I'd agreed to let her have it in April for camp which she's already booked and paid for. Sigh.
 
I've been on both sides of this - i used to lend my box out for free no problem, and people were usually polite and nice, though a couple of times they were e.g. a bit skimpy on refilling the fuel or whatever.

When I borrow people's boxes now I pay them £35 for wear and tear plus refilling it. That seems to satisfy everyone - it's enough that they are really getting a contribution towards servicing or whatever but not enough to make me think, oh I'll just hire one. If I had my own box, i'd request this. It would also make people think twice about borrowing it, because they have to contribute to its costs. I think that is fair really.
 
Bernster said:
My insurance is coming up for renewal as it happens, but not for a little while and I'd agreed to let her have it in April for camp which she's already booked and paid for. Sigh.
Click to expand...
Be brave, and tell her you've had a re think. She's got plenty of time to book alternative transport for April. In these parts, you can hire a decent 3.5t box for £80/day. Or maybe offer to drive her there in your box, if its convenient, as a last hurrah?
 
Bernster said:
Hmm, am thinking maybe I should just come clean and say it. Get it off my chest and all that, so we're clear on what I was thinking when I first let her use it. My insurance is coming up for renewal as it happens, but not for a little while and I'd agreed to let her have it in April for camp which she's already booked and paid for. Sigh.
Click to expand...

Tell her the insurance T's and Cs have changed, offer to drop her at camp and collect her, withdraw from lending. Hope you can sort it out amicably .

Can she afford to fix it if she has an own fault accident? If not, then say she needs to sort out hiring which will be whole lot cheaper than even a respray of a scraped side x
 
I dont lend ours out at all, but im more than happy to help out if needed, trip to vets, move yards etc a few of my friends have no transport so if im not busy then i dont mind :) they would be too scared to drive it anyway!!
 
I don't openly lend mine out.
In an emergency it would always be made available to get a horse to the vets.
There are a select few friends who have their own transport already (so appreciate the cost!) who if they were stuck I'd be the first to offer the use of my lorry - likewise they would and have done for me.
It's not a free for all for any old livery who wants a free ride though
 
Used too, just asked for petrol to be replaced, got seriously taken advantage of, consider loanee have an almightly strop when told no they couldn't use it on a certain day as your kids were at a show. Also box is getting older, I pay for all the work required on it, MOT etc, insurance, someone not even bothering to muck it out was the final straw, I will now have it for my own use and enjoy it till it wont run anymore
 
My lorry is insured for any driver over 25 years of age & obviously having a licence for a 7.5 ton lorry. I never lend it out though. It cost me a lot of money, I saved long & hard for it & I look after it. Everyone knows I don't lend it & I never budge from that stance. When you do allow one person to borrow it you open the flood gates for others to ask & if you refuse them than that can cause ill feeling. As for those loaning out their vehicles & receiving a gratuity for it run the risk of voiding their insurance because most insurance does not allow 'Hire or Reward'.

Everyone knows however that if their horse needs taking in to the vets urgently that I will take them without a second thought.
 
Only in an emergency, other than that people should buy their own if they want to go running around, I bet you won't see the hat passed round when it gets damaged or needs service work.
 
paddi22 said:
I never lend mine out unless some one had an absolute emergency. If someone needs to borrow it regularly then they are at the stage that they need to fork out for their own box. Insurance, wear and tear, damage - the risks are too high. I don't let someone just borrow my car whenever they like, so i feel the same way about the box, its a massive chunk of money to buy one.

I'd be another with the 'problems with insurance, maybe its time to get your own' person
Click to expand...

I agree with this.

I truthfully state that I like it available in case I want to box out for hacking and lessons, and it’s a bit quirky.

I don’t really have time to take others out in my lorry on my time. But a vet emergency is different!

And I have a rule not to lend it to non-lorry owning friends.

Lorry owning friends are different in emergencies, they get the upkeep and hassle, and are kind enough to return the favour if mine is off the road.

Non lorry owners don’t realise how easily damaged and expensive to run and maintain lorries are. Years ago I lent a 3.5 tonne lorry to another livery to move a horse for weaning, her husband was used to driving lorries. She didn’t offer to cover petrol, and left the droppings in the box. She didn’t get to borrow it to return the horse after weaned!

Having a 6.5tonne lorry has really limited the pool of people able to drive my lorry.

If a friend was keen to borrow the lorry regularly, and you were okay about it, I would want to charge them a fair share of yearly running costs, expect proper cleaning, and a cover towards depreciation of lorry, and acknowledgement of any bump / scratch / damage as their responsibility. And to be pretty sure it wouldn’t inconvenience me.

I make sacrifices to afford and run transport, and it is very precious, and generally those who don’t have it, don’t realise the true costs.

It is an interesting tipping point. Older lorries do well with regular use. I use mine enough all year round. But if I didn’t, someone else using it regularly might save me mechanics bills in the future, as older lorries need to keep moving.

And as an aside, if I am going somewhere anyway, or hacking somewhere, taking someone else is little problem.
 
No never. Except in an emergency and then we drive.

Problem is with a regular arrangement is where does it stop being an odd loan versus hiring it out? And what happens if there is damage done? Insurance is a nightmare under these scenarios too.

I don't mind taking people out with me, but I work hard to pay for my transport and want to enjoy it when I need it. Horses are a luxury and I (selfishly) don't see why I should support someone else's hobby. So I prefer not to have the hassle. Equally the times I have been without transport I don't expect to borrow someone else's. I hire.

There are the odd people I would loan to if they needed it, and likewise they would loan theirs to me, but they (we) don't and we respect each other's property enough to only ask if desperate.

I will never understand people who feel they have a right to borrow someone else's transport. I once had a complete stranger ask me if they could borrow my trailer once a week.
 
If I had a box I wouldn't loan it out. If someone wanted to use it, I would drive them and expect fuel to be covered and box to be imaculately left (as I do to others when I borrow theirs! I usually ask how much they want, give them the cash then fill the tank!).

If damage is caused, its an easy way to loose a friend.

My friend lent out her camper to a "friend" and the knob on the gearstick came off under their care. They just wedged it back on, left it for her to find and never even offered to cover the costs of a new gear spring. It effected the way the camper drove as it made some of the gears very close together. She didn't realise it had happened until she went to change gear 1 mile down the road and the gear knob came off (very easily) in her hand! Dangerous.
 
I have a trailer, not a box, and have lent it to a particular friend on odd occasions when she's needed to get somewhere. But strictly on the basis of "you bend it you mend it". Thankfully, it always came back in good condition and usually cleaner than it went out, with a bottle of wine as a thank you. That friend has now bought herself an identical trailer so no need for it to go anywhere now. But, as others have said, I have helped out in very occasional vet emergencies, but used my truck and I've driven.
 
I have a trailer and won't loan it to anyone. I saved hard to pay for it, take good care of it and don't want to take the risk of damage happening to it, accidental or not. Additionally if anything were to go wrong with the trailer I wouldn't want to feel responsible. I also pay to service the trailer and extra wear means having to service earlier.

If someone needs to go somewhere and it's an emergency I will happily drive but don't do loans. Too awkward.
 
I would lend mine in an emergency or to a very good friend who had to sell hers but otherwise no. I used to have a lorry, lent it out and it came back damaged , never again .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top