Letting others borrow your trailer - pros and cons?

Goldenstar said:
You see when you lend something to a close friend it's not 'free ' as such it's part do a bigger picture of what they do for you and you for them it's about more than money.
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Absolutely.

I'll lend my horsebox to friends who I know would do the same for me.
 
I don't have a trailer but would only lend my lorry to one person as I know she would treat is as her own. I've lent it out before and it's come back with no diesel etc. Luckily the only person I share a yard with now is the lady I would lend it to. When I was on a larger yard people would ask all the time.
 
Hmmm, I'm beginning to think that my original idea of what I felt comfortable with IE taking her with me if I had space, is still what I feel comfortable with. I would of course take her horse to the Vet's in an emergency.
 
I borrow trailer space, as I have the towing capacity for two and my mate doesn't. So if we go out together, I tow. I've borrowed once for a solo trip, but it was 15 minutes down the road and back. If I needed to go on a longer trip, I would hire one. I'd rather damage one that isn't anything to do with my friends, but on the other hand I'd rather not damage any!
 
Wouldn't think it would be covered by insurance if you lend it out. Think I'd rather offer to tow it for her if she paid me a bit of money? Wouldn't be keen on lending it out if it was me
 
Cheshire Chestnut said:
I don't lend anyone anything - I have had years of things either not being returned or returned damaged and no one has ever offered to pay/replace them.

This can be anything from a trailer to my horse to ride, to a pair of gloves or a lunge line.

Call me grumpy but I pay for my stuff, take good care of it and look after it, therefore I just keep it for myself so I don't end up getting upset when someone ruins it, however accidental that may be.

ETS: I don't ask to borrow anything either for the same reasons :)
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Tell me about it! Especially when they swear it is just this once, then the next week want it again or just help themselves because you said last time.

I wouldn't lend a trailer to anyone unless they signed to say they were fully liable for any damage, involved in an accident etc, and even then, it would only be in an absolute emergency, eg. horse needs to go to hospital within the hour for colic surgery. My horse had to go to hospital and I hired a transporter. I knew she would be trouble, because she was a terrified traveller and even under deep sedation managed to trash the wooden gates on the way there and peeled the metal lining off the walls on the way back.
 
I've borrowed a box a few times but to be honest I don't think I would ask to use someone else's again unless absolutely desperate (think taking horse to vets, for example).

I would often travel my boy and OH's mare in a trailer belonging to a friend - for the purposes of this she is N, and the other friend who also owns a trailer is S.

N would often take us out places - she normally came along for the fun, and we had no problems. On one occasion we were due to go to a comp but N's trailer was out of action as it was having its floor replaced. So, she arranged for us to use S's trailer - S was happy to lend it, our horses normally travel just fine so that was grand.

Horses travelled to comp absolutely fine, then on the way home one of them was rather noisy - we stopped and checked, all was fine. Journey back to the yard was approx 25 mins. When we got back to the yard, I went into the trailer through the jockey door as usual and was rather shocked to say the least.. the horse on the right hand side had managed to turn herself completely around, and was facing the ramp. The breast bars were still up but their attachment to the wall had been ripped out on one side, so the partition was still 'up' but most of its weight was leaning against my boy, who fortunately is a very quiet soul, and stood like an angel. The back bars had both dropped down.

The mare who had turned around was like a thing possessed and exploded off the trailer like a demon. She was extremely sore (physio visit required) and would not let us near her until the following day. Previously we had never had any problems travelling these two horses together in an identical trailer so we could not have foreseen what happened.

The damage was fairly easily repaired - cost about £80 to fix. S was absolutely fine about it, as it was fully fixed, but I would totally understand if she had been very cross about it!

Given what happened though, I would a) never ask to borrow unless absolutely desperate /unavoidable and b) if I had a trailer, I would not lend it out.
 
i thought the trailer was insured by being attached to an insured vehicle. Mine was insured for theft if its not attached.
I have a who casually asked if she could borrow my wagon (a very old ford d although regualarly serviced) I didn't ask where she was going, it was only when she returned it and said i hasn't missed a beat on our 500 mile trip!! eek we only used to potter about locally with it.
I have a friend who borrow a trailer - her horse freaked out and wreaked the partitions! ended up on top of one of them.
If it were an emergency I would do like others and take them myself.
The trailer being road worthy is another issue I am fully concious of although my trailer is serviced anually and has all its needs catered for.
 
Goldenstar said:
You see when you lend something to a close friend it's not 'free ' as such it's part do a bigger picture of what they do for you and you for them it's about more than money.
The friend who borrows my trailer most came and cooked my supper many times when I was stuck in bed you can't always put a value on what friends do for each other .
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That's fine in theory but what would happen if your friend wrote off your trailer, or their horse trashed it and it was going to cost you a couple of thousand £ to fix it? Would you expect the friend to pay, or write that off because "you can't put a price on friendship? I certainly wouldn't be able to afford to fix a trailer if someone else wrecked it. If my own horse does then that's something else entirely but I expect to be liable for costs in that case. If I loaned my trailer (or something equally as valuable) to a friend who trashed it, I'm afraid that them cooking me dinner wouldn't put right the damage.

I think that borrowing and lending of valuable items like trailers has the potential to get quite nasty and complicated, regardless of how close the friendship is (and possible even more so because of that reason), so it's a no for me after my bad experience.
 
xgemmax said:
Wouldn't think it would be covered by insurance if you lend it out. Think I'd rather offer to tow it for her if she paid me a bit of money? Wouldn't be keen on lending it out if it was me
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Your insurance would be invalid if you took money from someone for you to transport their horse (unless you were a professional transporter, obviously).

My horsebox is insured full comp for any driver with a suitable licence. I've lent it to another HHO when her horse needed transporting from one vet hospital to another. I've also let another HHO'ers Dad drive it when we wanted to take our horses somewhere together, and my mare wouldn't load in their trailer.
 
I would never ask to borrow someones trailer or lorry. I either hire or am offered lifts if they are also going somewhere and they know my horse. I would worry about them not being there and something going wrong although i would pay for anything. We are lucky our yard owner hires her trailer out at £20 per day so as a commercial arrangement i am happy to stick to this.
 
In short No!

A friend asked to borrow mine (I'd only just brought it myself) and having spoken to my insurance company I was informed that my trailer was only covered by insurance if it was towed by my vehicle only and was not allowed to be lent out.

Given I don't lend my car out my trailer doesn't get lent out!

If the trailer's not insured and there was an accident, I can hardly see you being reimbursed for the full cost of the trailer, not many have a spare couple of grand lying around, and if they did they'd have enough to buy their own trailer not borrow yours!

Sorry for the very cynical view but I paid a lot of money for my 4x4 and trailer, I pay alot of money to keep my car and trailer serviced yearly, new tyres replaced on a regular basis and everything kept in good order which is not cheap. There are plenty of companies around where you can hire a trailer for the day for around £35.00
 
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chestnut cob said:
That's fine in theory but what would happen if your friend wrote off your trailer, or their horse trashed it and it was going to cost you a couple of thousand £ to fix it? Would you expect the friend to pay, or write that off because "you can't put a price on friendship? I certainly wouldn't be able to afford to fix a trailer if someone else wrecked it.
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Hand on heart if my friends break things, they offer to fix things, perhaps I am just lucky in that my friends are very reasonable.

I'm selfish with some things, with some people, but if my friends want to borrow things that I can spare - why not?
 
I would only trust about two people with my trailer.

People have helped themselves to it before (without asking me) and it's come back broken and full of ****e
 
Goldenstar said:
You see when you lend something to a close friend it's not 'free ' as such it's part do a bigger picture of what they do for you and you for them it's about more than money.
The friend who borrows my trailer most came and cooked my supper many times when I was stuck in bed you can't always put a value on what friends do for each other .
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I agree with this - I lent my trailer many times to a friend who insured it in return for the use. She has helped me out many times also with help moving yards etc. I know she would put right anything she broke and she jet washed and returned it clean. I wouldn't lend it to anyone but real friends should help each other out.

When I was younger I used to hire YO trailer for a small charge and another friend towed with her 4x4 and we went to shows together. Then she split from her OH and I got a 4x4 and did the towing. In the end it was fair but I hope she doesn't feel I was just taking when she was doing the driving. It's all about give and take. Just be careful not to be on the receiving end of those that just take.

Another friend lent me her husbands car for two weeks when someone hit mine and wrote it off. Because it was written off the insurance wouldn't pay for a hire car even though it wasn't my fault. They would have paid for it if my car was being repaired. I have in turn lent my car to a friend when their car broke down the day they needed to tow their boat to the river for a child's birthday party.

I am lucky to have fantastic and trustworthy friends!
 
SplashofSoy said:
I would never ask to borrow someones trailer or lorry. I either hire or am offered lifts if they are also going somewhere and they know my horse. I would worry about them not being there and something going wrong although i would pay for anything. We are lucky our yard owner hires her trailer out at £20 per day so as a commercial arrangement i am happy to stick to this.
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So if your horse trashed the YO trailer when you had paid £20 to hire it would this cover the cost of repairs?
 
RunToEarth said:
Hand on heart if my friends break things, they offer to fix things, perhaps I am just lucky in that my friends are very reasonable.

I'm selfish with some things, with some people, but if my friends want to borrow things that I can spare - why not?
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most people are great, my friends would be the same but i still wouldn't lend it out., Mainly because in some situations people mightn't have the cash to immediately replace/repair any damage if it was a large amount of cash. If a box got totalled, not many people could rustle up 3000 to replace it immediately.

I use my trailer constantly and if it was out of action for a week and i missed an event id be raging. also there's been cases near us of boxes being stolen off jeeps at the beach etc so i'd worry about it being stole. Another girl lent her box and the jeep it was plugged into shorted her electrics in the box. There's just so much stuff that could go wrong!! i find it easier to just give a blanket 'no'. i'l drive someone for cash if they want instead and im free.
 
Depending on how much you use it and how much she wants to use it maybe you could ask if she wants to pay half and share it? Then get the insurance sorted for both of you. That way if anything goes wrong she is responsible and already has a financial investment in it so won't leave you out of pocket
 
chestnut cob said:
That's fine in theory but what would happen if your friend wrote off your trailer, or their horse trashed it and it was going to cost you a couple of thousand £ to fix it? Would you expect the friend to pay, or write that off because "you can't put a price on friendship? I certainly wouldn't be able to afford to fix a trailer if someone else wrecked it. If my own horse does then that's something else entirely but I expect to be liable for costs in that case. If I loaned my trailer (or something equally as valuable) to a friend who trashed it, I'm afraid that them cooking me dinner wouldn't put right the damage.

I think that borrowing and lending of valuable items like trailers has the potential to get quite nasty and complicated, regardless of how close the friendship is (and possible even more so because of that reason), so it's a no for me after my bad experience.
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Yes I would expect them to repair it and they would .
I find your dismissive comment about a friend who came after work day after day and cooked for me offensive and if I had to choose between that kind of commitment to a friend and buying a new trailer hey I would get my self a new trailer .
I love my friend more than my trailer ( a thing ) and value our relationship far more than a thing .
I do lend out my lorry sometimes but I am precious about my lorry because I think because of the living I view it as personal space .
 
NOPE

Buy your own would be my response. I sold something to buy my trailer, i had to make a sacrifice to own a trailer. Why should others just borrow your stuff?
 
i would also say no
reason being if you let this friend borrow it then you have no excuse to let anyone else lend it , i'd simply say it wouldn't be insured sorry (which it prob won't be unless its attached to your car)

also how would you feel if she then wanted it two or three times a week etc and started treating it as her own , then there's the risk of it getting damaged
if she can't afford to buy her own trailer she can't afford to replace yours
 
burtie said:
Only in an emergency situation when no other option was quickly available.
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This^

Not a problem in an emergency or if I offer such as picking up a friends older horse. I have always used the excuse m insurance does not cover. It's not that I'm unfriendly but if you start.... Can't she hire... Or will you get a little for your expenses?
 
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