Horsebox, whats more important?

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Louby

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I need to sell my wagon as Im not using it but its a drab colour :( My fault, I picked it :eek:.
Tried to sell before xmas, when it was plated, got some interest but no viewers, so I decided to have some stripes put on it to brighten it up and got a high quote. Went elsewhere, discussed it, give some ideas and was told they would draw it up and get back to me but got to stables the other night and they'd just been and done it!!! It was awful, terrible job, wrong colours etc etc. So theyve since been back and removed it all and thankfully havent damaged any paintwork. So Im back to square one and afraid to get it done again in case its worse.

So, is looks more important to you than safety, horse comfort, build etc.

It is a conversion but it was done by a professional company and IMO has a great hardly used safe and sturdy horse area, big payload and unused day living. I think if someone came to see it, they would like the interior but its so plain on the outside, I think some people just by pass it.

Thanks for getting this far.
 
Definately safety is far more important than colour- says she who choose to have her box painted in YELLOW!:cool:(At least I can find it in the parking areas!!)
When I was looking, before having mine built, colour was the Least important thing, as long as the box was sound, safe and had a long test on it.
Colour can be changed, brightened up or toned down,but the build quality, safety and reliability can not be altered.
Can you rephrase your ad to put more emphasis on how safe and reliable the box is?
 
Ive not readvertised it yet but will focus on safety etc. I did re word the heading from the makers name to something like 'legally carries 3' and thats when I got the calls.
Thanks for replying
 
I don't think they're selling at the moment if my experience is anything to go by. I have a lovely, reliable and attractive little 3.5ton for sale at the moment and I've had no serious interest. I'm hoping the warmer weather will make more people think about shows.
 
When looking the condition of the chassis and the mechanics of the lorry and safety of the horse area would be most important and then the layout etc of the horse area and only then onto the living. Have seen plenty of lorries with lovely living but really rotten when you look at the chassis. Colour would be a low concern for me.
 
Thanks all :)
Im told by mechanic its mechanically sound as Im such a worrier lol and apart from the colour, all seems good so I will advertise it this weekend hopefully.
 
Safety and reliabilty are of utmost importance to me, I don't give a stuff about colour!! And anyways, hopefully theives will be more likely to nick pretty boxes rather than drab ones!!:D
 
I'm intrigued to know what colour it is!

Try including something along the lines of "newly painted so is a blank canvas for you to personalise with your own design".

btw I'd go for safety, reliability, payload and comfort over the fancy design any time.
 
Its called Dove Grey, the builder wanted another £1500 for metallic and I'd spent over my budget so thought sod it! Its a light coloured grey, very inoffensive but very dull :(. I have been told it looks like undercoat :(:(.
Im used to it now but it just doesnt stand out at all.
 
Spottyappy said:
Definately safety is far more important than colour- says she who choose to have her box painted in YELLOW!:cool:(At least I can find it in the parking areas!!)
Click to expand...

Ha ha!!! I have a yellow lorry tooo!!! :)

I bet mine is more yellow than yours!!

DSC01581.jpg



So - to OP - yep colour is not all that important TBH - I love my yellow lorry - embrace the colour.... :)
 
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ha ha!! It is always great to find it on a busy showground!!

A friend of mine, years ago, had an old BT lorry - and it was battleship grey - I am very much sure that your grey can't be as bad as their grey!!!
 
Mmmmm, nearly as bad lol. Anyway nowadays, Battleship grey would could be called Graphite grey .... very desireable unlike boring Dove Grey.:D
 
PMSL My friend had her lorry rebuilt last year and we spent over three hours in the paint shop choosing EXACTLY the right colour of paint. Then we found a cheap solution to silver, which she'd originally wanted and were set on that. She had a brief flirtation with the idea of "Shanks Dustcart Grey" after one turned up outside the paint shop but finally after looking at every colour of purple (and pretty much every other colour) she settled for the cheap silver solution.

The guy doing the spraying couldn't get it to go on right so she settled for - a slightly paler version of battleship grey. Her lorries registration number is BSG . . . . I'm guessing its colour is fairly similar to Dove Grey. It does look very smart now it has its design of two tones of purple and black on it but I really liked it plain.

Were you at Burnham Market last Friday because there was at least one utterly plain grey lorry there?

I have to say that mine looks very old fashioned now in metallic navy with a horizontal silver stripe. Next season the uncluttered look may be desirably fashionable. I love the yellow example shown above.
 
Safety :) When I bought my box I hated the colours (silver with pink and purple stripe) but it was right price, mechanically sound and ideal for what I wanted. Had it for nearly 4 years and sold last year to first people who viewed it. Guess what - the buyers loved the colours! :D
 
:D:D:D
The first thing I noticed when I seen my chassis was the reg, it was DUF. Yep thought, oh god please dont be a duf wagon lol.
Your friends story sounds similar to mine, I spent ages looking at colours, didnt want dark because of tree scratches to my shiny new box, so picked a silver colour, was told it was £1500 dearer so on a swatch my 'nice' grey looked fine and it was my friend who put me off saying it was like undercoat grey. I actually didnt think it was too bad, ok plain but the stripes were supposed to sort that out. Thankfully theyve gone now :) Hey maybe plain grey is the new 'in' colour, seeing though you seen a few at a recent comp :D
Thanks for all your replies, feel much better now. Hopefully someone will come along and like my wagon.
 
I think the problem I may have is that it cost me a lot of money. I will lose a lot selling it but its still in the mid price bracket. For the price it is, people can afford to be choosy. I think its worth what Im asking as its a good solid build but the colour may put people ofF.
 
Safety def more important but I think you are right sometimes people glance over ads if the exterior 'look' doesn't grab them! Ours is blue....not quite navy but not sky blue either, but tbh I would have bought it whatever colour it was as its mechanically sound and carries three with day living!
As matter of interest what chassis/age is yours? Always good to know others that have the payload to carry three!
 
Whilst people seem to be saying colour isn't important the problem is you have to get peoples attention in the first place and the look of the lorry has an effect on that.
For instance. Both these pics are the same lorry. Would you go to view both or just the second one? ;)

truck2.jpg


Photo-0010.jpg
 
JunoXV I agree, I sold my beddy last year and got almost full asking rprice for it - a friend had a similar age cargo, similar size, condition, layout, living etc....she ended up having to ebay it and take £800, less than 1/4 of what I got. Only discernable difference was that mine still looked (and looks!) fairly good for age, navy with gold stripe, reasonable paintwork etc, whereas hers was a dirty blue covered in scratches and dents etc!
 
To be honest, when we were looking for one last year we wanted a luton with decent cut through so ruled out any others essentially. Some people aren't bothered about cut throughs and others prefer non-lutons with a titlt cab (we didn't have a budget for a luton with a tilt cab but I'd much rather have the luton - personal preference i guess).

However, what i also wanted to know what was the horse bit was like - too many people only put pics of the outside, the living, the interior of the cab (who really cares about that?!) and non of the horse area. We were looking for one without lockers in the horse bit and with decent partitions. As it was the wagon we did go for had shoddy partitions (although usable) but the rest of the wagon was neat, tidy and well looked after and maintained. we had the partitions and loading doors replaced within a few months.

I do think the initial image, colour, paintwork does help as it does make the wagon look good BUT it can look as pretty as you like on the outside, if it's falling apart/poory maintained in other respects then what's the point. We would like to get ours resprayed but will have to save a fair pot of cash yet!

We sold our old B reg ford cargo last year too and we actually painted it ourselves to freshen it up - the same colours etc - just took a bit of elbow grease and it was in no means wonderful but it smartened it up and we sold it within a week!

If you could do that then that may help but otherwise you may have to consider the price to reflect the fact someone may want to respray it if the current paintjob is tired (although if the paintwork's fairly good I personally wouldn't bother - it's just a slow market at the mo)
 
Sadly its a slow market for most things , and people are more impressed by fancy paint and lutons which im sure are rarely used for anything more the storage , and seeing some of the junk people have paid top dollar for makes me cringe...
 
Thanks again everyone.

The wagon is immaculate, its in A1 condition on a 2001 Iveco chassis, no bumps, scratches etc and both horse and living are as new (my horse has only been in it about 15 times. hence selling it) Its unladen weight is 5.3t so will just about carry 3 horses. Sorry didnt make it clear before but it doesnt need a respray, its just a drab colour. It was built less than 2 years ago and isnt or doesnt look like a DIY job. Its very substantial in the horse area and has modern day living.

I agree about Lutons, they do look better, mine has a tilt cab, small cut through but no Luton. I think this makes it look worse.
 
I have to agree Perfect11s. I had a nosey in one the other week, it was made by a well known company, nice paint job, looked the part but I was shocked at the horse area, so flimsy and falling to bits. It wasnt an old box either.
I think if someone can look past my colour they will get a really made box. Ah well fingers crossed :D
 
Def think no luton makes them look less desirable! I really wanted a luton as do stay away up to a week at a time and altho have only got 'day' living I can sleep in the luton. I sacrificed a cut through to get a tilt cab and a luton - its got a flat that opens at front of the luton :) and that meant I could get what I wanted in my budget....to have luton and tilt and cut through meant more money!
But people do like the way they look with a luton and at higher prices people will prefer all three I guess...
 
Ha ha Flo-bel ;), yes yours is def more yellow than mine!
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I hope this works as I am strugglin to upload stuff on this new forum!!
OP, I had mine done in "ordinary" non metallic paint because of the cost. Just emphasise that the paintwork is new and in VGC.
 
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