RachelFerd
Well-Known Member
So, my lorry broke down again last week - I don't yet have a cost or timescale for repair, but I think the power steering rack has blown. I'm pretty sure it will be expensive to repair.
The box is a 1997 Leyland DAF with a Thorpe body. The horse area and living aren't 'luxury' but they are in really good condition and have everything that I need. 240v plug in, no tack lockers into the horse area, carries BIG horses, sink, cooker, fridge, telly, big luton to sleep in and a pull out bed too. It doesn't have a tilt cab, which is increasingly a problem.
Clearly, the chassis is starting to feel its age with increasing amounts of corrosion - but it is a good starter and generally runs OK.
The dilemma is that I keep my horses in Greater Manchester and there is a proposed clean air zone that is pencilled in to take effect in Spring 2022. They haven't published final details of this yet, but the suggestion is that people who have a vehicle for private use that doesn't meet emissions requirements can have an exemption to reduce the £60 charge to £10/day if they have owned the vehicle for at least 12 months. With my current lorry I will have owned it for several years - but if I decided to sell and buy a slightly newer one, I could fall foul of the 12-month rule.
I haven't worked through the finances of how on earth I pay for any of this, but WWYD?
1/ keep repairing the current lorry, definitely qualify for the exemption and somehow get on top of the corrosion issues? (lorry storage is unfortunately outside)
2/ investigate doing a chassis swap to take my horsebox body and put it on a 2014 or newer Euro 6 compliant lorry (have been quoted in ball park of £22k inc a full respray)
3/ get mine through its MOT in June, sell up and get a horsebox built to spec (have rung a well known firm who think they can do something for about £38k + VAT on a Euro 6 compliant chassis with a basic stick-sided build and living spec as per my current box)
4/ sell current box, buy something a bit newer (2005-2010 ish) and hope that the 12-month rule doesn't kick in as quickly as Spring 2022
5/ leave Manchester (HAHA only joking, we have a great yard and I like it here...)
And no i'm not interested in dropping back to 3.5 tonne - I often take 2 and NHOH loves having living to camp out in. We stay overnights semi-regularly (would have been more often were it not for COVID).
The box is a 1997 Leyland DAF with a Thorpe body. The horse area and living aren't 'luxury' but they are in really good condition and have everything that I need. 240v plug in, no tack lockers into the horse area, carries BIG horses, sink, cooker, fridge, telly, big luton to sleep in and a pull out bed too. It doesn't have a tilt cab, which is increasingly a problem.
Clearly, the chassis is starting to feel its age with increasing amounts of corrosion - but it is a good starter and generally runs OK.
The dilemma is that I keep my horses in Greater Manchester and there is a proposed clean air zone that is pencilled in to take effect in Spring 2022. They haven't published final details of this yet, but the suggestion is that people who have a vehicle for private use that doesn't meet emissions requirements can have an exemption to reduce the £60 charge to £10/day if they have owned the vehicle for at least 12 months. With my current lorry I will have owned it for several years - but if I decided to sell and buy a slightly newer one, I could fall foul of the 12-month rule.
I haven't worked through the finances of how on earth I pay for any of this, but WWYD?
1/ keep repairing the current lorry, definitely qualify for the exemption and somehow get on top of the corrosion issues? (lorry storage is unfortunately outside)
2/ investigate doing a chassis swap to take my horsebox body and put it on a 2014 or newer Euro 6 compliant lorry (have been quoted in ball park of £22k inc a full respray)
3/ get mine through its MOT in June, sell up and get a horsebox built to spec (have rung a well known firm who think they can do something for about £38k + VAT on a Euro 6 compliant chassis with a basic stick-sided build and living spec as per my current box)
4/ sell current box, buy something a bit newer (2005-2010 ish) and hope that the 12-month rule doesn't kick in as quickly as Spring 2022
5/ leave Manchester (HAHA only joking, we have a great yard and I like it here...)
And no i'm not interested in dropping back to 3.5 tonne - I often take 2 and NHOH loves having living to camp out in. We stay overnights semi-regularly (would have been more often were it not for COVID).
