Looking for first horsebox - things to check?

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djlynwood

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I have not got much to spend so I know I will be looking at an old horsebox. I dont really want to go too much over £3000.

I know that they will have issues, but Im only looking for it to travel locally, and the furthest would be about 50 miles away.

Is there a company that would go and check it over for me before I buy it?

Also, what should I be looking out for and asking when I first ring up about it?
 
You don't say where you are - someone might know a local firm.

Other than the obvious engine issues, make sure the floor is solid - this might involve a lot of crawling around underneath!
 
£3000 is not really enough for a box - not one I'd put a horse in. Although safer to drive than towing, if this is your budget I would stick to a trailer.

If you’re looking I would divide your checking into 2, the vehicle and the horse conversion.

The vehicle,

Prior to visit I would ask,

How long is the MOT,
How old in the horse conversion (Gives you an idea of how long the floors been in)
What work has been done recently,

You could go on about where it's kept and who’s maintained it but at this end of the Market you would have to go and see.

On the vehicle end look at the tyres, uneven wear could indicate problems with kingpins or worse. Don't ignore rust, just because it's old does not make it OK and rust in certain areas can lead to MOT failures.

Be wary of recent re-spray - a good one would cost most of that asking price!

If you want someone to go with you, pop into the garage who will be maintaining for you - after all you'll be seeing a lot of them.

The horse section, check the floor. Dig a key of screw driver into the floor underneath to check for rot. Aluminium floors are not invincible either and can stretch. Check the hinges on the ramps for rust, 500 kg walking up it would certainly find a weakness.

Best advice - save an extra £5000 and look again.
 
Been there, done that. It lasted a year.

It can be done, but you have to be a) lucky, and b) have a good mechanic with you.

Okay, so the first thing is find a good lorry mechanic and take him with you. If you're anywhere near the Midlands I can recommend someone (wish I'd known him before I bought my lorry!).

Get hold of the last few advisory sheets, so not just the MOT certs. These will show you some of what you'll need to be doing/getting fixed over the coming months.

Take to a weighbridge, unless the payload is noted somewhere official and is recent. If it weighed x when it was last MOT'd, then the owners added a load of things, it will now weigh Y.
 
If you are on a budget of £3,000 then the chances are you will need an additional budget of £10,000 to sort it out! Be very very careful.
Even if you are only doing 50 miles radius it can still brake down and you will need breakdown insurance cover.
First thing to do is to ask local horse owners which mechanics they use and then ask the mechanics which chassis/cabs they can work on and if they would check the vehicle out for you. You will probably need a specialist horse box builder to check the floor, ramp, walls and roof out for you.
Buy a horsebox that has a FULLY tiltable cab so that mechanics can easily work on any mechanical part of it.
Make sure you buy one where spare parts are freely available.
 
Thanks for all the excellent advice.

Gives me a lot to think about.

I was considering looking into the trailer option but would need to purchase a 4x4. I only have a small runaround which is why I thought I might as well get a lorry instead of looking for a 4x4 and a trailer.
 
If you're looking at a 3.5t I'd check to ensure that the partition between the cab and the horse area has been reinforced (in addition to everything else mentioned above). If you brake hard or the horse decides to kick that wall...
 
There are good old lorrys out there. I have a 1990 H reg leyland daf. It does have some rust but is completely sound. It has a double floor and we have replaced part of it when it became soft.. My OH does all the work on it so its kept an eye on all year round, not just for the plating. I can also take 3 big horses legally as it has a small day living with just the basics.
I have thought about selling it but its so fantastic, even though old, i sort of think, better the devil you know.
Reckon i would advertise for £4500 if i was to sell it. I was lucky that when i bought it , it belonged to a chap who had looked after it and always had work done on it when needed.
Maybe i will wait till i win the lottery to buy my next one!!
 
From your post you obviously know very little about mechanics etc so first off you need to get a mechanic, preferably a lorry mechanic so they can check over whatever you want to go & look at. With such a limited budget you are going to go & see some very old lorrys, many in very poor condition with lots of things that either need doing immediately or will need doing shortly. Everything that needs doing will cost quite a bit. Lorry parts are expensive & with the age of lorry you will be viewing you will need to check availability of parts. Also, as you will not be doing the work yourself, you must budget in the price of labour on top.

It doesn't matter if you are only going to go local or not, the roadworthiness of the lorry must be the same.

To be honest I think you should keep your money & save up some more to increase your budget because I believe with the amount you have you are going to end up buying a 'money pit'. I have a 11 year old lorry & rarely get a bill under for £500 & most times significantly more.

Depending on the amount of miles you do in your car, if you do only few then a better option may well be to buy a towing vehicle & trailer. It doesn't have to be a 4x4, it could be a decent size estate depending on the weights involved. Maintaining a 'normal' car & trailer will be loads cheaper than maintaining a lorry.

Good Luck in what you decide. ;)
 
you can pay a mechanic to come with you - i also know nothing about anything with engines - in fact i bought a cheap trailer without knowing much and it was not a good idea.

there are a lot of local firms who will do a check for you for about £60, and the RAF and AA do proper checks on new vehicles for you (i get them when i buy new cars!) about £85 to get car checked, might be a bit more for lorry.

you can get plenty of nice boxes this time of year going to 2500 upwards but do bring a professional with you :)
 
If you really look you can pick something up for your budget. Not necessarily going to win awards for its looks but it can be done! My 2nd horsebox (1st one off ebay...DONT EVER do it. Sold it within a month without even travelling a horse in it!) I picked up for £2500, a lovely little LDV conversion, with a brand new floor fitted 5 years previous, had been serviced and all minors on the MOT had been sorted by the owner each year. It was a dream to drive, power steering and all that jazz but I sadly had to sell it as it only had a payload of 750kg and I couldn't transport my cob and a friends shire x in it to shows etc.

Always ask about payload. The previous owner told me it had a payload of just over 1 tonne and silly me did use it for 2 chunky ponies who would have gone well over 750kg. Preferably boxes should be sold with a weighbridge certificate (which my first one had!) and preferably use a mechanic who can MOT that class of vehicle. They will know more what to look at than your bog standard mechanic.

I'm now a trailer person. Ramp is much easier and the ride a lot smoother for the arthritic cob!
 
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