Horse boxes what does everyone else do

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racebuddy

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Hi everyone , so currently have.m a 7.5 tonne which we are having electrical problems with , solid lorry never gives us any issues until now , but now looking at the possibility of not being able to fix it pass that point 😭😭😭 people with 3.5 tonne do you find it more beneficial to ie get credit card or finiance on the lorry ?

Just thinking of different options going forward 😭😭
 
Are you asking if a 3.5 tonne would be cheaper than mending the 7.5 tonne?

Has an auto electrician looked at it, if it is a solid box otherwise? I would imagine an older 3.5 would be quite pricy in some ways.

Are you thinking of finance on a new one or credit card for the old one? I'm afraid only you could know if you can afford more debt.
 
To be honest , I have very good credit card ect and lucily I dodnt have a mortgage ext which I am very lucky, so hence credit card isn’t really debt as can afford to pay off , equally who has spare £15.000 outright

Just asking in general how people fund buying there lorries just like the horses really x
 
I would personally get a personal loan. No different to how most people buy their cars! And you will get much better interest rates.
 
racebuddy said:
Hi everyone , so currently have.m a 7.5 tonne which we are having electrical problems with , solid lorry never gives us any issues until now , but now looking at the possibility of not being able to fix it pass that point 😭😭😭 people with 3.5 tonne do you find it more beneficial to ie get credit card or finiance on the lorry ?

Just thinking of different options going forward 😭😭
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I’d try and find someone that fixes old lorries and get a repair quote. Many modern auto repairers have no idea.

My lorry is N reg. Over 20 years old. Electrics are very basic. Nothing complex or expensive. No computer. Lights, starter, battery.

Assuming your lorry is properly old? Newer ones have much more complex electronics.
 
My last 2 lorries were £6k & 5k. Older 5 tonnes but solid and safe. Think I’ve had latter 5-6 years?

I part exchanged carcass of first lorry towards second after cam belt jumped writing engine off. Was put on new chasis and sold for £30K!
 
Mine was also personal loan. Cheaper than a credit card. In fact, our personal loan is attached to the mortgage, and is even cheaper at half a percent above mortgage rate.

I know some people do clever stuff with handing debt round various credit cards for interest free loans. Don't think I am on the ball enough for that though.
 
Thanks for everyone’s input , currently still no further on with the bigger lorry , going to hire for few weeks mainly to see what we going to do and actually see if he settles in a smaller lorry the joys when they go wrong 😑
 
How old is the 7.5 tonner and what is the issue I had a N reg previously and a good auto electrician not a mechanic sorted some issues on that, now have a newer 7.5 tonne. I know many people do move from a 7.5 to 3.5 tonne but they are not for me.
 
I had similar issues with my 7.5t which was costing a fortune to keep on the road. I ended up selling and have been hiring since, it is slightly more effort as you need to pick up but actually works out cheaper as I don't have the ongoing cost.

I am saving to buy a 3.5t as they are so much more convenient and easier to fix if something goes wrong
 
If you do use a credit card for a large purchase , get a new one with 0% on purchases for X months offer. Then before that offer ends ,.do a balance transfer to another card that offers 0% on balance transfers (they usually charge a one-off 2-3% fee). This way you can get quite a long time to pay it off ,.interest free. Just make sure you don't apply for more than one card a month (ideally less ) as doing so can negatively affect your credit rating.
 
Can you take the horse box body off your lorry onto a newer chassis? I did that years ago. Had to get the new chassis shortened a bit but worked well.
 
My 3.5 is an older van conversion (57 reg) and cost me £6500 to buy. I had to spend around 2k to fix some mechanical issues, I’ll have to spend more to get it looking cosmetically how I want but it isn’t a necessity. I used money that was in my late mothers estate to buy it, otherwise I’d take a personal loan out if I could afford it. My OH is very against any sort of loans and credit though so I doubt he’d agree!


It’s been a good little box really, had it almost 12 months now and never really had any major issues - it needed new injectors and a new crank shaft pully (I think?) however I knew about the injectors when purchasing and the pully thing was on the mot advisories. Flew through its mot with no advisories but after spending nearly 2k on it I expected nothing less 🤣
 
The consideration is also the 3.5 boxes are going for a lot of money at the moment, but with the payload you wont be able to carry as much with a tank of fuel, tack, people and a couple of ponies or one big horse. Someone I know got pulled over as had never checked the payload got a nice fine, was not allowed to proceed with their journey and had a lot of problems getting back home. So stay as large as you can I would say.

Also if you do buy a smaller box make sure they have payload evidence. You will notice many do not state this on their adverts - because its small.
 
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