Transport costs - does this sound reasonable?

[amandathepanda]

I need to collect my mare from stud which is a round trip of 128 miles but as my horsebox looks like it needs to be scrapped (RIP lorry

) I've had to get a quote from the local horse transporter. I know they've got to pay insurance etc & that diesel isn't exactly cheap at the moment before they make a profit but does £290 sound reasonable to you? The company I went to is only 6 miles from my yard so they don't have to drive for hours once the mare is dropped off. I keep thinking of my friend who paid £300 a month ago for her pony to be shipped from Cheltenham to Stirlingshire & this seems a tad steep in comparision. Opinions please! Am I being fleeced?

 

[soph21]

Ive got a friend to do a 6-7 hour trip there and back to pick a pony up for me and all I have to do is pay diesel money!
Have you not got any friends that would do it for you?

 

[amandathepanda]

I've tried calling in favours but my friends are all either in a similar position to me with my lorry (blasted credit crunch!) or they can't do it for a couple of weeks due to work & competition commitments - not good when my arab mare is stuck out in a field at the stud & the weather has gone nasty!

 

[soph21]

Oh bugger, thats a shame, I looked at horse transporters and it is quite dear,
I think by the time they have paid diesel that would probably be atleast £180?
I hope you sort something out

x

 

[amandathepanda]

When I dropped the mare off in June it cost me £100 in diesel then when diesel prices were higher, however I do know a transport company has got other expenses on top of this. Bugger, me thinks me might be coughing up lots of money

 

[flowerlady]

You say around trip alot of transport companies will do a collection and drop off if they are doing others in the area. A dealer who's father in law runs a racing transport yard told me he charged £3 per mile and that was 3 years ago. I'd try another company and ask as some do regular trips up and down the country so you should be able to get it cheaper.

 

[soph21]

Try and shop around a bit, I know theres transporters down are way that do trips every so often and pick x amount of horses up, it works out cheaper then if you have several horses on the lorry, worth a try, cos that is a lot of money,
The foal better be worth it lol!

x

 

[LCobby]

Would she travel in a small lorry?
Hire one for a day, about £100, then add actual fuel cost.

 

[Faithkat]

I paid £1 a mile 14 years ago to a professional transporter to bring an Arab yearling up from Devon to Hampshire. 150 miles one way and it cost £150. It was a shared trip for part of the way and was THE most fantastic lorry you will ever see - worth every penny. Given the cost of fuel now, I wouldn't have thought £3 a mile too excessive.

 

[appylass]

Have a look on this page, I have used Sue Powell several times and have found her the cheapest round here. She is based near Ledbury.

http://www.herefordequestrian.co.uk/page18.html

 

[tikino]

thats sound realy exspensive i had a pony delivery fromwinchinster to just outside glasgow last month from eric gillies and it only cost me £350 and that was a 418 mile trip

 

[hannah87]

i take my mare to uni in gloucester with me and have her transported.
The journey is approx 250 miles.
I have used 2 differnt companies and each time cost just over 200 pounds.
They have always charged me from pickup to drop off regardless of anything else. sometimes there has been other horses on board, other times not.
i think your quote is expensive

 

[Maggie2]

In a 7.5 tonne lorry my OH guesstimates fuel cost is about £45.

 

[Tiffany]

Try a self drive company - if it's a smallish lorry you would be talking £150ish plus diesel. Alternatively, have you anything to tow a trailer cos they are always cheaper to hire if your horse will travel in one. Good luck

 

[13798]

I think £1 a mile is the cheapest you can expect to get at present. A shared load is less, that' s fine for a long trip but for 128 miles unlikey. If you do it your self by the time you have hired a lorry & paid for the derv. you are unlikely to be a head.

 

[WishfulThinker]

It cost me £140 in Feb 2007 to have my boy brought 70 miles in a Scothorse box! Is it a large box? If so then it will obv use more fuel. I woul dhave thought that nearer £225 - 250 would be more reasonable, but you also have to pay for the drivers time.

At my work it can cost us £150 to have a lorry go 20 miles!

 

[Ludi-doodi]

QR

£290 divided by 128 miles works out at £2.26 per mile.

Given that diesel is about £1.10 a litre and on top of that they'll have to take out wages for the driver (including NI, Tax?) and cover insurance, tax, wear and tear for the vehicle (although this will be very, very minimal on this journey) AND make a profit out of the work, then no I don't think it's too high a cost.

 

[ihatework]

If it's a sole use trip, as in just your mare and foal, then it sounds perfectly reasonable to me.

The figures quoted on this thread for trips from scotland etc. are in large lorries with shared loads hence cheaper.

 

[samstar]

last year I paid £200 for my horse to be transported from gloucester to north devon, as there has been an increase in fuel I'd say that sounds a good deal.

 

[ROBINHOR]

I would try www.affordablehorsetransport.co.uk they will find a registered transporter passing by who will give you a single journey/shared price. Good luck

 

[Hollycat]

Sounds a bit pricy to me! I got my filly transported from Scotland to Yorkshire (in September) and it cost me £240 - single load no shares. It took 5 hours so not a short trip since it would be at least an 8 hour round trip for them! I did the same journey myself (same stud) to pick up another horse - cost £100 to hire a 2 horse box and £90 in fuel.

 

[amandaco2]

1-2 a mile is reasonable
i think it sounds ok
i got asked for £80 10 years ago for a trip of 15miles!!!(in total)
not sure if self drive is cheaper-if its a small box you can hire them for 100 a day, then fuel added on.