lorry and car vs 4x4 and trailer

[smellsofhorse]

I currently have a shogun sport and an ifor williams HB510

Im considering getting and older car, one that is wont matter that i get filthy!
The dog comes everywhere with me and i do a lot of miles day to day.

Would it work out better having a small lorry and a car.
I know I have to tax and insure both but the day to day running would be cheaper.

Roughly how much would it cost me, a 27 year old woman to insure a small lorry?

 

[hollyzippo]

The age old question!!

Personally having sat and worked this out a few times I think its cheaper having 4x4 and trailer.

One lot of insurance and tax and most importantly repairs. My OH is a mechanic so we only pay cost for parts and no labour. Still works out cheaper only having 1 vehicle and doing more miles/paying more in fuel.

And unless you will religously use lorry weekly in ALL weather it will cost you a lot in parts if standing around for part of the year.

Not sure ref insurance, my frend is 28 and has a renault master, think its about 400 a year.

 

[smellsofhorse]

Thanks for your reply.

Yeah its so hard to decide.

My dad is a mechanic so does all my repairs now, adding a lorry onto it shouldnt be too bad!

 

[4faults]

I have just sold my Iveco Supercargo because the running costs of a car and a lorry were too much.

I have bought a new car and Im on the lookout for a trailer. Paying for a trailer service every so often instead of tax, insurance and MOT and fuel for a wagon is going to work out a lot cheaper for me.

My insurance was £40 a month with NFU and im 24

 

[scribble]

I have just swapped from a lorry to trailer. I am 33 but anthony evans did breakdown and fully comp ins for the yhear for £280. you need to be sure you are going to use the lorry EVERY week and more to warrant having one. I went out in mine every week during summer and every 2-3 weeks in winter but still deos lorry no good. need several new parts etc. Like my mechanic said (and i didnt pay for my hrs just parts) you will always pour money into a truck.

 

[wizbit]

i was in same boat as you! (same age too!) stuck with my trusty VW polo and bought a 6.5ton lorry. Totally love it! use my car on daily basis about 30 miles per day so running a 4x4 was not feasable on fuel or tax etc. plus i feel safer (and my horses prefer) using a lorry, could not do with all the hitching up, wobbly feel of a trailer (personal opinion), i just feel really unsecure using them. with my lorry im happy to go out alone with my horses and everything is contained in it. My insurance was £297 fully comp so same as my little car is a personal choice though, but i just feel tons safer with my lorry

 

[soulfull]

Have to say this has been done a few times

I think the main thing is how many miles do you do in a week?

If you only do 10 miles a day might be cheaper with a car and trailer

I found that going from 4x4 doing about 25mpg to a car that does 50+ pays for the lorry. Its half the cost. Also cheaper in fuel to actually get to a show in a lorry, as my 4x4 when towing did less mpg than my lorry

Not too mention the extra cost of a 4x4 costs to insure/tax and in repairs than a normal car

Insurance wise I had a import so insurance was high, it cost the same to insure my little car and lorry as it did my lorry

Personally I could not manage a trailer any more, all the hitching up etc, not too mention at the show I need somewhere comfortable to rest or I couldn't manage it at all (I have RA)

 

[mainpower]

I did the sums when my OH had a shogun and I had a polo... worked out how much it would cost me in diesel to do my running around in the Shogun, and the difference in price between my Polo petrol and the Shogun diesel was nearly £350 per year. Lorry insurance was £180, tax was about £100 then, and the test was around £40. This is going back about 10 years. My OH did all the maintenance etc so like you only paying for parts. So it was a few quid cheaper to have small car/lorry.

 

[soulfull]

I did the sums when my OH had a shogun and I had a polo... worked out how much it would cost me in diesel to do my running around in the Shogun, and the difference in price between my Polo petrol and the Shogun diesel was nearly £350 per year. Lorry insurance was £180, tax was about £100 then, and the test was around £40. This is going back about 10 years. My OH did all the maintenance etc so like you only paying for parts. So it was a few quid cheaper to have small car/lorry.

Yep and fuel prices are so much more expensive now

 

[Jesstickle]

If you're going to have two vehicles why don't you consider a 4x4 for towing and a small car to run along side.

No one ever seems to suggest this but it's our solution to it. We make sure we run the big car once a week but I use the Ibiza for my commute.


When we need the second car it's more use to us than a lorry would be, it's easier to make sure it gets used regularly over the winter (who actually wants to take their lorry out in the snow after all to make sure it doesn't just sit) and it doesn't cost any more to keep than the lorry would.

Just allows a bit more flexibility for us

 

[mon]

onthe feeling safer feels safer in larger vehicle than little car, living in small village 4x4 very handy this winter as farmers use to trailers so we have 2 4x4s and runaround van livestock trailer and 506 never driven a lorry and no desire to happily tow trailerall day.

 

[scribble]

We have a really econonical car and 4x4 as i do loads of miles for work and OH uses 4x4 for work as only 20 miles per day. we live rural and need a 4x4 really to get out if weather bad too.

 

[Whoopit]

Ooooh. I'm having this argument with my other half!!

I have a 12yr old Ford Puma that could not pull the skin off a rice pudding, never mind anything else so a trailer is out of the question for this car. It costs me up to £2,000 per annum to run - tax, insurance, fuel, MOT & any repairs. Do I change the car and spend £10k on a cheap 4x4, with road tax and insurance around £800/£900 combined pa and fuel and servicing/MOT I dread to think, plus the cost of a trailer and the costs that go with that.

May as well just buy a 3.5 tonne lorry for up to £20k and keep the car? It's more convenient and i'd probably feel safer transporting the horses in it. Not sure how i'd fund it - got a rich bloke who pays for nothing horse related other than an apple on Christmas Eve!!

I'm 27yrs too

 

[bliss87]

its cheaper for us to run our saxo and our iveco lorry

out little car does at least 50 miles every day

 

[Jackobean]

I went from a Shogun & trailer to a Renault Master & a car. It works out much cheaper for me as the Shogun was very expensive to insure & heavy on the juice.

I'm 29, my ins for the Master fully comp is just under 180 for the year, MOT is the same as a car, tax is the same as a car. I do use it every week but it's surprisingly economical, much better than my Shogun. Plus, there isn't the faff of the reversing - which I was terrible at, there's more room for all the crap I carry around & my horse loads & travel much better in it. I'm very glad I got rid of the trailer

 

[laurenn1010]

i was thinking about this myself, however i need to take a test to drive a trailer and 4x4, but im assuming im ok to drive up to a 3.5 ton lorry... the trailer test is alot of money

still dont know what to do so im travelling no where atm!

 

[Topstripe]

I have just gone through this and coming out the other side!!!

I had a Jeep Cheroeke which did 15 miles to the gallon - petrol and a Bateson Trailer. Having 2 kids to ferry about plus working 10 miles away 3 days a week it was costing me so much to fill and run, insure and MOT as it was 51 plate.

Just purchased a Leyland Daf 7.5 ton - insurance £267 (Anthony Evans inc breakdown), Tax £160 and MOT??? wont know till Nov when it is due!
Jeep cost me all of that over 2 months just in fuel!!! So bought a little basic Renault Clio to run me and the kids around in and my new lorry for the horse! Definately will save money as long as MOT on lorry goes through without too many problems ;-)

 

[perfect11s]

Ditto previous posts,, the first thing is work out your monthly mileage at say 30 mpg and then for a small diesel like a fiesta or polo at 60+ then road tax 4x4 is £200-400 for diesel car £0 to £35 then get quote for insurance service is harder to estimate but guess £500 for annual service &MOT 4x4, and say £250 for car , the lorry is going to be about the same to run as a 4x4 mpg etc tax is £165 for 7.5 ton £200 for 3.5 add your insurance quote I think it simply boils down to how many miles a week you do a week ,the 4x4 route can be very expensive if you do many miles fuel , servicing, and tyres ....

 

[Sessle]

If your shogun's as expensive as our old pajero was on diesel, lorry will be cheaper! We switched from having pajero + trailer to a 3.5tonne box and it has been heaps cheaper! I guess if your getting a big lorry it might be more expensive, but I don't think I'd ever go back to car + trailer again now!
I insured my lorry in my name, I'm nearly 23 and its 25 quid a month, cheaper than my car insurance!

 

[thespanishmane]

For the past 20 years I have had various 4x4's and 'large family cars' to tow trailers. I had an Ifor Williams HB505 and Saab estate which towed beautifully. I fell on very hard times and had to sell car and trailer. Next purchase was an old Rice Europa trailer which was 'sound but ugly' and was not good to tow at all, and found a very cheap 4x4 which runs on LPG (equivalent of 50mpg even when towing). However horse HATED trailer, loading and unloading was a problem, lots of road noise and very jiggly. The final straw was last year when at a show the heavens opened, a loud storm above us resulted in load of scattered ponies, and Rio refused to load. It took eight of us to virtually lift him in!

As I am no spring chicken, I had got fed up with the human inconveniences of a trailer - too much stuff everywhere! so, bit the bullet an bought a 21 year old lorry (7.5 ton). Good old thing and love it to bits - love driving it. very good on fuel consumption, and Rio and the other ned almost run up the ramp, with no problems at all. Most of all, I like the creature comforts and knowledge that I can take all sorts of 'spares' with me, have a wee in (sort of comfort) have a cuppa and change my clothes!

I sold the trailer and still kept the 4x4 due to the cheap LPG and the fact that my husband uses it as a wheelbarrow! I do use the lorry every week (apart from the snowy spell) The lorry tax is the same as the car, and the inusrance for me is £167 pa (but I am old!)

Still, happy at the moment as the lorry has behaved itself - Im sure there is a time when it wont!