Getting a horsebox as a business plan?

[spotty_pony]

Is this possible? Considering taking my lotry license and getting myself a lorry somehow so I don't have the same transport issues again. I would hire it out for self drive and also offer to drive for people (would obviously get all of the necessary licenses etc)

i am just wondering how I would go about the buying of it? I cannot afford to outright by one and on finance might still be a bit expensive. If I had a business plan would it be possible to get a bank loan for this do you think?

I am not getting any younger and this could prove to be a great career change as I had an accident with a horse last year and damaged both my feet so there is only so much yard work my feet will let me do!

 

[celeste-izzy]

It's been a few years since I did my business degree so bare with me!
Can you provide a solid cash flow for the business for the next 5 years? You'd need to basically guesstimate how much you'd make, how much it would cost to keep it on the road (lorries have a wonderful habit of breaking), and then there's the insurance, your licence + operators licence etc etc and business plans can be a real ass to write, even an amazing one won't guarantee an investor.
You may be better off shopping around for a loan. Out of curiosity what size lorry are you looking for? Mine will be up for sale after its taxing and MOT

 

[EllenJay]

I think you would find difficulty getting insurance cover for a self-drive hire, and if you are transporting I "think" you need a specialist licence.

Not sure if it would be worth the bother. Would it not just be easier to hire a box when you need one?

 

[Annagain]

I think you would find difficulty getting insurance cover for a self-drive hire, and if you are transporting I "think" you need a specialist licence.

Not sure if it would be worth the bother. Would it not just be easier to hire a box when you need one?

No reason why insurance should be difficult - there are lots of companies out there offering self drive. However, I'd question how much of a market there'd be for anything over 3.5T due to
a) the same licensing laws that mean OP would need to do her lorry test - anyone under 41 would need to do this and lots of people over 41 who didn't pass their test before 1997. I would imagine a lot of older riders are more likely to have their own transport if they need it, and
b) the fact that people who aren't used to driving big vehicles don't want to drive big vehicles so even if they have a licence, they don't want to drive something over 3.5T.

OP - you could still run a horse transport business with a 3.5T. When I was looking for a transporter to bring my boy to me, they all had 3.5T lorries. I'd look at that rather than anything bigger. You'd still need all the relevant licences but it would be cheaper to run and the majority of your business would probably be horses moving homes or vet trips so needing to carry 2 would be quite a rare occurrence.

When you say finance, do you mean a personal loan or a seller's finance package? These are often very expensive and shopping round for a personal loan would probably be a lot cheaper - don't look at the repayments (you can adjust these by altering the term of the loan) look at the APR. Finance is often around 12-15% whereas personal loans can be as low 4%.

If a personal loan is beyond you then a really good, properly costed business plan would be needed to get a business loan. Your bank will have some sort of advisory service or there are government and local government backed services.

 

[Renvers]

Annagain's is good advice, and if you use a 3.5T for your horse transport business then you are not bound to all the same regulations on working hours, tacho records etc that you would be with a larger lorry. One of our local (very popular and busy) transporters only drives a 3.5t for that reason. He said you rarely get multiple horse jobs to make the other option worthwhile with all the additional paperwork and restriction on driving hours.

Another, now retired, local horse transporter also registered with the Vehicle Recovery companies as a call out recovery driver for an extra source of income. He sometimes bought recovered horses to our yard when they couldn't be travelled to their home location for whatever reason.

 

[spotty_pony]

I would be looking at getting a larger lorry simply because my own horse will not travel in a small rear loading lorry so getting a smaller one would be pointless on a personal level. The idea would be the lorry will pay for itself and then I can finally get my horse out and about without having to rely on other people. I'd he prepared to drive up and down the country taking horses to vets, delivering horses to new homes etc.

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

I’ve just bought my own for personal use. I think there is a potential gap in the market for a say 2 or 3 stalled box with driver hire.

I found hiring a 3.5t box with driver was prohibitively expensive for one horse. One day was about £200. I would only do this once or twice a year. If I could share that with a friend it would have been more economical. Also I have two horses so sometimes it would have been good to have taken both. There is nothing like that anymore the next size up seems to be large transporters.

I wasn’t massively keen on self-drive hire. The terms and conditions on accidents/ damage and the massive deposit plus cc agreement for spend up to £500 was off-putting. Whilst I have faith in myself and my horses I don’t have much faith in others not to cause damage which I’d end up paying for.