Lending your horsebox to friends

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Rachaelpink

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Interested in people's opinions on this. I've lent my box out to a friend for free before, reluctantly, as I'm scared of anything happening to it, it took my so long to find a decent box. One of my friends has quite a few horses and no box but I'm relucant to lend it out incase anything happens to it plus it costs me loads to maintain it (i.e. tax, insurance, MOT etc).
 
I would lend my horsebox out to certain people if they asked, but not to all and sundry on our yard? Basically it would be lent to people who I felt I could trust and rely on to bring it back in the same condition as I lent it out, and if anything did happen they would make the necessary repairs! I think it is much better for a box to be used regularly than sat rotting away quietly, being hardly ever used (not saying yours is for a minute BTW, I have just seen lots like this on yards I have been on)
 
I wouldn't lend mine. It costs me too much! I'm happy for people to use it to practice loading on the understanding that they pay for any damage, but no way would I let somebody drive it.
 
Whatever you decide do make sure the insurance is ok Ie any driver or that the person is covering it on their insurance its no good thinking they might be or they think they are covered on the car insurance....
 
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it's a difficult one, because they can go wrong at any time in spite of having £££s spent on them, and if a friend borrows it and, say, the gearbox or the clutch goes, are they going to pay, or contribute, or just say "it would have gone anyway next time you were driving it...?" (which is probably true.)
i think if someone borrows it for anything other than a short local journey, i'd expect them to give me something like the going rate for hire, towards 'wear and tear' costs, but then, is that illegal?
i'll lend mine out, but only to people i know well, and trust!
 
We've had friends borrow ours before now, only certian ones, not everyone and it was always on the understanding that if anything got broken they had to pay for it. The first people to borrow it used to give a few quid to go towards the wear and tear on it and tbf they were the people who always looked after it the best when they had it. We don't lend it out anymore though. I would if it was someone who i trusted.
 
I lent my 4x4 to someone to tow a trailer and got it back with a big dent in the tailgate and no offer to put right the damage - they even left it with the fuel gauge on reserve !!!
 
No never, and I am also very careful about giving people lifts too - people are to quick to sue now a days, even so called friends!
 
G - I would be spitting feathers over both of those points! :(

OP - I have lent my lorry to a friend, but only once. It was fine and I knew that if there was any damage she would have it fixed at her cost. I used to take people around a lot in mine just to keep it on the move (it's better for them rather than being sat for weeks on end going no-where). I checked with the insurance first and I didn't accept any payment, but they did pay for the fuel they used.
 
As someone who has borrowed and actually relies on borrowing, I am incredibly careful with the boxes/trailers I have borrowed. One I have used in the past and will be again next weekend, the owner always says as she hands the keys over, any damage you pay for or at least the insurance excess. Sadly and I still feel incredibly bad about it, I did damage it once filling it up with fuel (took down a low wall by turning too tight out the garage). There was no question that I wasn't paying for the damage - new skirt and tyre in fact I paid for the whole lot and it didn't go through the insurance.

So, eventually getting the the point! If you do lend it out, make sure that before hand over the keys, you are very, very clear about the rules ie refill fuel tank, pay for damages/insurance excess, clean it out afterwards and if they begin to use if regularly make sure you get a contribution towards tax and test!
 
I don't lend out my lorry to anyone. Everyone on our yard knows this & understands. If you start lending to one, others will ask & if you refuse them then you get fall outs over why are you letting them & not me etc so I don't lend it out. If however a horse needed urgent transporting to vets etc then they all know that I would certainly take them. In short I bought the lorry to take our 2 horses to shows & that's what I do with it.
 
I have only one friend that I would lend our lorry to. ( I don't mean that I only have one friend though!!:D) She has her own lorry anyway, but if she is going somewhere eg. entered for 1 DE and her box is unwell then she borrows ours. It always comes back with a full tank and much cleaner than when it went. Makes me feel quite bad. Certainly would not lend to any one. I am not on a yard as keep my horses at home so that does make it easier. The same applies to my clippers too!!!
 
I won't lend my trailer out either - like one person has said, if you lend to one another one asks and it causes all sorts of problems. I don't like to borrow trailer's either, when mine had a problem another livery kindly said I could use their trailer - I politely declined, as knowing my luck it would have been crashed into or nicked!!!:p
I wouldn't hesitate to transport someone's horse to the vets if needed to though.
 
Call me what you will, but I will never lend my trailor / box to anyone ever again.
We lent our trailer to a friend during the season, we didn't need it. Anyway we needed it to take our mare to the vets one day, so asked them to drop it at home. It came back with
A broken brake cable
Grass growing inside, where they had not cleaned it out
A tyre that was not the same size as the others.
Broken rear light.
Both rear doors had been ripped off - literally and they had tried to put them back on with door hinges and not replaced the ally doors which were ripped
Exterior had gouges in it where they had tried to replace the pins for the back doors
 
I have lent mine out, but only to friends who have their own transport (but their lorries were broken at the time) and so were very used to driving a lorry. I have also borrowed a friends box when mine was broken - I made sure it was returned with a full tank and cleaned out to an inch of it's life (I also left a box of roses on the drivers seat!) I am not on a livery yard which is easier, so it's only v close friends who have asked to borrow it. I wouldn't lend it to anyone I wouldn't 100% trust to look after it and return it in the same state as they found it in.
 
i just wanted to give my view on this.

last year my horse had to go for surgery although planned with 3 days notice i do not own my own trailer as i have never needed one.
i asked a very very good friend for a loan of hers for this one occassion and she point blank refused!! i was left devastated. i had to go and ask someone i hardly knew and they gladly gave me their trailer. i even offered to have the electrics replaced as they were not quite right when i left but they wouldnt hear of it.
i have never been so greatful for such kindness. if i ever have the opportunity to own my own i would def lend it out with the understanding that you pay for any damages
 
Depends on the situation. We have a lorry and if a friend needed to take their horse to the vets, of course we would. but if just for competing etc. no, although we happily take them with us if I am going!
 
Thanks, I just wanted some other opinions on this.

I feel a bit guilty about not lending it out to my friend but I would do it in an emergency, it's just I don't want to get into a situation where they think they can borrow it all the time. When I did let a friend borrow it there were driving quite a distance (about 80 miles) as well so it's not like they want to borrow it for short journeys.

I usually use my box every few weeks and most weekends in summer but haven't used it much recently due to injury.
 
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You can't start a precedent. I have helped out someone I didn't know very well in collecting her mare from hospital - but she paid for my fuel etc but my weekends are so precious I do not want to end up being a taxi for others. Friends don't tend to ask so I am not put in an awkward position. The only time I flatly refused was when someone I didn't know very well asked via a friend so they could transport their 3 year old. On the basis that I knew they weren't that careful with belongings, I made myself incredibly unpopular in refusing. i was vindicated however, when said 3 year old damaged (badly) the trailer they DID end up borrowing!
 
NEVER EVER EVER !!! i have lend my old lorry out twice and both times it came back with hundreds of pounds of damage !!! neither of the horses were used to travelling and destroyed the lorry!!
I have been asked since and refused point blank, i never saw a penny towards the repairs and cannot afford for that to happen again!
A friend and i sometimes share lorries if we are going to the same place but we are both always in the lorries together at the same time!
i think lorries are far to expensive to take the risk and people should understand and respect that!!
 
i think that lending something thing this expensive is a bit of a mine field.......... i use to have a sharer for my lorry we paid a proportion each, i was the largest owning 2/3rds. we had sound rules or so i thought

1) only our horses (except vet emergency) as with the other posters i did not want the responsibilty of other horses and once you take one person then you have to take everyone.
2)due to the pay load we couln't take 2 large horses at a time ok for ponies
3)and no drink driving (this person does drink a bit and drive)
4)it had to be cleaned out after every use
5) damage was to be sorted out and not left to

within the space of a few months

i was told i was ridiculous for telling not to drink and drive the lorry as it did not go that fast, she was trying to take other horses to shows with her that would put the lorry over the pay load
if i booked it to use she would just take it and was told that if she wanted it then she had prioty
if her horse damaged it then she never told me and if i found out then we weren't giong to sort it out like when the rear partion doors stopped fitting and we can just bodge it

and not once did she ever wash it out

she stood me up on so many occastions i have lost count

so the answer i have to say is once bitten and twice shy
 
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Been there and done that and now I only insure for myself and my partner. I would NEVER lend it out again unless the horses life was in danger and then I would prob drive it myself.
 
To be honest. I used to be of the opinion that My trailer was bought to be used so I was happy to lend it to my best friend to move her horses but when my previously pristine trailer came back with a great big scratch along the whole length (ok it's only a scratch but still) I was very disapointed and to get no aknowledgement of the damage or indeed an apology I was a bit peeved!

I'll be VERY careful about who I lend my trailer to from now on.. 'borrowers' don't seem to have a full appreciation of the value of these things...
 
No I don't lend mine out. I have done the odd collection/delivery in exchange for fuel money + 10% wear & tear but only if it doesn't put me out tbh.

I paid out for a new trailer, I keep it immaculate and insured, I buy the tyres I'm sorry but it's not worth the risk lending it out.

Quite frankly if I had access to a trailer like mine for the sake of the odd bottle of wine in exchange I wouldn't bother buying my own either.
 
gigs said:
I lent my 4x4 to someone to tow a trailer and got it back with a big dent in the tailgate and no offer to put right the damage - they even left it with the fuel gauge on reserve !!!
Click to expand...

Sounds like my sister and my boyfriend when they borrowed my lorry to move house. Scraped down the side, partitions on the floor and no diesel. I was even more annoyed as they knew I was taking a horse to the vet first thing the next morning and then denied that it was them who had scraped it and run it out of diesel!
 
CBFan said:
'borrowers' don't seem to have a full appreciation of the value of these things...
Click to expand...


At the minute I rely on close friends on the use of their trailer . They have told me at anytime I am more than welcome to borrow it . When I use it, it is returned cleaner than when I lifted it . When we went to pick it up one day, they had told me that they had broken the tail light (they acknowledged it wasn't us it was them ) and Hubby went ahead and got them a new one just for the sake of it . On another occasion we even replaced a tyre for them .

Hubby serviced it free of charge basically in return for the use of it . Like I said before its always powerhosed before it is returned .

And as they know that is probably the only time it is actually cleaned out . They are aware of this and are actually grateful to me for washing it :confused:
I have told them time and time again I am thankful for the use of it and help them out with their ponies and horses when I can . They also know that I look after the trailer as it where my own .

Some borrowers are actually good and keep to their word :p .

I can't get over the amount of people that would damage someones property and not pay for or rectify the damage . I would be highly embarassed and ashamed . :( .
 
The only person i lend mine to is my Boss - and even then i get paid by the racehorse's owners! I don't even let people try out loading on it. I know some people on the yard think i'm a bitch for being like this, but i adore that box and i'd rather any problems with it be of my doing.. i know i'd be bitter and unreasonable if someone used to and broke it. Harsh but true! I don't mind taking horses to the races in it, but 9 times out of 10 ill be driving or at least in the box as well. I'm very anal about my lorry :o
 
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