horse box manufactures

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stacey_lou

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I am looking around for a horse box, something nice, smart, does the job and has what is needed.

Can anyone suggest any good manufactures, unfortunatly the budget will not streach Oakly or Whitiker.:-(
 
There is no such thing as a cheap horsebox. You either spend upwards of £10,000 or you are basically looking at a pile of ****.

If you have a limited budget - face up to reality and get a trailer. You can pick up a half decent trailer for less than what it would cost to keep an elderly horsebox roadworthy for one year - and thats before you tax and insure it. VOSA are cracking down on horseboxes and its going to get harder and harder to get the old ones plated.

And if you are looking at manufacturers rather than horsebox dealers - for something newly built you are looking at a minimum of £15,000 plus painting, and even that will probably be based on a 10 year old chassis and either no, or very limited day living.

Unless you are minted - go for a trailer.
 
toohottotrot- what rubbish. bet mummy and daddy bought yours :rolleyes:

you can get a decent box for less than £10000, we've just done it! its not gonna be amazing (7.5ton, little bit of day living etc) but it will do the job.


providing you go coachbuilt if possible, something driven regularily (find someone who showjumps/pony clubs so out every weekend but not too far) parked under cover if poss and well mantained will be fine. dont just look at the paintjob, find someone who knows about lorrys who you trust!

we were advised to avoid old fords (iveco, cargo- there are loads of these about, tend to rust unfortunately)
try and get tilting cab so its easy to service, but a hatch in the floor of the living does the job aswell.

the thing you have to remember is payload, better to have basic living and weight for 2 horses than fantastic living where you can only fit a shetland on!
 
I wish I could find one :D. Im hoping to spend up to 12k but if something 'nice' came along I would stretch that but I cant find anything. I want a decent horse area, not bothered about a fancy living but sadly I have to admit :eek: I want it to look like a horsebox after my last one reminded me of a parcel van :(. Not bothered about a posh paint job though.
The prices vary massively from 94's being £15k, then 98's being £10k. Its a minefield.
Going back to the OP, my well built basic conversion was £20k, it didnt look anything from the outside but IMO put most conversions to shame. It was built by a reputable horsbox company though so I suppose I got what I paid for. Be careful as anyone with a bit of DIY can build a horsebox, some but not all are shocking and unsafe. With your top end budget I reckon you could have pretty much anything.
If I was to do it again with my original £20k, I would have gone for a nice 2nd hand coachbuilt wagon.
Good luck :)
 
I have just sold (today) my MAN M-reg 7.5t wagon for under £10,000. It certainly isn't a pile of **** and on its' last test there were no advisories whatsoever from VOSA as it has been regulary maintained and serviced. It is when wagons aren't looked after, generally, that they start falling to pieces.

I think the OP will get something very nice on that budget.

Sorry, OP but I do not know of any coachbuilders down your way, now if you came up north, that would be different :D
 
irishdraught said:
I have just sold (today) my MAN M-reg 7.5t wagon for under £10,000. It certainly isn't a pile of **** and on its' last test there were no advisories whatsoever from VOSA as it has been regulary maintained and serviced. It is when wagons aren't looked after, generally, that they start falling to pieces.

I think the OP will get something very nice on that budget.

Sorry, OP but I do not know of any coachbuilders down your way, now if you came up north, that would be different :D
Click to expand...

:(:(:(:(:(:(
I wish I knew you were selling
 
TooHotToTrot said:
There is no such thing as a cheap horsebox. You either spend upwards of £10,000 or you are basically looking at a pile of ****.

If you have a limited budget - face up to reality and get a trailer. You can pick up a half decent trailer for less than what it would cost to keep an elderly horsebox roadworthy for one year - and thats before you tax and insure it. VOSA are cracking down on horseboxes and its going to get harder and harder to get the old ones plated.

And if you are looking at manufacturers rather than horsebox dealers - for something newly built you are looking at a minimum of £15,000 plus painting, and even that will probably be based on a 10 year old chassis and either no, or very limited day living.

Unless you are minted - go for a trailer.
Click to expand...
Gee.. how you southeners get ripped off!!! Every thing is twice as much, houses, cars, hay,repairs and now horse boxes.. eh its grim up north:D
 
stacey_lou said:
realisticly prob looking at anything from £20k through to £35K depeding on the box so not a huge budget but a healthy one I think.
Click to expand...

You will get something seriously nice for that money.

Ignore the rant from Hottotrot I think they must have been very unlucky with horseboxes.

Whatever you buy make sure you get some sort of cover for it having finance on it - it may come up clear on a HPI check - doesn't mean it doesn't have finance on it.
 
Thank you so much for all your replies.

I have looked at Thorpe horse boxes and I like them they are very much everything you need and want for a resonable price. A friend is actually selling hers and its lovely.

I also looked at JM and they are nice too, Im just considering all boxes within my price range and then having a look at them, as for the mechanic side of things I have a family of engineers so one would think I would be ok lol
 
Hi

Please take care when going to a horsebox manufactures, I fell for this and got stung big style.
They asked for money up front as a deposit and this was back in 2009 August and by January 2011 I still had no new horse box it is now 2014 and I'm still waiting for the return of a 30,000 deposit. I know this is not in your area as I ordered from Kent Brothers up in Morpeth Northumberland, but I felt as I have had very little to show for my money it would be best to help others not fall for this mistake. Always make sure there is a contract with a time limit to how long the build should take and make sure the builder is a honest trust worthy company and not a con as you will have a great deal of disappointment and heart ache when you have nothing to show for all your money
 
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